(LAMP) Measuring The Effect of Teaching

Transcription

1 Learning Assessment Model Project (LAMP) Measuring The Effect of Teaching For Teacher Candidates Office of Early Field Experiences Teachers College Ball State University Muncie, IN For University & Classroom Supervisors Classroom Teachers & Principals DEVELOPED BY MARCHANT, POWELL & SCHOENFELDT TEACHERS COLLEGE BALL STATE

2 Page 2 Office of Early Field Experiences Page 11 The Project and Rubric LAMP is a way of organizing a unit of instruction to demonstrate student learning, show accountability for s, and help the teacher candidate explore the teaching/learning process LAMP HISTORY LAMP was created as a response to the increased accountability s that are being placed on schools and institutions of higher education. It began over three years ago when a Greg Marchant (Educational Psychology) recruited Melinda Schoenfeldt (Elementary Education) and Jim Powell (Secondary Education) to assist in the creation of a means by which Ball State University could demonstrate that the effect that its teacher candidates were having on their students learning. It has been field tested for two years and has received positive feedback from teacher candidates, classroom and university supervisors, and building administrators. It has recently been nominated for the Christa McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher Education. This is a national award recognizing innovative teacher preparation programs. PROJECT Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient Distinguished Represent a-tion of Standards Does not tie into Ties into major Ties into one major and one ancillary Ties into two or more major and ancillary s LAMP requires the development of a student project that reflects the academic s of the instructional unit. The directions for the project are to be well defined and available for students to reference. The project should be authentic and have some real-life connection. There should be enough flexibility in the requirements of the project to meet the needs of diverse learners. The students should clearly know and understand the criteria for the evaluation of the project. The teacher candidate must also design a rubric to assess the classroom students projects. Although it is important to address the process of how the project was completed, and the conventions that might be associated with quality work, the rubric must assign the most weight to s associated with the s. Student Learning 1. Pre-test Performanc e Graph Evaluation of Student Learning Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient No graph or incomplete or inaccurate graph One graph for whole test using raw scores with mean and preestablished criteria identified One graph for whole test using percent correct with mean and preestablished criteria identified Distinguished Separate complete graphs produced for different s All of the previously described tasks set the stage for the ultimate goal, the teachers candidates demonstration of their understanding of their students learning and how that relates to their own teaching. A key tool in this understanding is the display of students performance through graphs reflecting the assessments in the pre-test, project, and post-test. The teacher candidate should interpret the graph(s) in terms of whole class and individual student performance.

3 Page 10 Office of Early Field Experiences Page 3 The Unit UNIT Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient Distinguished 1. Content Standard Indicators Does not use a state academic Uses one state Uses two or more s It is not unusual for teacher candidates to be expected to complete a unit of instruction as part of their student teaching experience. This unit is typically about two weeks long, although the length could vary depending on the grade level and structure of the course. LAMP simply identifies some important components required to keep the instruction consistent with s, assessments, and best practice. It is critical that the instruction, project, and assessments are all aligned with the appropriate s. For example, the rubrics for the s are: The Assessments ASSESSMENT Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient Distinguished 2. Reliability Pre- and Post-tests are not aligned in and difficulty Pre- and post-tests aligned in or difficulty (not both) Pre- and post-tests are aligned in and difficulty Assessment is the driving force behind LAMP. Without good assessment tools, the data the teacher candidates reflect on will be meaningless, interpretations will be misguided, and decision making will be flawed. The most important issue in any assessment instrument is validity. The instrument needs to actually measure what it is supposed to be measuring. The s chosen for the instructional unit need to be the focus of the assessment instruments. LAMP BASICS The Learning Assessment Model Project (LAMP) is designed to facilitate and evaluate the teacher candidate s ability to align instruction and assessment with s and best practice, their ability to demonstrate their students learning, and to provide evidence of their own understanding of how the assessment of their students learning informs their instruction. LAMP provides a protocol of rubric driven evaluation criteria for: (1) the pre-and post- assessment of academic s, (2) the development of an instructional unit including an authentic-based project and scoring rubric, and (3) the evaluation of group and specific student performance based on assessment information with interpretations and implications for instruction. Although LAMP is implemented during the teacher candidates student teaching experience, the skills necessary to complete the project have been developed throughout their teacher education program. LAMP is not intended to be an additional unit to be taught during student teaching, it is designed to be a framework for designing and reflecting on the success of a unit that should be a regular part of student teaching. The LAMP unit is designed so that s inform the to be taught. This is assessed prior to instruction. The instruction leads to a project that is assessed, and also is followed by a post-assessment comparable to the pre-assessment measure. A key element of the model is the evaluation of the learning that has occurred. The LAMP Decision Making Contexts (Context is a recurring element in the model) include s; testable skills and knowledge; the nature of the school, class, and students; authentic (real-life) applications; instructional strategies; media and technology; project design; nature and criteria of assessment; and evaluation. LAMP includes areas for evaluation and specific scoring rubrics for: The Instructional Unit Unit Project and and Rubric Assessments Evaluation of Student Learning

4 Page 4 Office of Early Field Experiences Page 9 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: What is LAMP? A: LAMP is a rubrics-driven method designed to facilitate and evaluate a teacher candidate s ability to align instruction and assessment with s and best practice, their ability to demonstrate their students learning, and to provide evidence of their own understanding of how the assessment of their students learning informs their instruction. Q: What do the letters in LAMP stand for? A: Learning Assessment Model Project Separate graphs are produced to reflect the assessments of the project and the post-assessment. In addition to interpreting each of these graphs separately, a comparison of performance on the s from pretest and project, to posttest can provide great insight into a wide array of dimensions. This reflection can identify students or groups of students that performed above or below expectations, it can point out instructional and assessment flaws, and give direction for modifications of instruction in the future. This process of interpretation and reflection is the crux of LAMP. Students may perform below expectation or even below pre-test levels. What is important is how a teacher deals with this information. It is important that the teacher candidates realize that LAMP provides them with the opportunity to hone the skills required to become more effective teachers. Q: Why is LAMP important? A: The issue of teacher candidates demonstrating an impact on K-12 student learning is mentioned in three of the six new NCATE s. Clearly it is important that teacher candidates are equipped with the tools to assess and analyze student learning, and that they become proficient in doing this as part of their pre-service training. LAMP guides student teachers through this assessment process. Q: Is LAMP an added requirement for student teaching? A: Teacher candidates are already required to create a unit of instruction. The only additional requirements are to create a pretest and to graph the students performances on the unit s pretest, project, and posttest. Q: How much more work does this create for the classroom supervisor? A: None. The classroom teacher continues to serve as the teacher candidate s mentor. The teacher candidate creates and evaluates the success of the unit. Completing the LAMP process has been described as just good teaching by both teacher candidates and cooperating teachers. The following sections will deal with the specific requirements for each of the five sections of LAMP. At the beginning of each section you will be shown an example of the rubrics that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of each Learning Assessment Model Project. As stated earlier all the rubrics with accompanying artifacts can be found at: Please refer to that website for additional information and guidance as you begin to design the unit and assessments.

5 Page 8 Office of Early Field Experiences Page 5 The Project and Rubric LAMP requires the development of a student project that reflects the academic s of the instructional unit. The directions for the project are to be well defined and available for students to reference. The project should be authentic and have some real-life connection. There should be enough flexibility in the requirements of the project to meet the needs of diverse learners. The students should clearly know and understand the criteria for the evaluation of the project. The teacher candidate must design a rubric to assess the classroom students projects. Although it is important to address the process of how the project was completed and the conventions that might be associated with quality work, the rubric must assign the most weight to s associated with the s. It should not be possible for a project to receive a high evaluation if it does not adequately reflect accomplishment on the s, even if it was very neat and the students worked well together in its creation. Holistic rubrics that combine elements to be evaluated or use vague descriptions to define level of quality tend to be subjective and unreliable. LAMP requires that students keep the elements of their rubric separate and define levels of performance in objective terms. As with all assessments, the criterion for evaluating overall performance on the project needs to be specific and appropriate. Evaluation of Student Learning Q: How much more work does this create for the university supervisor? A: University supervisors can either evaluate teacher candidates using the LAMP rubrics during the portfolio showcase or during a separate minute interview. The teachers who have worked with the LAMP teacher candidates are now using the process because they see the benefits. (University Supervisor) Q: Why are teacher candidates asked to create and administer a pretest? A: A pretest is used to determine what each student knows before beginning a unit. Armed with that knowledge, the teacher candidate can better plan instruction to meet the diverse needs of the learners within the classroom and more easily determine the effectiveness of instruction through the comparison of performance on the pretest and posttest. I really, really do like the idea of giving a pre test of some sort. Even if it s not as extensive as the pretest that I gave for this project, it still gives you a great idea of where these students are and what they need to work on and I think it really helped me. (Student)) Q: How is student learning demonstrated? A: Graphs display students performances on the unit s pretest, project, and posttest. All of the previously described tasks set the stage for the ultimate goal, the teacher candidates demonstration of their understanding of the learning of their students and how that relates to their own teaching. A key tool in this understanding is the display of students performance through graphs. The first graph is produced after the pre-assessment. It includes the percent correct for the students, the mean, and the pre-established criterion. A more advanced approach would include separate graphs for each of the different s assessed. The teacher candidate should interpret the graph(s) in terms of whole class and individual student performance, and discussed modifications made to instruction based on the information. Percent correct Standard 1 Standard 2 Standard 3 Total Criterion Pretest Post-test Project rubric

6 Page 6 Office of Early Field Experiences Page 7 Q: Why are there so many rubrics? A: LAMP provides rubrics to aid teacher candidates during the development of an instructional unit. The specific criteria help the teacher candidates understand what elements are necessary for creating meaningful learning, and assessing and interpreting student performance. The university supervisor uses the rubrics to evaluate the teacher candidate s ability to develop, implement, assess, and evaluate a unit of instruction. UNIT Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient Distinguished 1. Content Standard Indicators 2. Ancillary Content Indicators (Elementary in a different subject) Does not use a state academic Does not include a secondary Standard Uses one state Uses one from another area Uses two or more s Uses two or more s from other areas Q: Does LAMP make a difference in a teacher candidate s development? A: Yes, when compared to teacher candidates who do not participate in LAMP. These teacher candidates who have completed the LAMP process will have a definite advantage in job interviews. (Principal) Q: Will LAMP help me after student teaching? A: It will help you document the effect of your instruction on your students learning. This can be beneficial in parent-teacher conferences and for sharing with your administrator. It may also give you an advantage in being hired. I wish I had openings for all the teacher candidates in my building who have completed the LAMP process. I would hire them. (Principal) LAMP Elements The Instructional Unit will contain: Academic s Authentic applications of unit skills and/or knowledge Accommodation for developmental differences Multiple instructional strategies Incorporation of media and technology Assessments (pre-/post- measures) will address issues of: Validity of assessment related to identified skills and/or knowledge Reliability of pre- and post- assessments Quality of multiple choice item construction Presence of bias in assessment measures Presence of specific and appropriate criteria for mastery levels Unit Project will include: Adequate directions Unit s s in the project Authenticity as a central theme in the project Diversity among students in project design Evaluation criteria Project Rubric will address: The s incorporated in the project The evaluation of processes and conventions The appropriateness and objectivity of format Specific and appropriate criteria for mastery levels Evaluation of Student Learning will discuss: Pre-test performance graph (number of students by score) Interpretation of pre-test performance Rationale for instructional modifications based on pre-test Project rubric performance graph (number of students by score) Interpretation of project performance Post-test performance graph (number of students by score) Interpretation of post-test performance Comparison of pre-test, post-test, and project rubric performance Rationale for modifications for future instruction