Gifted, Talented & High Ability
Resource Links
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
NAGC - Traits of Gifted Children
NAGC- Characteristics of Gifted Children
NAGC - Myths About Gifted Children
NAGC - National Standards in Gifted Education
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Gifted, Talented & High Ability Resource Links
5 Cardinal Criteria of Assessments
According to Brown & Abeywickrama
(2010), the 5 cardinal criteria for "testing the test" are practicality, reliability,
validity, authenticity, and washback. Educators intent on thinking critically about assessments and how they influence instruction, should have a working knowledge of these 5 principles:
- PRACTICALITY - Researchers define a practical assessment as one which is cost effective, can be completed within allotted time, has flawless directions, uses human resources fittingly, does not over use material resources, and considers the perspectives of all stakeholders (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
- RELIABILITY - The principle of reliability, is defined as one which is both stable and faithful (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010). Meaning, each time the assessment is utilized, all outcomes will consistently be similar each time it is administered (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
- VALIDITY - A valid test measures what it says it will measure, does not measure unrelated variables, relies on performance, gives germane information about students’ capabilities, and can be supported with justification (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010). However, Kunnan asserts, assessment scores which unfairly interpret unrelated variables related to culture, race, and socioeconomic status have unequal levels of construct validity, since they assess “construct-irrelevant” factors (Kunnan, 2000). Construct-irrelevant factors create content prejudice, which causes inequity for culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and economically diverse scholars (Kunnan, 2000). For instance, an assessment which contains passages students have no prior knowledge of, or no schema to work with, puts diverse youngsters at a disadvantage for understanding. Unfortunately, these sorts of assessments perform a great disservice to culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and economically diverse scholars. Nevertheless, educators interested in championing the diversity of test-takers, should consider front loading diverse students with certain aspects of assessments (such as the topic of passages) so test-takers have the opportunity to build schemas on those topics, before being assessed.
- AUTHENTICITY - An authentic assessment contains everyday language, has items which can be put into context, consists of stimulating themes, incorporates an organized story structure, and imitates real world situations (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010). However, Kusimo et al. (2000) remind readers, as students become more diverse, teachers must strive to make socio-culturally relevant assessments, accessible. Authentic assessments should seem sensible and understandable to all students, no matter what the students’ background (Kusimo et al., 2000). On the positive side, an educator who wishes to counter a low level of authenticity of an assessment may want to integrate passage topics into classroom lessons during class read alouds.
- WASHBACK - Gates’ research asserts, washback is “the influence of testing on teaching and learning” (as cited in Shawcross, 2002, p. 2). In thinking about washback, an assessment would have a low level of positive washback if there is no opportunity for a teacher, to inform students of their assessment progress. In other words, an assessment without a feedback component scores low on positive washback. However, educators intent on creating a higher level of positive washback should consider integrating a feedback session to discuss students' results along with strategies on how to improve in class, and for the next assessment.
Overall, discussions of assessment comes back to providing equity, access and opportunity to scholars in the classroom. Although no one assessment will always meet the needs of every learner; educators familiar with the 5 cardinal criteria of practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback, will have the tools they need, to make assessments equitable and accessible to culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and economically diverse scholars. Let's champion for our students. Our students will, Fight On!
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Assessment
What are the best ways to conduct student assessments? What kind of assessments are there?
According to Tomlinson & McTighe (2006), three phases of the assessment continuum are pre-assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment. Effective teachers anticipate student differences, and plan units of study, using assessment, in a proactive, rather than reactive manner. The authors assert, pre-assessment should never be graded, since students have not been exposed to the unit of study, but should be used to guide instruction (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Although there are many great forms of pre-assessment, I am currently most interested in student questionnaires. Commonly referred to as preference surveys, I love the idea of creating an assessment where I can easily incorporate the topic of study in a non-threatening manner.
Research indicates, the objective of formative assessment, is to provide students with constructive feedback, in order to guide youngsters towards developing their knowledge further (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Finally, when working with summative assessments, effective teachers are able to see how students' knowledge has developed from before the unit of study, to the end of the unit of study(Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). My questions for you are, do you believe assessments are important in the classroom? How do you use any of the aforementioned assessments? Or, how do you see yourself implementing assessment in the classroom?
It is important to mention, although assessments are intended on guiding instruction, and monitoring student practice, they are only effective when implemented accurately. Meaning, if I were to provide students with pre-assessment questionnaires, but did not accurately review responses for understanding and guidance on units of study, the pre-assessment was not implemented correctly. However, when implemented accurately, where a teacher takes the time to analyze and reflect on student responses teachers and students will reap the greatest rewards, in the form of exemplary learning.
In closing, I ask you to ponder this quote while connecting it to the marginalization of students: Work that is not sufficiently demanding provokes boredom and prompts youngsters to disengage from the learning process (National Research Council, 1999).
When assessments are implemented correctly, meaningful, appropriate lessons will be created for students. Therefore, marginalization of our students will be less likely to occur. Let's get assessment right. We owe it to our students to put in our greatest assessment and lesson planning efforts, so all learners have the opportunity to realize their fullest potential. Fight On!
According to Tomlinson & McTighe (2006), three phases of the assessment continuum are pre-assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment. Effective teachers anticipate student differences, and plan units of study, using assessment, in a proactive, rather than reactive manner. The authors assert, pre-assessment should never be graded, since students have not been exposed to the unit of study, but should be used to guide instruction (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Although there are many great forms of pre-assessment, I am currently most interested in student questionnaires. Commonly referred to as preference surveys, I love the idea of creating an assessment where I can easily incorporate the topic of study in a non-threatening manner.Research indicates, the objective of formative assessment, is to provide students with constructive feedback, in order to guide youngsters towards developing their knowledge further (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Finally, when working with summative assessments, effective teachers are able to see how students' knowledge has developed from before the unit of study, to the end of the unit of study(Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). My questions for you are, do you believe assessments are important in the classroom? How do you use any of the aforementioned assessments? Or, how do you see yourself implementing assessment in the classroom?
It is important to mention, although assessments are intended on guiding instruction, and monitoring student practice, they are only effective when implemented accurately. Meaning, if I were to provide students with pre-assessment questionnaires, but did not accurately review responses for understanding and guidance on units of study, the pre-assessment was not implemented correctly. However, when implemented accurately, where a teacher takes the time to analyze and reflect on student responses teachers and students will reap the greatest rewards, in the form of exemplary learning.
In closing, I ask you to ponder this quote while connecting it to the marginalization of students: Work that is not sufficiently demanding provokes boredom and prompts youngsters to disengage from the learning process (National Research Council, 1999).
When assessments are implemented correctly, meaningful, appropriate lessons will be created for students. Therefore, marginalization of our students will be less likely to occur. Let's get assessment right. We owe it to our students to put in our greatest assessment and lesson planning efforts, so all learners have the opportunity to realize their fullest potential. Fight On!
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Technology in the Classroom
So as a teacher of change, I am committed to closing the digital divide, by utilizing technology in the classroom with students. What are your list of high tech skills, you'd want your child to learn in school? Holograms? QR codes? Coding? Blogging? Tweeting? Edmodo? They all seem to have great value, since technology is around us, in almost every aspect of our lives. Jenkins et al. (2006) remind us, we live in a participatory culture, where youngsters interact with technology from a very young age. To neglect the benefits of technology in the school setting, will nuture a digitial divide between the tech savvy and those without access and opportunity to technology.
Over this final year at USC, I will try out more technology in my lesson planning, to figure out what's most useful and fun for students in the classroom. Wish me luck! The only way to get started, is to get started!
P.S. For now...I will browse Ted Talks to see what ideas I might find! If you have technology ideas for classroom use, post a comment. Thank you! Fight On!
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