PurposeofAssessment:

WhenIfirstthoughtofassessmentsIthoughtofchaptertests,quizzes,projects,homework
assignments,andstandardizedtesting.Ialsothoughttheprimaryroleofassessmentswastomeasurethe
studentsachievementandcompetencyatagivenacademiclevel.Althoughthistypeofsummative
assessmentsmaybewhatmanypeoplefirstthinkofwhenthinkingofassessments,afterfurtherreadingIve
realizedthatformativeassessmentsareactuallymorevaluableintheclassroom.Thisisbecause,asGrant
Wiggins(1998)wrote,theaimofassessmentisprimarilytoeducateandimprovestudentperformance,not
merelytoauditit(p.7).Thisnotesthemaindifferencebetweensummativeandformativeassessment,
wheresummativeauditsthestudentsknowledge,whileformativeprovidesdataonthestudentsthinking
sothattheteachercanimproveinstructionandthestudentcanimprovelearning.Formativeassessmentcan
bebothformalandinformalassessments,butthecrucialelementhereisthatformativeassessmentsarea
process,ratherthanasingleevent.Thus,teachersandstudentscontinuouslyuseformativeassessmentsto
gatherevidenceforthepurposeofimprovinglearning(Box,Skoog,&Dabbs,2015,p.958).Thisbeing
said,Inowthinkthatthepurposeofassessmentsistoinformtheteacherofthestudentsthinking,sothatthe
teachercanmodifyhisorherinstructiontobetterfittheneedsofthestudent.Orinotherwords,assessments
shouldprovideinformationthatinformstheteacherhowtoimproveinstruction.
FormativeassessmentasdefinedbyBlackandWiliam(1998b):
Allthoseactivitiesundertakenbyteachers,andtheirstudentsinassessingthemselves,which
provideinformationtobeusedasfeedbacktomodifytheteachingandlearningactivitiesin
whichtheyareengaged.Suchassessmentbecomesformativeassessmentwhenthe
evidenceisactuallyusedtoadapttheteachingworktomeettheneed(p.2).
EvaluationofBensChapter8Quiz
Benschapter8quizontheConstitutionassessesprimarilyforknowledgeregardingtheUS
Constitution,butfailstoassessthestudentsskills.GiventhatChapter8isbasicallyacivicslesson
onthebasicframeworkofUSgovernmenti.e.theConstitutionitisnotsurprisingthatthequiz
assessesthestudentsknowledgeoftheConstitution.Forexample,theTrueandFalse,andtwo
MatchingsectionsonlyassessthestudentsknowledgeoftheConstitutionandarelargelyfocused
onvocabulary.Furthermore,theShortAnswersectiononlyassessesforknowledgeasbothofthe
shortanswerquestionsonlyaskforstudentstoidentifyonevocabularywordthatanswerseach
question.Thus,thisassessmentcouldbeimprovedbyaskingmoreopenendedquestionsintheShort
Answersectionthatrequirestudentstodemonstratetheirskillsasahistorian.Furthermore,ifthe
shortanswerquestionsrequirethestudentstoanswerthehowandwhyquestions,theassessment
wouldprovidetheteacherwithmoreinformationregardingthestudentsthoughtprocess;thus,
becomingmoreofaformativeassessment.
Intermsofthevalidityoftheindividualtestquestions,Ibelievethattheonlyitemthatyields
unreliableinformationisquestionnumberfour.Theitemisatrue/falsequestionandisstatedas,
OurUSConstitutionisanexampleofalimitedgovernmentthatisstrictlydefinedandinfluencedby
thepeople.Thisquestionisproblematicbecauseoftheworldstrictly,whichseemstoindicatethat
theConstitutiondoesnotincludeimpliedpowers,orroomforinterpretationthroughjudicialreview.
Thus,sincetheConstitutiondoesincludeimpliedpowers,andallowsforinterpretation,itcouldbe
arguedthatthecorrectanswerisfalsewhichaccordingtothebooksdefinitionoftheConstitution
thecorrectansweristrue.Thus,thisquestionshouldbethrownoutoftheassessment,astheitem
doesnotyieldanyreliableinformationregardingthestudentsknowledge.

Chapter8Quiz
Mean
Range
Hour2:
48
1860
Hour3:
50
2460
Hour5:
46
3360
Hour6:
47
2460
NOTE:Meansreflectaminimum36policy,andthereforeareslightlyhigherthaninreality.

Thisdistributionofscoresshowsthatthestudentsoverallhavelearnedthematerialfairlywell.
Althoughtherangeisfairlyhighin2nd,3rd,and6thhours,thisdoesnottellusthatmuchregardingtheentire
classslearningastheoutlierswouldneedtobetakenoutfirsttohaveabetterunderstandingoftherange.
Ontheotherhand,themeansshowusthatthestudentslearnedthematerialfairlywelloverall,astheaverage
classmeanis47.75(79.6%).Giventhisfairlyhighaverage,Iwoulddistributescoresbasedonthestandard
gradingformatof90%beinganA,80%beingaB,andsoon.However,giventhatquestionfourhas
beendeemedinvalid,Iwouldthrowthatquestionoutofthequiz.Morespecifically,Iwouldmarkthe
questioncorrectforeverystudent.Furthermore,insteadofonlydistributinggradesintermsoftheir
numericalscores,Iwouldwanttoincludefeedbackforeachindividualstudentoutliningtheirstrengths,and
whereexactlytheyneedtoimprove.Bydoingthisthefeedbackwouldbemoremeaningfulorformative
totheboththestudentsandmyselfasteacher.
ExtendtheProjectAssessment
Politicalcartoonsareillustrationsthatconveytheartistscommentary,orviewpoint,on
politicsandcurrenteventsthroughtheuseofsymbolismandirony.Politicalcartoonsareimportant
tohistorians,astheyareprimarysourcesthatcanactasawindowintothepast.Byanalyzing
politicalcartoons,historianscangainhistoricalinsightintothepublicsmood,thecartoonists
viewpoint/basis,culturalassumptions,andattitudesatthetimeoftheevent.Agoodpoliticalcartoon
hasastrongargumentaboutthegiventopicbyillustratingmultiplecompellingreasonstosupportits
claim.Thus,beforeyoubegindrawingyourcartoon,youmustfirststateyourclaim/argument,and
thenoutlinetheevidence/rationalethatsupportsyourclaimregardingapoliticaleventcoveredinthe
lastchapter.
Forthisassignment,youwill(1)drawapoliticalcartoonofyourownregardingthepolitical
issues/conceptsdiscussedinthelastchapter,and(2)writeaoneparagraphresponseanalyzingthe
messageofyourcartoon.
Belowisthepoliticalcartoonprojectsrubric.
Knowledge&
Content

Message/Argum
ent

4
Cartoon
conveysa
complex
understandi
ngofthe
political
concept/ide
a.
Thekey
issueand
students

3
Cartoon
conveysan
understandi
ngofthe
political
concept/ide
a.

2
Cartoon
conveysa
limited
understandi
ngofthe
concept/idea
.

1
Conveyslittletono
understand

Thekey
issueand
students

Keyissue
is
identifiab

Issue&POVare
unclear.

Visual
Presentation&
Creativity

Paragraph
Explaining
Cartoon

pointof
vieware
clearly
identifiable
;
Cartoon
includesat
least3
rationale/
evidenceto
support
students
POV.
Cartoonis
extremely
neatand
clean;
excellent
useof
appropriate
symbolism.
Awell
constructed
paragraph
ofat56
sentences
that
explains
thecontext
ofthe
cartoon&
atleast3
rationale/
evidence
that
supports
thePOV.

POVare
identifiable
;Cartoon
includesat
least2
rationale/
evidenceto
support
claim.

lebut
POVis
unclear;
Cartoon
includes
only1
rationale/
evidence
tosupport
claim.

Norationale/
evidence

Cartoonis
neatand
clean;uses
appropriate
symbolism.

Cartoon
is
somewha
tneat;
attempts
touse
symbolis
m.
A
paragraph
lessthan
56
sentences
;includes
only2
rationale/
evidence

Cartoonismessy;
usesnosymbolism.

A
paragraph
of56
sentences
explaining
thecontext
ofthe
cartoon&
atleast3
rationale/
evidence
that
supports
thePOV.

Doesnotinclude
rationale/evidence;
poorparagraph
structure;numerous
grammarerrors

StudentWorkSample(StudentZ)
ThequizandtheprojectseemtoindicatethatstudentZunderstandsthebasicprinciplesand
structureoftheUSConstitution,buthaddifficultlywiththedifferenttypesofpowertheConstitution
provides.Forexample,intermsofthequiz,thestudentdidnotansweranyofthevocabulary
questionsonthedifferenttypesofpowerspresentintheConstitutionsuchasimplied,enumerated,
concurrent,andreservedpowerscorrectly.Sincethesetermsconsistedof20%oftheassessment,if
thestudenthadabetterunderstandingoftheseterms,studentZwouldhavereceiveda51/60instead
ofa39/60.Thus,thequizdemonstratesthatstudentZhasthebasicknowledgeoftheUS
Constitution,butdoesnotunderstandthemorecomplexvocabularytermsregardingthetypesof
powerprovidedintheConstitution.
TheprojectdemonstratesstudentZunderstandsthebasicstructureofthefederalgovernment,
andthechecksandbalancesbetweenthebranchesofgovernment,butdoesnotdemonstrateany
higherlevelofthinking.Thisbeingsaid,theprojectdoesnotindicatewherethestudentneeds
improvement,whereasthequizindicatedthatthestudentneedsimprovementinvocabularyterms

regardingthetypesofpowerprovidedintheConstitution.Thus,inthiscasethequizbetterassesses
thestudentsstrengthsandareasofimprovement.
FeedbacktoStudentZ
GivenstudentZsneededimprovementinthedifferingtermsforthepowerslaidoutinthe
ConstitutionasevidentinthequizIwouldhavethestudentrevisetheirprojectsothatit
incorporatestheideasofimplied,enumerated,concurrent,andreservedpowers.Inthisway,the
studentcanimprovethecomplexityofhisorherdrawingbyincorporatingtheideaswherethe
studentstruggledonthequizintoarevisedproject.Thus,thestudentwillhavehisorherlearning
beyondtheareasofimprovementindicatedonthequiz.
ImpactonInstruction
Basedoffofthedifficultiesofthisonestudent,Iwouldwanttoadaptmyinstructionto
includeamorevisualrepresentationofthedifferentvocabularywordsregardingthepowersofthe
Constitution.Sincethevocabularyregardingthepowerswasobviouslychallengingtothisstudent,
itmaybehelpfultoprovidestudentswithagraphicorganizer,thattheywouldfillinwithme,which
visuallylaysoutthedifferentdefinitions.Furthermore,Iwouldbesuretoinformthestudentsofthe
importanceofthesetermssothattheyaresuretolearnthem.
Reference:
Black,P.,&Wiliam,D.(1998).Insidetheblackbox:Raisingstandardsthroughclassroom
assessment.London:NelsonPublishingCompany.
Box,C.,Skoog,G.,&Dabbs,J.M.(2015)Acasestudyofteacherpersonalpracticeassessment
theoriesandcomplexitiesofimplementingformativeassessment.AmericanEducational
ResearchJournal,52,956983.
Wiggins,Grant.(1998).Educativeassessment:Designingassessmenttoinformandimprovestudent
performance.SanFrancisco:JoseyBass.