UNDERSTANDING by DESIGN

STAGE 2ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE The goal is to obtain valid, reliable, credible,

and useful evidence. The key mantra is to Think like an assessor, not an activity
designer. There should be a tight alignment between the desired results we seek and
the evidence we plan to collect.
EVIDENCE needed to determine the extent to which students have achieved the
desired results in Stage 1:

Identify Performance Tasks & Rubrics that anchor the unit by

providing evidence of student understanding.
Other evidence, including diagnostic & formative assessments,
quizzes, tests, observations, prompted writing and speaking.
Student self-assessments.

Consider:

Are students asked to exhibit their understanding through authentic performance tasks?
Are appropriate criterion-based rubrics used to judge student products and performances?
Are a variety of appropriate assessment formats provided as additional evidence of learning?
Are students encouraged to self-assess?

Alignment: The Logic of Backward Design

(What do the Understandings imply for assessment?)

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Stage 1
If the desired result is for
learners to

Stage 2
Then, you need evidence of
So, the assessments need to
the students ability to
include some things like

Understand that:

APPLY:

And thoughtfully consider

the questions

EXPLAIN:

What applications would enable us

to infer student understanding of
what they have learned?
What kinds of performances and
products, if done well, would
provide valid ways of distinguishing
between understanding and mere
recall?

What must students be able to

explain, justify, support, or answer
about their work for us to infer
genuine understanding?
How can we test their ideas and
applications to find out if they
really understand what they have
said and done?

Collecting Diverse Evidence from Assessments

Informal checks
for understanding

Observations &
Dialogues

Tests & Quizzes

Academic
Prompts

Performance
Tasks

Performance Tasks

Complex challenges that mirror the issues & problems faced by adults.
Range in length from short-term tasks to long-term, multi-staged projects
Yield one or more tangible products and performances.
Differ from academic prompts in the following ways:
o The setting is real or simulated and involves the kind of constraints, background
noise, incentives, and opportunities an adult would find in a similar situation
o Typically require the student to address an identified audience (real or simulated)
o Are based on a specific purpose that relates to the audience
o Allow students greater opportunity to personalize the task
o Are not secure: the task, evaluative criteria, & performance standards are known in
advance & guide student work.

Academic Prompts

Open-ended questions or problems that require the student to think critically; not just recall
knowledge, & to prepare a specific academic response, product or performance
Such questions or problems:
o Require constructed responses to specific prompts under school & exam conditions
o Are open with no single bets answer or strategy expected for solving them
o Are often ill structured, requiring the development of a strategy
o Involve analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
o Typically require an explanation or defense of the answer given & methods used.
o Require judgment-based scoring based on criteria & performance standards
o May or may not be secure
o Involve questions typically only asked of students in school

Quiz and Test Items

Familiar assessment formats consisting of simple, content-focused items that:

o Assess for factual information, concepts, and discrete skill
o Use selected-response (multiple choice, true-false, matching) or short-answer formats
o Are convergent, typically having a single, best answer
o May be easily scored using an answer key or machine
o Are typically secure (items are not known in advance)

Informal Checks for Understanding

Ongoing assessments used as part of the instructional process.

Examples include:
o Teacher questioning,
o Observations
o Examining student work
o Think alouds
These assessments provide feedback to the teacher & the student.
Not typically scored or graded.

Sources of Assessment Evidence: Self-Assessment

Use the following scale to rate your level of use of each type of assessment tool. Are
you collecting appropriate evidence for all the desired results, or only those that are
easiest to test and grade? Is an important learning goal falling through the cracks
because it is not being assessed?
5 = Extensive Use
4 = Frequent Use
3 = General Use
2 = Sporadic Use
1 = Infrequent Use
0 = No Evidence of Use

1. _____ Selected-response format (multiple-choice, true-false, matching)

2. _____ Written responses to academic prompts (short-answer format)
3. _____ Extended written products (essays, lab reports)
4. _____ Visual products (PowerPoint, mural, etc.,)
5. _____ Oral performances (oral report, foreign language dialogues)
6. _____ Student demonstrations (skill performances)
7. _____ Long-term, authentic assessment projects (e.g., senior exhibit)
8. _____ Portfolioscollections of student work over time
9. _____ Reflective journals or learning logs
10. _____ Informal, ongoing observations of students
11. _____ Formal observations of students using observable indicators or
criteria list
12. _____ Student self-assessments
13. _____ Peer reviews and peer response groups
14. _____ Other:________________________

Curricular Priorities & Assessment Methods

In effective assessments, we should see a match between the type or format of the
assessment and the needed evidence of achieving the desired results. If the goal is for
students to learn basic facts and skills, then paper-and-pencil tests and quizzes
generally provide adequate and efficient measures. However, when the goal is deep
understanding, we rely on more complex performances to determine whether our goal
has been reached. The graphic below reveals the general relationship between
assessment types and the evidence they provide for different curriculum targets.
Assessment Methods
Traditional quizzes & tests
Paper-and-pencil
Selected-response
Constructed response

Worth being
familiar with

Important to
Know and Do
Performance tasks & Projects
Complex
Open-ended
Authentic
Big Ideas &
Enduring
Understanding
s

A Collection of Assessment Evidence

Example High School English

Performance Tasks:
Whats Wrong with Holden? You are a member of an advisory committee for the

hospital where Holden Caulfield is telling his story. After a close reading and discussion
of Holdens account of the events of the preceding December, your task is to write (1) a
summary report for the hospital; and (2) a letter to Holdens parents explaining what is
wrong with Holden. You should prepare for a meeting with the parents to explain and
justify your analysis of Holdens behavior.

Other Evidence:
(tests, quizzes, prompts, work samples, observations)
1. EssayHe was the kind of phony who has to give himself room when he
answers someones questions. Students will write to explain Holdens
concern for authenticity.
2. LetterEach student will write a one-page letter describing Holden from
the point of view of another character in the novel.
3. QuizzesThree quizzes on plot details.
4. JournalStudents respond in their journals at the end of each reading
assignment to these questions: (a) What is the most important thing you
learn about Holden in this section of the novel? (b) What is the most
important unanswered question about Holden at this point in the novel?

Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:

The final journal entry is a reflection guided by three questions:
1. What changed for you in the way you saw Holden as this book went along/
2. If, as some people claim, misunderstanding is inevitable, what were your
misunderstandings before and during this unit?
3. If you were to teach this novel to next years students, what would you do
to ensure that they really understand the novel (rather than simply read
it)?

What Does the Goal Imply for Assessment?

Example: Visual Arts

Established Goals:

The student will recognize the visual arts as a basic aspect of history and human experience.

Content (nouns)

Process (verbs)

Artistic Expression
Culture
Visual design elements

Compare
Analyze
Interpret

Understandings

Task and prompt ideas

Artistic expression is influenced by time,

place, and culture.
One gains insights into a culture by
analyzing and interpreting its visual arts.
Available tools, techniques, and resources
influence the ways in which artists and
artisans express themselves.

What Does the Goal Imply for Assessment?

Established Goals:

Task: Prepare a graphic organizer for

comparing three works of art from
different periods and cultures. Explain the
distinguishing visual characteristics and
techniques.
Task: Create imagery using the visual
characteristics, tools and techniques from a
given period (e.g., Romantic era) to reflect
some aspect of contemporary culture.
Prompt: How do todays digital media enable
contemporary artists to express
themselves?

Example: Civil War

The student will analyze the causes and effects of major events of the Civil War and
Reconstruction, including slavery.

Content (nouns)

Process (verbs)

Civil War
Reconstruction
Slavery

Analyze causes and effects

Big Ideas stated & implied

Task and prompt ideas

States rights vs. federalism

Human rights & the inconsistency of slavery
Differences in regional economies
North v. Southregional culture vs. national
ties
Missouri Compromise and the politics of
slavery

Prompt: In what ways is the Civil War still

being fought today as a cold war?
Task: Develop a museum display (including a
timeline & proposed exhibits) on key causes
of the Civil War, & historical & present-day
effects not emphasized in the standard.
Task: Write a historical letter from a
southern plantation owner, freed slave, or
northern visitor.
Task: Write an anniversary newspaper
article on visible effects today.