Assessment and Grading for Student Achievement
EDUC 600
3 CREDITS
$295
Online
Instructor: Stephanie Wertkins, Instructor; Damian Cooper & Ken O'Connor, Presenters
Grading: Letter
Spring, Summer & Fall (Ongoing)
Instruction Mode: Internet-Asynchronous (Online Class)
Academic Level: K-12 Professional Development
Partner Course Fee: $295
Partner Class Offered Through Knowledge Delivery Systems
Course Description:
Educational experts Damian Cooper and Ken O'Connor present a lively and topical course on the necessity of rethinking assessment practices to help students learn and become more efficient. Participants will analyze their current practice and begtn to implement improvements based on newly considered distinctions between assessments FOR learning as opposed to assessments OF teaming. Strategies included in the course include facilitating critical tasks for teachers, such as routinely sharing learning goals with students, providing examples of excellence (e.g., through rubrics). promoting collaborative work and selfa· nd peer-assessment, and providing feedback that both informs students how to improve and allows them the time and space to do so. The course also examines the critical distinctions between formative assessment and summative grades and evaluates whether grades promote learning at ali, what functions grades can serve In a standards-based system and, most Importantly, when, what and how to grade students. Interviews with teachers and in classroom workshops illustrate the key points throughout the course and provide examples in actual practice.
Objectives:
After completing this course, educators will know:
- Formative assessment vs. summative assessment
- What makes formative assessment facilitative of learning
- What constitutes essential learning
- Backward design
- The zone of proximal development
- What balanced assessment looks like
- The relationship between instruction and assessment
- The benefits of standards-based grading
- The role of grades in learning
- What makes grades quality
Student Learning Outcomes:
After completing this course, educators will apply the following skills:
- Employ formative assessment to improve student learning
- Use backward design principles to design effective instruction and assessment
- Teach to students’ zones of proximal development
- Provide effective feedback to students
- Balance their assessment plans
- Embrace standards-based grading over norm-referenced grading
- Produce quality grades that are accurate, consistent, meaningful, and supportive of learning
Recommended Texts:
Cooper, D. (2010). Talk About Assessment: High School Strategies and Tools. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Education
Cooper, D. (2007). Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to Improve Teaching and Learning. Scarborough, ON: Thomson Nelson
Available at http://www.nelsonschoolcentral.com/cgi-bin/lansaweb?webapp=WBOOKSITE+webrtn=booksite+F%28LW3ITEMCD%29=9780176289164
**Registration Instructions:
Register for this class through KDSi. NOTE: Upon registration, you have 2 months for course completion. Although many of the courses are approved for both 1 and 3 graduate professional development credits, participants can only receive credit for one version of each course.