Cultural Validity in Assessment

Ex1

For my content assessment I am going to focus on the high school level. More specifically, I am going to focus in on the word problems/real-life application problems in math. I think that word problems are one of the hardest concepts while in math. You first need to understand the problem and question that is being asked, but then you need to know what concepts to use to solve the problem. One of the hardest things in word problems is where to begin. So many times I have seen students struggle on problems because of the wording and they are not too sure with what it is exactly asking. For our language learners, I feel like this could be one of the hardest things to grasp. Word problems give a whole range of obstacles, from what certain words mean to what concepts need to be used.

The formative assessment I am thinking of using is simply a group/collaborative work session where they are given word problems of different sorts and will need to problem-solve together. They will need to share their thoughts, and also express in words what steps need to be taken. The more that students can talk their way through problems, the more they will be able to understand them. While groups are working together, I will sit-in on a couple problems as they talk and work through them. During this time, I will be jotting down dialogue that is taking place and will jot down steps they are getting stuck on or misconceptions that they are having. This isn't anything too elaborate for being a formative assessment, but it is aligning with the formative assessment that Professor DeNicolo mentioned in the video for this week by Dieckmann, Gather and Show. It is also just an adaptation of observations like we have read in McKay and Herrera. After observing and documenting, I will look to see what common mistakes are happening and what words and concepts need to be focused on more in depth. So in the end, the outcome that I will be looking for in my formative assessment is that if students can read a word problem, decide what the question is asking, and then use their problem-solving skills to arrive at an answer.

I have some thoughts and questions for you all. Do you think that observations will be enough in this situation? Do you think I will be able to gather and gain enough information through their dialogue to know what misconceptions they are having? I am thinking their dialogue will give me enough, but just want some other opinions. Do you think there is another, maybe better option of how to document my observations? I am always willing to hear ways that work best for you all!

Ex2

The content area I am going to focus on is high school level ELA Students, specifically 9th grade students.  ELLs at my school are mainstreamed and expanding to reaching WIDA proficiency levels.  Occasionally we have resource students who are emerging and developing.  The specific content area of focus will be using context clues to determine meaning of unfamiliar words.  I chose to context clues because it is a skill that beneficial across curriculums.  This vocabulary strategy will help students determine the meaning of unfamiliar words which sometimes impacts the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text.  Context clues is an important listening and speaking strategy as well.

Formative assessments will include whole group discussions, group/pairs interactions, and independent practice (exit tickets).  Whole group discussion will center around determining the meaning of an unfamiliar word based on the anchor chart displayed in the room.  The anchor chart will display the types of context clues using the same word as an example. Student responses will be displayed on the white board.  This will help determine if more explanation is needed.  I would then use a video for further understanding. Next students will work in pairs and take turns reading sentences, determining the meaning of unfamiliar words and identifying the types of context clues used.  Students will also record responses as they discuss.  I will circulate the room observing and guiding their thinking if needed. This will give me an opportunity to observe and document language proficiency for ELLs.  After a whole group discussion, students will complete independent practice as an exit ticket.

I will document student responses during whole class discussions on the board.  During pair session I will take notes of students’ usage of content language and understanding of context clues.  These notes will also help guide whole class discussion. ELLs language observations will be recorded on an observation journal for the individual student. 

Questions: What other language assessments could I use during this exercise?  Next steps would be to assess student’s understanding of context clues when reading text and coming across unfamiliar words.  What are some other suggestions for formative assessments for context clues?

Ex3

What content area will be the focus for this formative assessment? What specific aspect of the content area will you assess and why?

During this formative assessment, I will focus on my 10th grade health class. This assessment will be specifically geared towards the drugs and alcohol unit. One concept that generally gives students trouble is understanding how to calculate volumes of alcohol and what counts as “one drink” of an alcoholic beverage. I will be devoting the time to conduct a formative assessment on this topic because of its importance to the rest of the unit, but most importantly ensuring my students' understanding of the various concentrations of many different alcoholic beverages so they can make positive and informed decisions at this point in their lives and in the future. 

What type of formative assessment will you develop or adapt?  

I plan to use a combination of observation assessment and structured authentic assessment. My thought is that in this covid world, I would use a Google form with a question or two or three asking students to calculate the amount of alcohol in various types of beverages. On one screen I would see the videos of students. Whereas on my other screen, I would be able to see students' answers as they come in from the Google form. I would then be able to ask students that got the question correct to explain how they were able to calculate the volume of alcohol in that question’s given beverage. 

How will you document what you learn or observe?

Using the feedback provided by the Google form responses, I will be able to tell what percent of my students were able to correctly answer the questions. This will tell me whether I need to spend more time reviewing this topic or if I can move on after briefly discussing.

What questions do you have for your peers in thinking about this assessment?

Do you agree with my judgment as to what type of formative assessment I would be conducting here? It is very similar to the structured authentic assessment, however I want to make sure that I discuss how students should have gotten to their answer similar to the observation assessment.