ONTARIO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING TESTS

"The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Information gathered through assessment helps teachers to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses in their achievement of the curriculum expectations in each subject in

each grade. This information also serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall effectiveness of programs and classroom practices." (The Ontario Curriculum Science and Technology, pg. 22)

The Ontario curriculum is designed in such a way that evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations, although all curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction and assessment. (See Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, p. 38.)

For as long as I have been creating resources for science and technology, teachers have been asking me how to assess what students have learned.  Having been an Ontario teacher for over 30 years, I have developed a repertoire of assessment and evaluation techniques based on my lived experiences with students. When they are working I am making observations, giving them oral feedback and checking that their written work is accurate and complete. 

As teachers we record our observations on checklists and use rubrics for major projects and notebooks. Each time I teach a new topic in science and technology, I use the student notebooks and their Let's Create! and Let's Inquire! tasks as part of my triangulation of data but I wanted to create an assessment piece that would help tie all of the parts of my assessment data together.

Enter my NEW editable assessment of learning tests!

These tests:

• address both what students learn and how well they learn;

• are based both on the categories of knowledge and skills and on the achievement level descriptions given in the achievement chart on pages 26–27

• accommodate students with special education needs, consistent with the strategies outlined in their Individual Education Plan;

• accommodate the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction;

These tests are aligned with all of the science and technology resources that are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and will give teachers, students and parents a way to share what students have learned during the unit of study.

Click on any of the images below to see the BUNDLES available in my store. All of the assessment of learning tests are also available individually and you can view the links to each within the bundle for that grade.

Portfolios and Self Assessment FREEBIE

Well it's that time around my school.  No, not just the post-holiday diets and blues...but REPORT CARD time!  My school district uses a program which allows us to create our comments and input our marks on line.  This has made some aspects of the reporting process easier, and as long as the software functions properly (which it frequently doesn't when you have 10,000 teachers trying to log on at the same time) writing reports is no longer what it used to be.  

Page 2 of the Ontario Report Card Gr. 1-8

When I first became a teacher we hand wrote all of our reports.  They were in triplicate, with a white page on top , the middle page was yellow and the bottom page was pink.  I remember having to scour the stationary stores looking for yellow and pink correction liquid!   Needless to say, I was loathe to make a mistake!  These days making a mistake is easier to fix, and  I no longer need liquid paper...mind you, 2 bottles of liquid paper and a pen cost considerably less than a computer does!  

I could only find an image of a bottle of  "blue" as the other colours have been discontinued! 

I digress...I was starting to think about reporting today and was looking through the things I had collected in my assessment and evaluation binder as well as my student portfolios.  While I was leafing through, I discovered a form I started using this year which I have found to be a highly effective student self-assessment tool.  Weekly I send things home with my students so they share what they are doing, and how they are improving with parents/guardians.  

 This year I realized that only my comments were going home on the work.   The assignments rarely  included  comments or reflections from the students.  I frequently require that the students use a rubric or checklist to self-assess their own work but I tend to be the one who decides what goes in to the portfolio each month.  

Portfolio Self Assessment Form

This year, I have encouraged the students to take greater ownership of their portfolios, and choose some of the pieces which will go into it.   The students use the reflection form above to explain why they are putting the chosen piece into their portfolio.  They take it home attached to the piece of work, and discuss their reflections with their parents/guardians.  Students then return the form and work to school and place them in their portfolio.  The portfolio is brought out during parent/teacher/student interviews, or when I want the students to reflect on their progress.  This form helps to organize the portfolios, and stands as a record of what the student was thinking at the time they chose the piece.  I also use these forms to assist me in looking for patterns in what the students choose to put into their portfolios.  Often, they only choose their "best" work, so I added a section to the reflection form which asks them to think about ALL the reasons they might include the piece in their portfolio.

Please leave a comment about how you have students choose their work for portfolios, or what you use to have them reflect on their learning.  I would love to hear from you!

Learning Skills and Work Habits

Well, school is back in swing and I am coming home exhausted everyday!  I don't think I have stayed awake past 8:00 p.m. one night this week.  So far, I have implemented my classroom procedures and management plan with few hitches.  My class seems very keen this year, they like to talk though!  Yesterday, I gave my class their first "Learning Skills and Work Habits Student Self-Assessment Checklist".



DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY HERE

 

I created this checklist last year when the Ontario MOE introduced "Growing for Success" the first elementary assessment and evaluation policy document to be published in decades!  With the changes in policy came a change in the emphasis and format of the elementary report cards.  The "Learning Skills and Work Habits" part of the report card was suddenly at the forefront and all the academic sections were made secondary. 

 

When talking to my students after the first "progress report checklist" went home in October, I realized they had no real concrete idea of what the skills and work habits they were being evaluated on really WERE.  Some had a vague idea what "responsibility" and "organization" meant, but things like "self-regulation" and "initiative" were foreign to them.  I knew that I could not have my students work towards improving these skills and work habits if they did not understand what they meant or what I was looking for. 

 

My first attempt to create a checklist for students looked more like a rubric for teacher use. I only used the standard language found on the Ontario report card.  This attempt still did not seem to help the students understand what I was looking for.  I converted the rubric format into a checklist, and as a class we refined the language to include "I" statements such as "I accept responsibility for and manage my own behaviour".  The final checklist at 2 1/2 pages does seem very long, particularly if you are teaching younger students.  It would be easy to adapt and emphasize only a few points under each heading. 

 

After students self-assess using the checklist (I have them do this first thing after lunch each Friday), they are asked to review the their assessments and choose three skills/work habits which they determine need improvement. Students fill out the bottom of page 3 of the checklist recording the three areas for improvement, setting out a brief plan for each area and stating what teacher/parent support they might require.  I then have the students show me their checklist and goals.  I check for completion and then ask the students to transfer their 3 goals onto the "Weekly Objectives" section of the following week's planner.  I remind them to frequently review their goals and plans for achieving them during the week.  In some cases the students even use highlighters to give the goals extra prominence. 

 

The following Friday, students fill out page 4 of the checklist.  This reflection page asks them:

SO WHAT? What 3 areas did I select to work on so that my learning skills and work habits improve?

NOW WHAT? Did my plans work so that I could improve in each of these areas? Why?

Reflecting upon my work habits and learning skills this week, something that I learned about myself is:

I will use this information to help me to:

After they have completed page 4 of the previous week, they take a new checklist and start the process all over again.  I remind the students that if they did NOT achieve their goals the previous week, they should reflect upon why they did not and perhaps choose those same goals again, BUT with a different plan for success.  I discuss with them that it takes approximately 21 days or 3 weeks for a new skill or habit to actually become a HABIT.  Some goals may last a week or two, some a few months and some the entire year.  The entire process is what I emphasize with the students.

 

Last year, my students quickly began to internalize what each of the skills and work habits entailed.  After using the checklists and accompanying goal setting sheets for several months, I saw a distinct change in the ownership of the learning in each of these areas.  Students were able to verbalize what they were being assessed and evaluated on, and they were able to set goals which they were able to attain. 

 

One student from last year visited me this week.  I overheard him telling some of my new students that my checklists and goal setting had made him "so aware and organized that I scare myself".  This student had really struggled the previous year, and I was glad to hear that he felt the use of the checklist and goal setting had helped him learn how to be more successful.  Really, that is what teaching is all about!