[One-Minute Makeover] Algebra 1 • Topic 1 Assessment

Welcome to the Makeover!

Here’s an idea: I’ll write a post. It will take me a few minutes, or more.

Next, you’ll read the post. It’ll only take you a minute. It’ll be about assessment. Specifically, me describing how I took a terrible assessment question and made it less terrible.

Ready? Here we go!

Algebra 1 Assessment, Before

In my previous post I linked to the Algebra 1 SBG assessments I wrote in 2011-2012. Largely, they stink. Here’s an example of a terrible question from the Topic 1 assessment (full list-o-topics is here):

That was Form A, and I’ve created about a million forms (okay, more like 5-10 forms) for each assessment (in every class, though, so the total really is pretty close to a million). Here’s a similar question from Form B:

I was trying to write questions that assess whether my students understand the commutative, associative, and distributive properties. In particular, I wanted to see if they could name the properties based on an algebraic or numerical example. I was also hopeful that they knew which operations are commutative and associative (and which are not).

Oh. My.

Well, what I ended up with in my first attempt were some miserable true/false questions that don’t really accomplish any of what I was hoping for. An especially unfortunate consequence of the way I wrote the questions was that students who might otherwise have explained their reasoning quickly learned that this problem demanded no such thing. A one-word answer for each part is all that was called for. Worse yet, because I failed to require any record of thinking on the page, the majority of my students resolved to do no thinking at all in their minds. It became a guessing game, and one that they’re not particularly skilled at.

Algebra 1 Assessment, After

This year I’ve set about rewriting my Algebra 1 assessments. They’re not perfect, and I’ll probably want to run them through a revision cycle again next year (and the year after, and so on forever), but there are a few questions here and there that strike me as significant improvements over their original counterparts.

Here’s what the corresponding question looks like on the current Topic 1 assessment:

Just below #2 I ask whether multiplication is associative (#3) and whether division is associative (#4). It’s immediately more demanding, doesn’t let students off the hook, doesn’t tempt them to do less thinking than they might naturally do, and gives me a fairly clear sense of whether students know which property is which, and which operations are commutative/associative.

In writing this up, the only immediate change that I’d like to make to the question is to throw a third sentence in between the two already there. “Explain.” It’s implied, but it would be nice to state it explicitly. So then I would have something like, “Is addition commutative? Explain. Support your answer/explanation with an example.”

Wrap Up

So, was that terribly longer than a minute? Or was it simply a terrible minute? Let me know what you think about this feature in general and/or this question comparison in particular in the comments.

Cheers!

January 17, 2014

Assessment Update: SBG in Algebra 1

With the start of a new semester, several of the assessment ideas that have been floating around in my brain are making their way into my classroom. I thought I might break my recent and unintended blogging silence (eleven weeks!) by sharing some of what I’m thinking, some of what I’ve done, and some of what I hope to do. Here goes…

The Beginning: Algebra 1

In August 2011, inspired by this post from Dan Meyer, I introduced SBG into my Algebra 1 class. There were some bumps along the way, but overall I was thrilled with the change. I loved being able to answer student and parent questions along the lines of, “What can Johnny do to improve his grade,” with specific comments about strengths, weaknesses, and areas to attack. (Of course, the improve-your-grade-by-improving-your-understanding-and-then-demonstrating-this-improved-understanding is already a huge upgrade over the days of old when kids—and sometimes parents—would ask/beg for extra credit. But I digress…)

I’m somewhat embarrassed of the quality of the assessments I wrote then, but it was a start. For anyone brave enough to look at that first wave of SBG assessments I wrote, enter at your own risk. (BTW, I’ve abandoned my favorite app in the history of the world—Dropbox—for the new kid on the block—Copy—because of the oodles and oodles of free space, and the seemingly comparable features to Dropbox. After a few referrals I’m at 80GB of free storage. If you’re interested in signing up—15GB + 5GB for using the referral link—go here.)

This year I’ve decided that my assessments need a major improvement in quality, so I’ve set about to accomplish as much of that as I’m capable of (while still creating resources and preparing for all of my other classes). The I’m-totally-not-finished-yet-but-have-a-look-if-you-want second wave of Algebra 1 SBG assessments live here.

I’ll continue writing new assessments for those 24 topics—the same topics I sketched out in August 2011—through the rest of this semester. Originally I just had a list of topics; since then I’ve added “I can…” statements to the course outline. However, I’ll scrap both of those in the next year or two (even with the “new-and-improved” assessments I’m writing this year) as we transition to an integrated Common Core sequence. I expect some of the topics, lessons, and assessments will slide into our new Grade 8 course, while others will make their way into the high school’s Math 1 course. Nevertheless, one major and lasting benefit I’ll carry forward from this Algebra 1 SBG experience is (I hope) a better understanding of how to write decent assessments. At the very least, I’m learning to identify what I don’t like about many of the assessments I’ve written.

Next Up

That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon about “Phase 1.5,” my experience applying SBG to AP Calculus AB midway through the 2012-2013 school year.

May 30, 2013

Better Assessments is Live!

Woohoo!

After an inexcusably long delay, the Better Assessments blog is now up and running. Head on over to have a look at Stephanie Reilly’s Algebra 2 quiz on exponents and adding polynomials.

Add your voice to the conversation by asking questions and providing feedback in the comments, and consider submitting your own assessments while you’re at it! Details (including alternative ways to play) are over at the blog.

March 30, 2013

A Further Call to Arms

Entering the Discussion

Two Thursdays ago I jumped in the middle of an ongoing discussion about assessment by posting this. It was essentially a call to arms, a request to join forces in strengthening the quality of our assessments.

Then, just after midnight on Saturday morning Daniel Schneider blew my mind by posting this. If you haven’t read it yet, stop messing around on my blog and get yourself over to his. Make sure you follow all of the rabbit-holes provided in the links. (He wasn’t kidding when he said he was a master aggregator.)

(Update: While I was fiddling with this draft, Daniel threw this down as well. Go ahead and put another educator on the list of people I want to be like when I grow up.)

What’s Next

So where do we go from here? What should we do with all of the interest and enthusiasm surrounding assessment? I see one thing as a no-brainer:

Let’s create a centralized location with links out to quality posts and articles about creating excellent mathematics assessments.

I’m hopeful that a certain master aggregator will lend a hand here. (Update: He will!) Over time we can add more links to resources and even invite members of the so-called better assessments movement to write articles addressing specific topics of need.

Archive or Conversation?

Beyond that, I see two lines of attack: (1) Build an archive; (2) Foster a conversation.

Let me explain.

It would be incredibly valuable to have access to a well-populated, easily-searchable database full of rich assessment questions.

It would be even more valuable—incomparably so—if we learned, as an entire community, to write such rich questions.

In the first case (the archive-building scenario) the focus is more on writing and/or gathering good questions and assessments, and then serving them up in a helpful way. A noble task, to be sure. One I hope others will take up and carry to great heights. (By the way, if that’s you, check out OpusMath, follow them on Twitter, and start uploading like crazy.)

But more than a comprehensive archive of excellent problems with a slick user interface, I think our most essential need right now is to develop an army of amazing assessment authors.

If you agree that the ongoing, teacher-developing conversation is at least as important as the creation of a fantastic archive, then I invite you to join me in the following challenge.

Write An Assessment You’re Proud Of

In a recent email exchange with Daniel, I shared a massive vision I have for creating this group of great assessment writers. He suggested starting with something smaller (something vital, yet attainable) and building from there.

With that in mind, here is my/his/our challenge to ourselves and to you:

I want to challenge the blogotwittersphere to write an assessment they’re proud of. To pick a skill/concept/objective and write a targeted assessment that measures this objective at various depths. Or, if they already have an assessment they’re proud of, to share why they’re proud of it—what is it about this question/this series of questions that makes this assessment meaningful? That finds a way to assess both procedural and conceptual understanding. That gives students an opportunity to exceed expectations. That has an ‘explain’/’justify’ component. I don’t know if these things are possible for all skills and objectives, but this is why I want others to be thinking about it too.

The end goal is: create an assessment you’re proud of in terms of format or questions or depth or all of the above, and explain why you think this is something worthwhile.

(I tried to recast his challenge in my own words, and realized I was better off stealing the thing wholesale, with his permission, of course.)

Where Do I Sign Up?

If you’re interested in playing along at home, start with a one-minute survey. Then hop on the Twitter and spread the word! The more voices we have in the conversation, the better we’re all going to get.

What You Can Expect From Me

Once this blog post goes live, I’ll do the following:

Set up betterassessments.wordpress.com (the “home” for the better assessments conversation)
Gather already-existing resources together in an Assessment Authoring Boot Camp section of the blog (Daniel Schneider has agreed to lend a hand; additional volunteers welcome)
Put out an official “call for assessments” over a two week (?) period in the near future, including submission guidelines
Feature a small number (one to three?) of these assessments each week as guest posts on the blog (including the “explain…” bit from Daniel’s challenge), and invite the “better assessments” community to offer feedback, constructive criticism, etc.

As with any group project (and I hope this turns into a massive group project), better ideas will come as soon as brains other than my own start their wheels-a-turnin’. I’m not married to any of the details sketched out above, so long as we find a way to establish an ongoing and positive conversation about assessment.

The Dailyness is the Key

I feel I should explain the last bullet under “What You Can Expect From Me.”

Let’s dream big. Imagine that 100 math and science teachers from all sorts of different grade levels and courses submit assessments when the call goes out. The assessments range from decent to amazing, and we’re all stoked because 100 people (100 people!) played along with this little experiment and we have heaps of assessments to look at and learn from.

If we’re not careful, we’ll squander most of the opportunity for conversation presented by 100 such submissions. My intention is to highlight a few assessments at a time so that busy teachers (that’s us!) have an opportunity to dig into each assessment in depth, over the course of an extended period of time. (Whether or not my suggested approach will achieve the goal is open to discussion.)

I think we’ll experience the most growth as a community if we employ a slow-and-steady approach, rather than go after this all at once. It’s the reason many of us find blogs and Twitter more powerful tools for sustained professional growth than fantastic-but-isolated conference experiences once every year or two. The dailyness of our practice is the key to our growth.

What To Do With a Head of Steam

If this project isn’t dead in a few months, then I’ll share some details of the bigger vision I have for this assessment conversation. It has to do with recruiting and organizing people at various levels and in various subjects into assessment-writing cohorts. They’re exciting plans (at least to me), but possibly unrealistic. In the coming weeks I’ll invite some of you to tell me what has potential, what’s a waste of time, and what needs tweaking to become realistic.

Some Closing Thoughts

I think multiple-choice questions are generally inferior to free-response questions. I also think that both styles of “one-off” question are completely inferior to well-crafted performance assessments. However, I also believe that poorly-written MC and FR questions are inferior to well-written MC and FR questions. With that in mind, I think it’s entirely appropriate to allow MC and FR questions into the discussion at betterassessments.wordpress.com.

With that said, I think the MC/FR/Performance Assessment classification of assessment questions isn’t as helpful as the conceptual/procedural/synthesis approach described by Daniel here and here. I certainly like this latter three-part structure better than then conceptual/procedural/application framework I’d been mulling over prior to reading all these great blog posts on assessment.

Comment Time

Heart beating with uncontrollable excitement? Bored out of your mind and wondering how you made it to the end of another lackluster post? Have a suggestion? A critique? An idea? Drop a line in the comments and keep the conversation rolling.

March 21, 2013

Tasks and Assessments

More Awesome, Please

Either I’m a glutton for punishment, or there’s just too much awesome on the Internet and I can’t help myself. Whichever is true, I want to build something, and I need your help to do it. Here’s what I propose:

Let’s do for assessment what Dan Meyer, Andrew Stadel, Fawn Nguyen, and countless others are doing for rich, engaging tasks.

Here’s what I mean. As a math teacher, there are two things I need more than anything else: awesome tasks and awesome assessments. And maybe it’s because I just joined the party, but it seems like people are absolutely killing the task-creation side of the equation right now. The number of people creating tasks, as well as the number and quality of the tasks they’re creating, is exploding. And with some recent changes, Dan’s 101qs.com appears to be morphing into a place where entire tasks can go to live. I hope I’m right. If I am, the proliferation of creators and their creations will only accelerate.

But that’s only half of the equation. I need more than great tasks. I also need great assessments. I firmly believe that the quality of my courses will rise or fall with the quality of my assessments.

Why is my AP Calculus course stronger than my Precalculus course? The assessments my Calculus students take (throughout the year, as well as in May) are better than the ones I give my students in Precalculus.

Why am I stoked about the Common Core? It’s not because the standards are better than my state’s old standards (which they are). It’s because the assessments promise to be worlds better than the CST (fellow Californians know what I mean).

Weak assessments allow me to teach a weak course and get away with it.

But awesome assessments force the issue. If students aren’t doing some serious learning, we’re going to know. And it’s going to be uncomfortable. And we’re going to have to get better.

So Let’s Get Better (By Sharing Like Crazy)

So what if we all started sharing more of our assessments? What if they had a place to live, with room for rubrics and commentary and comments and suggestions for improvements and whatever else will make it easier to share and steal and tweak.

Let’s share the ones we think are fantastic (like this one from Daniel Schneider) so others can learn from our best moments. Let’s share the ones we’re embarrassed by so others can tell us why they’re terrible and how to make them better. Let’s share the ones we’re not sure about, so others can tell us what works and what doesn’t, what to keep and what to throw away.

Let’s start sharing. And giving feedback. And revising. And making our classrooms better by making our assessments better.

Interested?

Are you in? If so, head down to the comments, hit me up on twitter (@mjfenton), or drop me an email (mjfentonatgmaildotcom). And by all means, let’s all use our megaphones to get others involved.

I’m next to nothing without you guys. But together… This could be exciting.