Base+group+7_Murphy+and+Hillery

1. Distinction Drawing a. When classroom teachers engage in evaluation, those teachers are drawing conclusions about the quality of their own instructional efforts. b. When a teacher grades a student, they are assigning some kind of symbol to signify how well a student has done. 2. Evaluation of Teaching and the Use of Assessment Data a. There are two types of evaluations that are used to evaluate teachers instruction i. Formative evaluation-the appraisal of the teacher’s instructional program for the purpose of improving the program 1. Formative evaluation is usually performed throughout instruction by the teacher. ii. Summative Evaluation- appraisal of a teachers’ competencies in order to make more permanent decisions about those teachers, such as continuation of employment or awarding tenure. 1. Summative evaluations are usually performed after instruction by an external evaluator, such as an administrator or supervisor. b. A Preinstruction vs. Postinstruction Paradigm i. If you assess your students prior to teaching them, then assess your students after you’ve taught them, any difference between their preinstruction and postinstruction performances ought to be chiefly attributed to your teaching. 1. Beware of giving a reactive pretest, where students only focus on what was tested on the pretest. ii. Different students have different scores 1. It’s important for teachers and evaluators to remember that ever class is different a drop in performance from class to class can’t be attributed to the teachers instruction alone. 2. It’s important to remember that for students who score well on the pre-test the post test results won’t show much improvement. Students can “top out” and fall victim to the ceiling effect. iii. Split-and-switch design 1. A good practice to overcome some of these concerns is to have two test ready at the beginning of instruction. Then split the class in half giving each half a different test, be sure to mark these as the pretest. Then after instruction give the students the opposite test and mark them as postinstruction, finally have colleagues help you grade the test in a blind scoring of the entire test at once, then separate them back into the pre-test and post test to see of effective your instruction was. c. Evaluating Teaching via standardized test i. Nationally standardized achievement test have three tributes that make them inappropriate for evaluating teacher’s instructional success 1. The test is almost always not aligned to state curriculum aims, but a broad aim that appears to be national but misses almost everyone. 2. In a quest for score-spread, the important teacher emphasized content is left out because students in testing samples scored well on that content in high percentages. 3. Many items on standardized test are linked to Socio-economic-status or to inherited academic aptitudes rather than teacher instruction. ii. Standards based assessment is a better judge of the teachers instructional success 1. However NCLB requires so many curriculums to be covered that teachers can only guess at what will be covered. 2. Reports on student performance don’t give a clear view of student success in the different content areas. 3. Successful standards based test should have a manageable Number of content targets, Teachers should receive descriptions of the assessment targets, and Reports should be detailed so teachers can determine which of the targets were mastered by the students, and which weren’t 3. Assessment-Based Grading a. Grades are tools to help Teachers students know i. How they are doing ii. How well they’ve done b. To give accurate and consistent grades teachers should chose what criteria they are going to be grading, and the how much each piece of criteria is worth before instruction. c. There are three main descriptors teachers can use to assign grades i. Letter grades (A,B,C,D,F) ii. Numerical grading system (usually out of 100, 50, or10) students are given are given a number of points on an assessment out of the maximum grade, such as a 7 out of 10. iii. Verbal descriptors, words such as Excellent, Satisfactory, needs improvement. 1. The NAEP grades are classified as either: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, or Below Basic. d. There are also three grade-giving options: i. Absolute grading where what is required to reach a grade is predetermined and set in stone. ii. Relative grading where a grade is given based of the students performance in relation to the rest of the class. iii. Aptitude-based grading where a student’s performance is based on their aptitude and prior performance history. e. For culminating assessment teachers often use Hodgepodge grading to combine assessed achievement, effort, attitude, in class conduct, and growth to give a final grade. While this method is very subjective, students prefer Hodgepodge grading to purely assessment based grading. f. Grading is always subject to error, but the belief is that throughout students educational experience all grades that they received that where either too high or too low will even themselves out, but grading will never be flawless. 4. Concepts to remember a. When teachers evaluate the quality of their own efforts, the majority of the data should come from students’ performances on classroom assessments. b. These assessment should be focused on assessing knowledge gained in the classroom, and at present their not. c. When teacher give grades to students the major factor is should be students’ performance on classroom assessment. d. The criteria of an assessment, and how much each piece is worth should be decided on before instruction.
 * Popham Chapter 15: Evaluating Teaching and Grading Students **

** Creating an Inclusive Environment that Supports Learning for All Students  ** ** Salend Chapter 4  ** ** Creating Collaborative Relationships and Fostering Communicating  ** o  ** Family members ** – provide information about student’s adaptive behavior, medical, social, and psychological histories. Key Concepts to Remember:  ·  ** Always ** involve the families in the decision-making process, and keep them up-to-date with their child’s progress. The plan will not be successful without the families.  ·   Focus on the student, not the disability.  ·   All team members need to be part of the process, and should agree on the goals set.
 * Who are the members of the comprehensive planning team?
 * ** School administrators ** – supervises district wide curriculum and is often named as the chairperson of the planning team. Implements guidelines and ensures that due process, family involvement, assessment and confidentiality are all met.
 * ** General educators – ** general education teachers have worked extensively with the students and can offer information on the student’s strengths and weaknesses
 * ** Special educators – ** provides information on the student’s academic and social skills, as well as student responses to different teaching techniques and materials. Special educators collaborate with the general educators in an inclusive classroom setting.
 * ** Para **** educators – ** assisting with all students in the classroom, promoting educational, social, and behavioral performance of all students.
 * ** School psychologists – ** trained in the interpretation and administration of standardized tests. School psychologists also collect data on students through classroom observations.
 * ** Speech and language clinicians – ** provide information on students’ communication abilities, and also rule out or confirm a language disability in students learning English.
 * ** Social workers – ** serves as a liaison between the school, home, and community agencies and counsel students and their families. Social workers also work to assess the student’s home life on school performance.
 * ** School counselors – ** provide information on the student’s social and emotional development, including self-concept, attitude toward school, and social interactions with others. They also coordinate, assess and monitor the student’s program, and report progress to the rest of the team.
 * ** Vocational educators – ** offer valuable information on the student’s work experiences and career goals.
 * ** School physicians/nurses – ** perform diagnostic tests to assess the student’s physical development, sensory abilities, medical problems and central nervous system functioning.
 * ** Physical therapists, occupational therapists, adapted physical educators – ** typically work with students who have fine or gross motor skill needs. These therapists will provide recommendations for various adaptive equipment. Each therapist focuses on a different part of the body for their work.
 * ** Staff from community agencies – ** work with other team members to assist in the purchasing of adaptive equipment for students.
 * ** Professionals for students who are Second Language Learners  **
 * ** ESL teachers – ** teachers who instruct students in English.
 * ** Bilingual educators -- ** assess and teach students in their native language as well as in English, involve families and community members in the educational program, help students maintain their native culture and language while adjusting to their new culture, and work closely with the general educator.
 * ** Migrant educators – ** assists families who have migrated to the United States with enrolling a child in school and contacting local agencies, businesses and organizations to help the families adjust to their new life. They can also offer students supplemental individualized instruction in a small group setting, once the child has started their education.
 * How can members of the planning team work collaboratively?
 * ** Employ collaborative and interactive teaming  **
 * Set team goals
 * Establish team roles and team membership
 * Keep open communication
 * Make sure all team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, are equally empowered, trust one another and have respect and recognition for all members
 * Modify plan as needed, stay committed to the implementation of the plan, outcomes are regularly evaluated, and a decision was made that all members agree and feel comfortable with.
 * ** Use person-/student-centered planning – ** don’t just focus on the disability; look at the student as a whole, and make a Map Action Planning System to evaluate the team’s aspirations for the student, the team’s biggest concern or nightmare for the student, what is the student’s history?, what are his/her strengths and weaknesses, what is the ideal day like for this student and what needs to be done to make that ideal real?
 * ** Working in co-teaching arrangements  **
 * One teaching/one helping – one teacher instructs the whole class while the other circulates the room to collect information on students’ performance.
 * Parallel teaching – two teachers teach the same material at the same time to two equal groups of students.
 * Station-teaching – two teachers can teach different or review content at the same time to two equal groups of students, and then switch groups and repeat the lessons.
 * Alternative teaching – one teacher works with a smaller group or individualized students while the other teacher teaches to a larger group of students
 * Team teaching – both teachers plan and teach the lesson together to all students.
 * ** Employ collaborative consultation/problem-solving— ** often used in an inclusion classroom setting, collaborative consultation involves working together to problem solve and implement mutually agreed-on solutions to prevent and address learning and behavioral difficulties of all students.
 * ** Promote congruence – ** develop a logical relationship among the curriculum, learning goals, teaching materials, strategies used in the general education classroom, and supportive services programs. Common assessment results, goals and objectives, teaching strategies and materials are all central to congruent education.
 * ** Engage in professional development  **
 * How can I foster communication/collaboration with families?
 * ** Gain trust of families  **
 * Offer flexible and understandable services to families, and take the time to explain the options the family has.
 * Communicate with the student and the family regularly.
 * Learn about a family’s culture, as well as the struggles the family has or is going through.
 * Be aware of your own cultural attitudes and prejudices
 * ** Advocate for students and their families  **
 * Be aware of various organizations and agencies that can offer assistance to families
 * Invite community members and influential members of society into your classroom
 * Make presentations to community and school boards
 * Join professional organizations
 * ** Ensure confidentiality  **
 * Let families know that their child will not be identified as having a certain disability or “problem.” This follows the guidelines set forth in the IDEA and FERPA.
 * Guarantee families the right to obtain, review, and challenge their student’s educational records
 * ** Meet regularly with families  **
 * ** Resolve conflicts constructively  **
 * Understand problems may arise from miscommunication or a family’s previous bad experiences with schools.
 * ** Address diverse needs, backgrounds, and experiences of families  **
 * Keep cultural factors, level of acculturation, beliefs/knowledge of the educational system, prior experience with discrimination, family structure, developmental expectations, perceptions of being disabled, and emotional responses in mind when talking with family members.
 * ** Use written communication  **
 * Letters
 * Notes home
 * Weekly or daily progress reports
 * Two way notebooks
 * newsletters
 * ** Employ technology-based communications  **
 * Websites**/** email
 * Multilingual hotlines
 * Videoconferencing
 * Automated notification systems
 * Telephone answering machines
 * ** Encourage/ facilitate family observations  **
 * Allow family members to quietly enter the classroom to observe how their child behaves and interacts in a school setting.
 * Allows families to get a better understanding of the school environment and school-related concerns.
 * ** Offer educational programs to families   **
 * Open houses
 * Orientation sessions
 * Workshops
 * Available to all family members
 * Focus program on family needs
 * Conduct programs in a range of settings