At Santa Cruz Cooperative School (SCCS) assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. Assessment involves the gathering and analysis of information about student progress and performance and is designed both to inform practice for teachers and to promote and empower learning in students. Assessment identifies what students know, understand and can apply at different stages in the learning process. Assessment is ongoing, authentic, varied and purposeful. It is collaborative and informative and involves students, teachers, and families while informing instructional and curricular decision making.
The SCCS assessment policy is designed to :
To apply to School, we ask you to assemble and prepare a variety of materials that will help us assess your qualifications. Remember, all materials must be submitted to online by the application deadlines. The following serves as a preview of what you need to prepare.
- Make explicit the three interconnected purposes of assessment as learning (formative), assessment for learning (formative) and assessment of learning (summative).
- Guide SCCS teachers through the ways in which these purposes can be met at each stage of the assessment process, from initial decisions over what to assess, through to the decisions about how assessment evidence should be gathered and interpreted, recorded and reported.
- Demonstrate how data is triangulated in providing for a valid and reliable assessment culture.
- Help teachers and the administration ascertain which of the targeted standards of learning are being taught by teachers and met by the students to help make the appropriate adjustments to the instruction and or curriculum when and where they are needed.
SCCS Assessment Design Principles :
- Assessment exists to improve learning and is used to guide instruction and curriculum design.
- When assessing, teachers choose tools to accurately measure student learning.
- Assessment tasks, tools, strategies and processes are aligned with the standards, knowledge, skills, and concepts students are expected to acquire and develop.
- We expect students to be actively involved in the assessment process.
- A feedback loop empowers students to both reflect and act upon the feedback with the final goal of being able to be given a new chance of demonstrating their learning.
- Teachers triangulate assessment data in order to make good decisions about the advancement of student learning and curricular development.
A. Three Purposes of Assessment
- Teachers at SCCS are expected to use three types of assessment. Tools and tasks can have multiple purposes depending upon how they are used by the teacher:
B. The Assessment Process
All teachers at SCCS guide students through the 5 facets of the Assessment process so that students are empowered as the prime users of assessment. Divisional specific policies make explicit how each stage of the processes is enacted in each of the three divisions of the school (elementary, middle and high school).
- Assess how? – How will we gather / collect evidence of this learning? What tasks, activities or strategies will we use to gather evidence of learning? At SCCS tasks fall into the below 7 types. Teachers select the most appropriate type to validate alignment to the type of learning intention which students are learning:
| SCCS Types of Assessment | |
| Selected Response | Single occasion, one-dimensional exercises in which students are asked to select from a set of predetermined responses. (Examples: true or false, multiple choice, match the word with its definition.) |
| Short Constructed Response (Open-Ended Tasks) | Situations in which students are presented with a stimulus and asked to communicate an original response. The answer might be a brief written or spoken answer, a drawing, a diagram or a solution. (Examples: reflection journal, quick sketch, writer’s notebook entry, short composed melody, graph with notations, short verbal responses to teacher questions, etc.) |
| In-Depth Response | An academic prompt is an assessment technique that requires students to thoroughly respond to a question or prompt by developing, organizing, and writing an original composition to be presented in written form (e.g. an essay, report) or verbal form (e.g. speech or lecture). The purpose of an academic prompt is to assess students’ abilities to construct a logical, cohesive, and persuasive argument. (Examples: essay, book report, lab report, verbal and visual presentations.) |
| ContextualProduct or
Performance |
Contextual tasks provide authentic and significant challenges and are usually multimodal, requiring diverse skills and assessing multiple types of learning. In these tasks, there are numerous approaches to the problem and the format of the final ‘product’ or ‘performance’ will be determined by what would be the most logical way to present in the real world, (Examples: STEM Projects, Service Learning Projects, Follow-up tasks to internships and field trips.) |
| School RelatedProduct or
Performance |
The final product or performance will still be challenging, will usually be multimodal, will require diverse skills and will assess multiple types of learning. (Examples: Art Performances, Concerts and Artistic performances, Visual Performances.) |
| External Assessments | Designed and assessed by external institutions. Data will be used to help assess curricular objectives as well as student progress. |
| Observations(Process-focused
Assessments) |
All students are observed on a regular basis. Observations may be recorded by noting the typical as well as non-typical behaviors, collecting multiple observations to enhance reliability, and synthesizing evidence from different contexts to increase validity. A system of note taking and record keeping is created that minimizes writing and recording time. (Examples: checklists, note taking, inventories and narrative descriptions, such as learning logs). |
- Evaluation– How will we evaluate the collected evidence? How will we know what good learning looks like?
| SCCS Assessment Tools | |
| Rubrics | An established set of criteria for rating students in all areas. The descriptors tell the assessor what characteristics or signs to look for in students’ work and then how to rate that work on a predetermined scale. Rubrics can be developed by students as well as by teachers. |
| Exemplars | Samples of student work that serve as concrete standards against which other work are judged. |
| Checklists | These are lists of information, data, attributes or elements that should be present. |
| Continuums | These are visual representation of developmental stages of learning. They show a progression of achievement or identify where a student is in a process. |
| Portfolios | These are a collection of student work taken over time which demonstrates student progress toward the learning objective |
- Feedback– How will we give feedback to the learner so as to help her/him in her/his learning? Who else will give feedback (peer/self)?
- Written feedback and verbal feedback improves learning because student always have the opportunity to act on feedback given.
- Divisional grading policy.
- Student self or peer assessment (feedback) is recommended for major assessments.
- Record– How will we record the evidence of learning? And for what purpose?
- Policies concerning anecdotal records and note-taking (Anecdotal records are brief written notes based on observations of students. These records need to systematically compiled and organized)
- Policies concerning the gathering of student evidence (portfolios, grade books)
- Policies concerning grades (where do grades come from, what do they mean, how they are used, etc.)
- Report– How will we formally report learning to others (parents, colleagues, etc.) and for what purpose
- Specific Policies:
- Guidance on report cards
- Online reporting system
- Transcripts
- Three way student-led conferences
- Data presentations on Standardized Test Results
- Descriptive written reports to parents
Effective assessment processes align with steps 1-5. At each stage teachers put students in the center as agents and owners by their own learning within the context of a predominantly formative environment. However, by careful alignment across the stages, we also ensure that summative assessment is valid and that recording and reporting is a reliable.
- Triangulation
Triangulation is an Assessment FOR learning practice in which educators compare and interpret data from various sources in order to better understand learners and their learning.
Triangulation ensures that assessment practices have validity since student learning data taken from one source can be triangulated with data taken from other sources. Triangulation at SCCS include data from the below assessment categories:
- External Assessments – These are assessment set and evaluated outside of SCCS, which provide valuable external verification of learning. Examples include MAP, ERB Writing, PSAT, SAT, ACT, Pre-SAT, Holland Interest Test, Career Planning Scale, TOEFL and AP assessments.
- Common Assessments – These are many assessment tasks (e.g. a common writing prompt for all students, common assessments, Fountas and Pinnell Reading Inventory, Unit Assessments) or common assessment tools (common skills rubric shared by grade level teachers) which is used across multiple classrooms and evaluated as a team
- Ongoing Assessments – these are any assessment activities which occur on an ongoing basis and can be used to continually inform the interpretation of more formalized assessment methods (e.g. observational data, running records, writing portfolios, short tasks completed in class, etc.)
Learning data can be triangulated with other types of data in order to build a fuller picture of learning at SCCS.
Teachers at SCCS routinely engage in collaborative discussions in which data gathered in one category is triangulated with data from another in order to build an accurate picture of student learning.
- Personalized Learning
All students are entitled to equitable access to the curriculum. This also means students are entitled to equitable means of sharing the process and product of their learning.
Therefore all SCCS students have:
- The ownership of their assessment data, to include involvement in setting, mapping progress towards, and the achieving of personalized learning goals
- The chance to act on feedback, learn from mistakes, and show progress
- The chance to demonstrate their learning in any manner that is appropriate to them, provided that this still represents a valid alignment to the intended learning of the curriculum.
- The opportunity to receive individual learning support
C. Triangulation
Triangulation is an Assessment FOR learning practice in which educators compare and interpret data from various sources in order to better understand learners and their learning.
Triangulation ensures that assessment practices have validity since student learning data taken from one source can be triangulated with data taken from other sources. Triangulation at SCCS include data from the below assessment categories:
- External Assessments – These are assessment set and evaluated outside of SCCS, which provide valuable external verification of learning. Examples include MAP, ERB Writing, PSAT, SAT, ACT, Pre-SAT, Holland Interest Test, Career Planning Scale, TOEFL and AP assessments.
- Common Assessments – These are many assessment tasks (e.g. a common writing prompt for all students, common assessments, Fountas and Pinnell Reading Inventory, Unit Assessments) or common assessment tools (common skills rubric shared by grade level teachers) which is used across multiple classrooms and evaluated as a team
- Ongoing Assessments – these are any assessment activities which occur on an ongoing basis and can be used to continually inform the interpretation of more formalized assessment methods (e.g. observational data, running records, writing portfolios, short tasks completed in class, etc.)
Learning data can be triangulated with other types of data in order to build a fuller picture of learning at SCCS. Teachers at SCCS routinely engage in collaborative discussions in which data gathered in one category is triangulated with data from another in order to build an accurate picture of student learning.
D. Personalized Learning
All students are entitled to equitable access to the curriculum. This also means students are entitled to equitable means of sharing the process and product of their learning.
Therefore all SCCS students have:
- The ownership of their assessment data, to include involvement in setting, mapping progress towards, and the achieving of personalized learning goals
- The chance to act on feedback, learn from mistakes, and show progress
- The chance to demonstrate their learning in any manner that is appropriate to them, provided that this still represents a valid alignment to the intended learning of the curriculum.
- The opportunity to receive individual learning support
NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) is a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. For 40 years, NWEA has developed Pre-K–12 assessments and professional learning offerings to help advance all students along their optimal learning paths. Our tools are trusted by educators in more than 9,500 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries.
The MAP (Measurement for Academic Progress) Test is a trusted and innovative assessment for measuring achievement and growth in K–10 math, reading, language usage, Spanish and science. It provides the administration and teachers with accurate, and actionable learning evidence to help target instruction for each student or groups of students regardless of how far above or below they are from their grade level. SCCS administers the MAP test two times a year (Fall and Spring) with an option to give the test a third time if it is deemed necessary.
Better known as WrAP, the Writing Assessment Program measures student writing achievement to help classroom teachers pinpoint their students’ writing strengths and weaknesses. Classrooms administering WrAP receive Individual Student Reports containing criterion-referenced data with links to annotated writing samples. The WrAP is given annually at SCCS at the end of the 3rd quarter and provides valuable data to help improve the writing skills of everyone of our students.
