All of the lingo associated with the topic of assessment is mind-boggling! I can safely say, that even though I have been working in a school for 17 years, I have never heard of the terms: formative, summative, criterion-referenced, norm-referenced, and validity vs. reliability in assessment. I find the last two to be very confusing.
The Kellough text refers to validity as, "The degree to which a measuring instrument actually measures that which it is intended to measure (Kellough, 272)." Reliability is defined as, "The accuracy with which a technique consistently measures that which it is meant to gauge (Kellough, 273)." I have chosen to think of a valid assessment as being accurate and a reliable one to be consistent. A good example is to imagine a bathroom scale that consistently tells me that I only weigh 100 lbs. (I actually weigh 120 lbs.) That scale gives a reliable measurement, but it is not valid.
In my job, I use AimsWeb to assess my RtI students on their reading and math skills. The assessments are always reliable but not always valid. The assessments are generated by AimsWeb and are scored according to grade level and time period and represent a reliable tool. The scores, however, are not always valid. Students do not consistently try to do their best job while taking the assessments. If a student is sleepy, crabby, unmotivated, or just being ornery, his score can be much lower than if he tried to do his best. If an ADD student did not take his medicine that morning, his score will be lower than it should be. The AimsWeb assessments give consistently reliable results but with a few scores that may not be valid. We correct this problem by assessing students more frequently so that we have several data points to work with.
Kellough, Richard D. and N. Kellough. (2008). Teaching Young Adolescents: Methods and Resources for Middle Grades Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Hello Janet!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the opinions, generated assessments, and data in regards to completion become very overwhelming in this chapter! There is just so many options to choose from, yet teachers still continue to rely on tests and quizzes. Higher order thinking comes from thinking outside the box, and students should be actively accomplishing this in assessments!
Janet...
ReplyDeleteThis was absolutely what I would call a vocabulary dense chapter. It had a lot of terms but in general, it seems, we need to know the standards, know the individual kids, be able to create solid objectives from those standards, and assess accordingly. The data should flow from that. Integrity in the process, usually means integrity in the data. I think having it all laid out in boring black and white, is so much different than how well it can all come together in the class if your plans are well put together.
I absolutely agree about the reliability of the testing we do with the kids. AIMSWEB, ZOOM, MAP, ISAT....they are often a representation of the attitude not the academic achievement. I had a principal tell a parent it was impossible for MAP test results to not be truly representative of the students present level of academic performance. I had to chuckle at that. We have all seen otherwise.