Chapter+7+Using+UDL+to+Accurately+Assess+Student+Progress

Chapter 7: Using UDL to Accurately Assess Student Progress
Podcast: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vCm6FuKMVtuI1fw58 media type="custom" key="6554541" Teachers evaluate student performance for many reasons: to determine the effectiveness of curriculum materials and methods; to compare achievement levels within and across schools, school systems, districts, and states; and to evaluate students' knowledge and skill. Students' ability or inability to work with particular media and methods may confound evaluation of their knowledge and skills.
 * || ** Key Ideas: **
 * Giving the same written test to all students is neither fair nor accurate. When a single, inflexible medium is used for testing, students' skills with that medium become hopelessly confused with the skills we intend to measure.
 * Testing separately from teaching and without the supports that students normally use provides an invalid perspective on what students know and can do.
 * Digital tools and media make it possible to design ongoing assessments that support individual differences in recognition, strategic, and affective networks, giving us a more accurate measure of students' achievement in relation to the learning goal.
 * Digital curricula with embedded assessment can track progress and provide ongoing feedback to help students improve performance while they are learning. ||

The traditional model of academic assessment is flawed in four important ways: The natural variety of recognition strengths and weaknesses within a typical classroom prevents any single presentational medium from yielding an unbiased, accurate assessment for the entire class.
 * 1) Student characteristics (individual learning differences) can confound results

2. Media characteristics can confound results. We can gain a richer understanding of what people know by crossing media lines and assessing content with media not usually associated with assessment. This is rare in traditional assessments, which usually consist of a single medium (overwhelmingly printed text). This reliance on singular media prevents teachers from fully evaluating different kinds of knowing.

3. Withholding student supports can confound results. When the supports do not undermine the central goal of the assessment, it is perfectly reasonable and, in fact, more accurate to include them.

4. Poor integration with curriculum limits the value of assessment data. Most traditional assessments are detached from instruction and practice. The way to gain insight into learning processes is not by giving an end-of-unit test, but by examining the interaction between a student and curriculum over time and assessing performance and the factors that underlie it. (Ex. portfolio assessments and self-assessment journals)

Ways to Increase Student Engagement with an Assessment: -Supports (ex. tools, media) -Content (ex. varied texts) -Embedding Assessment (more formative assessments to decrease testing anxiety)

This video from YouTube mentions a lot of the technologies that we've discussed in class so far. The video in a montage of students asking to use these technologies to learn. The video takes itself a little too seriously and is kind of funny, but it has a great message:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8 media type="youtube" key="_A-ZVCjfWf8" height="385" width="480"

New technologies allow for two-way interactive assessments. With these technologies available in our classrooms, we will be able to create learning environments that not only teach, but also "learn" to teach more effectively. By distributing the intelligence between student and environment, the curriculum will be able to track student successes and weaknesses and monitor the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of its own methods. The result will be a curriculum that becomes smarter, not more outdated, over time.