Diagnostic, Formative, and Summative Assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
Data from diagnostic testing pushed me to make different instructional deaccessions and completely redesign my curriculum for the first quarter. I taught a ninety-six minute block class of biology two, all of my students had taken a full year of biology in the previous school year, and my course was designed to be a continuation of what they learned last year. I was instructed by my administration to start with evolution, ecology, and genetics because those topics were not covered in biology one and I planned lessons about evolution to start the school year. Once my students took the diagnostic test, I had to dramatically alter my initial plan for quarter one. Of my ninety students, eight students scored basic or higher. This was a clear signal to me that we needed to review content from biology one before moving on to new topics. The diagnostic assessment provided specific data about my students’ performance in specific areas of biology, which gave me a clear understanding of what my students know and what they need additional support to learn. After reviewing the data, I met with my administration and restructured my plan for quarter one and decided to start with chapter one and strengthen my students’ foundation in science.
In May my students took their fourth and final diagnostic test for the school year and their results were remarkable. Of my eighty-six students I had eleven students earn advanced, sixteen students earn proficient, fifty-six students earn basic, and three students earn below basic. My students had an average that was 11.5% higher than the honors class and more students earn proficient or higher on the diagnostic exam. Six of my students were selected by my administration to take the biology keystone a year early because of their performance on the diagnostic test.
​
This is the data that I received from diagnostic assessment one. It includes the student's overall score and their performance broken down by areas of biology. I used this data to restructure quarter one.
This is a graph I created that depicts my students performance on diagnostic assessment 1. I shared this graph with my students to encourage progress monitoring.
This is a graph I created that depicts my students performance on diagnostic assessment 4. I shared this graph with my students. We celebrated their tremendous growth from quarter 1 to quarter 4 with a classroom party.
Formative Assessment
I have created and used a wide variety of formative assessments in my classroom. I design assessments with my students in mind. I create assessments that all students can access, are engaging, and rigorous. By implementing a plethora of different assessments, I give my students multiple opportunities and methods to express their knowledge and understanding of class content. Here are some of the formative assessments that I currently use in my classroom: Do Nows, chapter assessments, presentations, whiteboards, student-created videos, group projects, laboratory activities, exit tickets, art projects. These are examples of formal formative assessments; each assessment is connected to our daily objective and my students’ performance demonstrates their ability to master the objective. Please scroll down to get a closer look at my use of Do Nows, whiteboards, kahoot, and chapter assessments as formative assessments in my classroom.
Do Nows
Every day my students start class with the Do Now. Students receive a weekly Do Now sheet at the beginning of the week. The sheet contains a space for them to record their answers for each day. Students enter the classroom and their Do Now questions are displayed on the smartboard with a five-minute timer. As students finish, I circulate the classroom and give them a check for completing the Do Now within five minutes. This gives me an opportunity to quickly acknowledge each student in the classroom and see if they are understanding the content. The Do Now is typically three content-driven questions, however, I do occasionally use the Do Now to have students engage in reflection or emotional/physical check-in. Once the timer indicates the time is up, I use random call from Powerschool to call on students to share their answers. Random Call ensures vocal equity and gives me a better understanding of what my students know.
This is my 6th-grade students completing their Do Nows. The timer is displayed on the screen to keep students accountable. The questions read "1. What is the function of the nucleus? 2. Where is DNA located in cells? 3. Describe how the cell wall and cell membrane are different?"
Whiteboards
This is a collection of Do Nows completed by my 6th-grade science students. Each day students complete their Do Now by answering the three questions on the board. Students have five minutes to complete their Do Now. I circulate the room and provide checkmarks to students who have completed their Do Now before the timer is up. This allows me to quickly check in with each student, briefly check their answers, and encourages them to start working as soon as the bell rings. This is one method of assessment I use with my students. After the timer we review the correct answers giving students immediate feedback which encourages them to monitor their progress and learning.
Whiteboards are an assessment strategy that I use frequently with my students. I use whiteboards because it allows me to quickly scan the room and gauge my students understanding, this makes whiteboards a perfect review strategy. I use whiteboards at the start of every chapter. I show students a phenomenon from the Next Generation Science Standards website that is related to our driving question for the chapter. Students then think about what they observed and generate questions. Students write their question(s) on their whiteboard and share it with their table. The table decides on one student-generated question and then that question is transferred to the Driving Question Board and we revisit that question as we progress through the chapter.
My sixth-grade science students using whiteboards. Students generated questions after watching an NGSS phenomenon about the digestive system. This is one example of the multiple methods I use to assess my students' learning.
Presentations
My students engage in a variety of presentations that demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of class content. Presentations give students who struggle with written exams an opportunity to showcase their abilities in a different way. Students have created video presentations, audio presentations, group presentations, and independent presentations. Presentations allow my students to practice skills that will benefit them outside the classroom in a safe and structured way such as public speaking, video editing, and the ability to work effectively in groups. Below is a video of a presentation created by four of my 10th-grade biology students. Their video is a presentation of our RNA unit and this activity was used to review the content before our chapter assessment. A few videos were selected from each class and we viewed them as a class to further review for our chapter assessment.
​
Please click the link below to see my 10th-grade biology students' RNA presentation.
https://www.torshtalent.com/video/mrz7wi2SfRGt298bF
​
Chapter Assessments
Chapter assessments are given to students at the end of the chapter. I do not have a schedule of when chapter assessments occur because each chapter is a different length and I modify time spent on the chapter based on student performance. However, students typically receive a quiz and Claim Evidence and Reasoning (CER) assessment in the middle of the chapter and we have a review day the day before the chapter assessment. Chapter assessments contain three sections multiple-choice, free response, and a CER. The variety of questions gives students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Students have the opportunity and are encouraged to do test corrections after each assessment. Chapter assessments are 25% of my students’ overall grade. If the class average is below 75% I spend additional time on the chapter and provide students with remediation and extension activities. Additionally, I carry the top two missed questions over onto the next chapter assessment, once a majority of the class answers the question correctly, I remove it from the assessment. If the class average is above 75% I view that as an indication that most of my students have a strong understanding of the content from that chapter and they are ready to move on, for high achieving students I offer acceleration activities. Below is my chapter one assessment for seventh grade integrated science
This is the first chapter assessment I gave my 7th-grade science students. This assessment has three parts that require students to use different skills giving them more options to accurately express what they know. Part 1 of the test consists of 5 rigorous multiple-choice questions. Part 2 consists of 3 free-response questions. Part 3 consists of an extended essay style Claim Evidence and Reasoning. Students are expected to complete this test within one class period preparing for the CASTE our timed state standardized test for science. My assessments use a variety of assessment strategies giving students multiple options to demonstrate what they have learned during the chapter.
Summative Assessment
Summative Assessments in my classroom include unit tests, laboratory activities, and a research paper. Each unit contains between three and five chapters after all of the chapters in the unit are finished students take a unit test. Unit tests are longer than chapter assessments and contain a much wider breadth of content. Laboratory activities have a place in both formative and summative assessment. Larger laboratory activities that span multiple days, include a formal laboratory write up, and require students to demonstrate a variety of scientific skills are considered a form of summative assessment in my classroom.
​
My students engaged in the process of writing a formal research paper. Students researched and proposed a topic to me and then designed and implemented experiments. This was all of my students' first time writing a research paper and they required scaffolding to help them be successful. The research paper took approximately two and a half months to complete and students engaged a variety of activities to help them create the best version of the research paper. I chunked the research paper, so students were completing only one section at a time. For each section, students were given an exemplar created by me and an optional template that I created. Students were required to have every section peer-reviewed before they submitted it to me. Additionally, students were required to submit their papers through google docs to allow me to easily leave feedback for them through the comments feature. Once students completed their research papers, they were required to make poster board presentations of their paper and present them to the class. My principal sat in on the presentations and choose the top presentations and allowed them to compete in a city-wide science fair. Below is a template I created to help my students write the results section of their research paper, this template is for students who created surveys as their experiment. Additionally below is a research paper written by one of my 10th grade students, this in particular student was chosen by my principal to compete in the city wide science fair.
My 10th grade biology students preparing for their first laboratory activity. The classroom has been rearranged and students are sitting with their lab partners wearing proper protective gear.
Two 10th grade students engaged in a gallery walk. Students were given the rubric that their projects will be graded with and asked to grade eight projects. This activity helped students see what their project should look like in terms of content and design.
This is a template that I created for my students. This was my students very first experience writing a research paper which is an extremely rigorous and lengthy task. To support my students to reach this rigorous learning goal I had to scaffold my approach to instruction. This template made it easy for them to plug in the data we analyzed together as a class to write the results section of their research paper. The research paper was their final assignment and it was an effective summative assessment that required students to use multiple skills they developed through the school year.
This artifact is the rubrics I created for the research paper. The rubric tells students what exactly is expected of them and how they will be graded. Writing a research paper is a difficult task, but it can be made easier by informing students exactly what is expected of them. The rubric contains a spot for both students to sign verifying that their section was peer-reviewed. Students used the rubric to monitor their progress as they wrote their paper, using it as a checklist to ensure they fulfilled all expectations.
This is a research paper exploring various brands of toothpaste and their ability to whiten teeth. This was written by a 10th-grade biology student. He elected to write his results section without using the template. His experiment and research paper went on to compete in the Philadelphia Science Fair.