Colorado College What Teachers Need to Know Discussion

Part 1 redo assign

I do not see a diagnostic assessment (test) with your resubmission of Unit 2 Writing Assignment. That is why your grade is the same.

This is the assignment: You need to create a diagnostic assessment. Think of this assessment as a pretest. Do your students have the foundation needed for you to begin teaching this standard? This assessment should contain questions addressing ALL of the prerequisites you identified on your unwrapping document. Include instructions for scoring and a plan for how you will integrate the results of this plan into your instructional lessons within the unit. Be sure to include a variety of question types and enough questions per prerequisite to ensure your students have mastery of the skill. (40 pts.) You are missing the assessment; how you will score the assessment and use the results; etc.

Part 2 redo assign 2

State Standard(s) you are assessing; state if Assessment 1 is individual or not; Assessment #2 needs a rubric and /or guidelines presentation Ungraded Assessment 1 is weak; needs rubric, individual or ????; Simulation & YouTube video also needs a rubric or guidelines for students. With your results from the assessments, be more specific in how the results will guide your future instruction with the students. The assessments and results need to be validated and not possibly subjective or biased.

Part 3

This is the directions for this assignment but since I do not have the chapter right now just revise this discussion so it won’t look like plagiarism.

Read and analyze “Decision Time – Which Test to Believe” from Chapter 13. How would you respond to Wanda’s parents?

If I were Mr. William, I very much likely would not have known how to answer the question directly coming from Wanda’s parents. Of course any student would perform higher on an aptitude test rather than the achievement test because students are not tested on what they have learned from Mr. Williams or any type of training given. Students personality or talent does not measure a person’s ability to learn what is taught by a teacher. If I was Wanda’s parents, I would wonder if he is even teaching our students and I would raise a lot of concerns from his lessons. I do not believe they are not logging enough study time but simply not taught the lesson. Then again, If I were Mr. Williams and If I had no choice but to answer the parent’s question, I would tell them the aptitude test determines how well a student is likely to perform, which can be very useful in determining the best educational style for them. Achievement measures what content a student has already learned or mastered, while aptitude measures a student’s potential or ability to learn. It is more of a determination of how much a student has learned or mastered. Aptitude tests give you a better understanding of yourself. It is more of a projection of a student’s potential or future ability. They are designed to reveal your strengths and weaknesses and give you a better understanding of your personality. If I was put in Mr. Williams shoes, that would be my response to the parents.

Part 4 reply to discussion

Chapter 13, Decision Time, of the Classroom Assessment text states, “a percentile compares a student’s score with those of other students in a norm group. A student’s percentile indicates the percentage of students in the norm group that the student outperformed.” I would tell Wanda’s parents that her percentile score for the achievement test of 65 percentile indicates that she performed better than 65 percent of the students in the norm group. This is not how Wanda performed individually on the achievement test. She was compared to other students who took the achievement test. There will also be a “difference in the student’s percentile score if there is a difference between local and national norms.” I would explain the differences to Wanda’s parents about the test to understand the difference between them. I would let them know that the two different tests measure different things. The achievement tests measure what content a student has learned or mastered, and the aptitude test measures what the student had the potential to learn. Since Wanda scored at the 90^th percentile, I would say she has s high possibility of learning specific skills and performance. The aptitude test will help her prepare for her future and guide future reference for college. I don’t think I would necessarily say which one is an actual test performance because they measure different things. I believe both tests could be beneficial information to use for future reference. I do not think this means that she isn’t studying enough. It only means that compared to other students, she tested in the 65^th percentile, and her aptitude test says that she is prepared and has the necessary skills she needs for college.

Popham, W. J. (2020). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (9^th ed.) New York, NY: Pearson.

Part 5 reply to discussion

If I were Mr. White and was responsible for answering parent’s concerns and or questions relative to national standard achievement and “a test of student’s cognitive aptitude” I would prepare a standard response explaining each assessment. This is how I would draft my response. I would explain that the two assessments are designed to measure different indicators. The purpose of an achievement test is to determine what a student as learned or mastered. The purpose of the aptitude test is to determine what the student has the capacity to learn. According to the text “a percentile compares a student’s score with those of other students in a norm group. A student’s percentile indicates the percentage of students in the norm group that the student outperformed.” The student scored in the 90^th percentile, her parents should know that she has to potential and the ability to learn both skills and performance. Her parent will need to know that the 65^thpercentile score compares her to other students that are her within her same age peers. This score is not an individual score. However, the parents need to know that the assessment scores will be used useful in the future as the child continues to grow academically. The parents questioning whether the student is logging enough study time may not be an issue. This is something the parents will have to determine based on how she is performing within her current courses. Finally, the parents should know that the standard achievement and aptitude assessments are administered nationally and are valid instruments.

Popham, W. J. (2020). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (9^th ed.) New York, NY: Pearson.

Part 6 reply to discussion

Response to Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins regarding Wanda’s Test Performance

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins for trusting me with your concerns regarding Wanda’s test performance. During Wanda’s matriculation through school, she has been taking both achievement and aptitude tests. Whereas achievement tests are, “a measurement of the knowledge and/or skills a student possesses”, achievement tests contain some items that measure what students learn outside of school (Popham, p. 406). Aptitude tests are a prediction of the likelihood of success in a future academic setting (Popham, p. 406). Aptitude tests assess the potential of a student in various academic subjects. Moreover, being that Wanda scored in the 90^th percentile on her aptitude, it shows that Wanda’s score on the particular test was in the top 10% of students who took the test that day. Another way of looking at it is that Wanda has scored higher than 90% of students who took the test on that day. Her achievement score is 65%, which means that she scored higher than 65% of her classmates or it can be stated that she scored in the top 35% of her class. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins, your child has a lot of potential! Being that sometimes achievement and aptitude tests are commercially produced, we can’t whole-heartedly look at one versus the other as a single source of Wanda’s cognitive abilities. It could be that some of the content on the altitude test was more interesting to her or in an area that she likes. Let’s continue to monitor Wanda’s progress, to better understand if the scores on each test were by chance alone or are an indicator of something more.

Popham, W. J. (2017). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.