Assessing Literature Learning
This microcredential represents educators' effective and consistent use of assessment to inform English language arts instruction. This is the sixth microcredential in the Critically Selecting and Teaching Texts stack. This stack of microcredentials fulfills one of the requirements of a pathway for endorsement. Click the More Info button to learn more.
To earn this microcredential you will to collect and submit two sets of evidence demonstrating your effective and consistent planning for literature and literary nonfiction instruction. You will also complete a written or video reflective analysis.
Assessment is not the same as evaluation. Assessment is intended to generate the information necessary for teachers to monitor student learning and adjust their instruction accordingly. Assessments may be linked to grades, but the purpose of assessment is not to generate grades.
Scoring procedures and criteria (such as rubrics) should be aligned with the learning objectives for the assessment. That is, student scores on the assessment should indicate a level of proficiency related to specific learning objectives.
See NCTE (2018) Principles of Literacy Assessment in the Resources section of this microcredential.
This microcredential fulfills the competency 3.3 for the ELA Endorsement: Candidate evaluates, selects and/or designs a variety of research-based assessments (informal, formal, formative, and summative) of students’ reading skills that measure student progress towards learning outcomes and then uses the resulting data to monitor students’ progress and help students monitor their own progress toward established goals.
Effective reading and literature instruction involves both assessment of and assessment for learning, and is accessible to all students, including but not limited to English language learners, students with special needs, students from diverse language and learning backgrounds, those designated as high achieving, and those at risk of failure. This microcredential provides an opportunity for a teacher to demonstrate the ability to design and implement effective assessment strategies for student learning of literary concepts and skills and understanding of literary and informational texts.
refers to the practices of engaging—creating, consuming, and critiquing–with all kinds of multimodal texts. (NCTE, 2018)
Literacy assessment :refers to decision-making processes resulting in an examination of students’ performance on literacy tasks as described above; literacy assessments, which include all aspects of such assessments, range from formative response to student writing to the design of higher-stakes assessments. (NCTE, 2018)
As you reflect on your last unit, you realize that the assessments did not provide you with the information you needed to 1) monitor individual student progress toward meeting objectives, 2) adapt instruction based on that progress, and 3) make instructional decisions for future planning at both the individual and whole class level. As you prepare your next unit on literature or literary nonfiction, you want to ensure that your assessment plan provides you with this information. In particular, you want to ensure that the rubric you use to score the next assessment is clearly aligned to levels of student proficiency on your learning objectives.
Category: Preparation and Planning
Submit the evidence below to demonstrate your effective and consistent preparation and planning for literary and literary nonfiction assessment.
Submit a summative literacy assessment instrument you have developed and used to measure student proficiency in meeting a specific reading objective. Indicate what learning objective the assessment is intended to measure and how that learning objective links to the Utah English Language Arts Standards. Include the following with your submission:
- the scoring criteria for the assessment instrument, along with the score/grade associated with the target level of proficiency.
- a description of the prerequisite skills and knowledge necessary for students to be successful at mastering the concept or skill being assessed in the summative assessment (i.e., the skills and knowledge that the teacher assumes students already have before beginning instruction, and that the teacher intends to build upon to help students master the concept/skill being assessed).
- a summation of pre-assessment data indicating trends in student mastery of that prerequisite knowledge or skill (i.e., a data-based description of your students’ readiness to master the concept/skill).
Category: Implementation
Submit the evidence below to demonstrate your effective and consistent use of assessment to inform literature and literary nonfiction instruction.
Submit a class set of completed and scored student assessment responses/work samples from the summative reading assessment selected as preparation and planning evidence (minimum 5 responses). These student work samples must be sorted into three groups: 1) those scoring below proficient, 2) those scoring proficient or slightly above proficient, and 3) those scoring significantly above proficient.
Be sure to follow your district/charter guidelines for student privacy.
Review Criteria
Criterion 1: The summative literacy assessment instrument and scoring guide submitted is a valid measurement of student proficiency on the literacy objective(s) and standard(s) indicated by the candidate.
Criterion 2: The scored student responses submitted by the candidate indicate that the teacher reliably employed the scoring procedures for the literacy assessment.
Criterion 3: The summary of pre-assessment data appropriately identifies prerequisite literacy knowledge and skills necessary for students to begin constructing an understanding of the target concept or skill to be assessed in the summative assessment.
Why was the summative assessment you submitted an adequate measure of student proficiency related to the learning objective it was intended to assess?
How did you use the information provided by the results of the assessment to help plan future literacy instruction, including using those results to differentiate literacy instruction for students with diverse learning needs?
How would you differentiate this assessment to meet the specific needs of at least one diverse learner?
Review Criteria
Criterion 1: Student literacy assessment results were interpreted accurately and planned future literacy instruction was appropriately planned to build upon those results.
Criterion 2: Differentiation of literacy assessment described by the teacher is a valid measure of the literacy learning objective identified.
Criterion 3: Discusses concepts in ways that inform future practice, and that are grounded in the best available literacy scholarship.
https://www.heinemann.com/products/e10807.aspx
In this text, the author discusses the principles of backwards design within the context of English language arts. Chapters address a variety of issues and challenges teachers will face, including decisions about unit planning, assessment, and text selection.
Tatum, A. (2004). Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap. Stenhouse.
https://www.stenhouse.com/content/teaching-reading-black-adolescent-males
Chapter 9 of this text focuses on authentic assessment practices for determining adolescent reading proficiency.
NCTE Position Statement: Literacy Assessment: Definitions, Principles, and Practices
https://ncte.org/statement/assessmentframingst/
Assessment definitions and principles for literacy assessment adopted by the National Council of Teachers of English.
University of Kansas Inclusive Assessment Website
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/~kucrl/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=assessment
Website providing descriptions and tutorials of various assessment types and ways to design them in inclusive ways.
Key Ideas in Validity and Reliability for Teachers by Patty LeBlanc
https://youtu.be/IF-oeuidRuU
Recorded lectures introducing concepts of validity and reliability.
Linking Classroom Assessment with Student Learning
https://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL_Institutional_Testing_Program/ELLM2002.pdf
Guide to planning assessments for specific learning objectives, including establishing validity and reliability.
Courtney Bergman
Troy Mecham
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807