Blueprint Planning for Summative Assessments Timothy ...

1 Running Head: Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 1. Blueprint Planning for Summative Assessments Timothy Higgins Marist College Author Note: Prepared for EPSY605 Educational assessment & Evaluation Professor Szabo April 1, 2013. Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 2. Abstract It is impossible to assess the amount of knowledge that a student has retained in any given content area unit. The challenge for the secondary school educator is to craft meaningful informal and formal formative Assessments that build into Summative Assessments . These valid Summative Assessments provide a representative sample of the total knowledge in that unit while, at the same time, ensuring that NYS and CC learning standards are given their proper treatment.

2 An important starting point for representative sampling is the unit Blueprint --a visual means to verify whether all unit areas and cognitive dimensions are given appropriate due as learning for the class progresses. It is beneficial that learning continue after Summative Assessments as students derive additional knowledge and understanding from corrective feedback. Culminating Assessments can be opportunities for learning real-world applications and skills that participating students can be proud of. Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 3. Blueprint Planning for Summative Assessments The Summative Assessments are being prepared for a unit in twelfth grade AP global history.

3 The unit focuses on the Classical era (1000 to 500 ) which includes the early civilizations of China, India, Greece, Rome, and Persia. The textbook is entitled World Civilizations: The Global Experience (Sixth edition, AP). This unit uses four chapters of the textbook. I anticipate this unit taking up one marking period; approximately two months of the school calendar. During these two months, various formative assignments and Assessments (as presented and discussed in assignment 2) will prepare the students for the Summative Assessments on this unit. These Assessments take on many forms including binary choice items, multiple choice questions, completion items, matching items, and short answers.

4 Higher levels of cognition will be called on to complete interpretive exercises, essay items, and authentic tasks. Team building is an essential component of the last task. This task will be ongoing, culminating in a presentation of the ancient replica with additional explanatory materials. Summative Assessments , the unit Blueprint , and standards What are the differences between formative and Summative assessment and do they need to be distinct processes in the assessment continuum? Are not all Assessments formative as we learn from our mistakes? All purposeful tools should teach and not merely assess the gap between planned for knowledge and skill and that actually retained should be addressed in a formative- Summative -formative feedback loop.

5 There seems to be value in maintaining the distinction between formative and Summative purposes of assessment while seeking synergy in relation to the processes of assessment . These different purposes are real. One can conduct the same assessment and use it for different purposes just as one can travel between two places for Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 4. different purposes. As the purpose is the basis for evaluating the success of the journey, so the purpose of assessment enables us to evaluate whether or not the purpose has been achieved. If we fuse, or confuse, formative and Summative purposes, experience strongly suggests that good assessment ' will mean good assessment of learning, not for learning (Harlen, pp.)

6 220-221). assessment for learning sets a classroom tone of continuous improvement and invites self- correction and encourages regulation within the students. The Summative Assessments in the Blueprint that tap into higher cognitive dimensions are the interpretive exercises and essays. Interpretive exercises use material that students encounter in everyday living such as maps, newspaper articles, and graphs. Consistent with constructivist learning theory, this connects the material better with the student, increasing meaningfulness and relevance (McMillan, 2011, p. 188). This format can be limited by how students organize their thoughts and can be mitigated and improved by melding the metacognitive dimension into these Assessments .

7 Social studies students can draw heavily on their understanding of relationships and patterns while composing an extended response essay. The extended response essay is an ideal format for assessing deep understanding and reasoning. Research on student learning habits shows that when students know they will face an essay test they tend to study by looking for themes, patterns, relationships, and how information can be organized and sequenced. In contrast, when studying for objective tests students tend to fragment information and memorize each piece (McMillan, 2011, p. 204). This is key and brings the formative work into the Summative essay as students call on previous work that helps organize and formulate their writing.

8 The Blueprint provides a visual tool by which to plan and assess curricular goals. It serves as a self-check tool for the teacher and provides insight into the assessment process. An Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 5. understanding of mandated standards and their applicability throughout the Blueprint aids the student (and teacher) in achieving objectives. Often, there are synergies between Blueprint cells where related Assessments emerge. This leverage makes the best use of class time to achieve objectives. The unit Blueprint exhibited in appendix A and aligns with the following NYS social studies learning standards: NYS learning standard 2 - Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

9 NYS learning standard 3 - Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live local, national, and global including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth's surface. The reading and writing elements of the Common Core learning standards (CCLS) for literacy in social studies are evident in the variety of Assessments that are paired with the Blueprint for this unit. The reading standards are 1, 2, 3, and 7. The writing standards are 7 and 8. The eight highlighted Blueprint cells are discussed below.

10 They are numbered from I to VIII on the Blueprint table. The points have been modified slightly from the Blueprint points for formative Assessments to allow more specificity and relevance in the Summative exercises. They are discussed below. I. Unit Learning Objective: Analyze the roles and contributions of individuals and groups to changing and developing social, political, economic, cultural, and religious practices and activities in the classical civilizations. (Alignment: Std 2, KI-2, PI-5, Std 2, KI-3, PI-1, Std 4, KI-1, PI-1 AND CCLS Reading std 3). Blueprint Planning FOR Summative Assessments 6.