Local Assessment Toolkit to Promote Deeper Learning

Karin Hess, author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix, is a former classroom teacher and school administrator with over 40 years of deep experience in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Dr. Hess is recognized internationally as a leader in developing practical approaches for using cognitive rigor, depth of knowledge, and learning progressions as the foundation for curriculum design and assessments at all levels of assessment systems, from developing local assessment systems to state-level grade-level standards and test specifications for large-scale state assessments. Over the years, she has contributed to Maine’s early thinking about how to structure requirements for assessing high school graduation exhibitions and has provided technical assistance to Science Exemplars in the development and annotation of K-8 science performance tasks (www.exemplars.com), to the Center for Collaborative Education’s Quality Performance Assessment (QPA) initiative, and to Benchmark Education’s Ready to Advance curriculum for Pre-K, using learning progressions in curriculum and assessment design. Her most recent publications include a chapter in the second edition of Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, Pre-K–6 (Hougen & Smartt, Eds., Paul Brookes Publishing, 2020) and A Local Assessment Toolkit to Promote Deeper Learning: Transforming Research into Practice (Corwin, 2018). Karin’s ongoing CBE work has included guiding the development and implementation of New Hampshire’s K–12 Model Competencies and supporting school districts throughout the United States in creating and analyzing the effective use of performance scales and high-quality performance assessments for competency-based learning.

• ForewordAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorIntroductionModule 1: Are My Students Thinking Deeply or Just Working Harder? Infusing Rigor Into Instruction and Assessment: Laying the Groundwork for Deeper Learning for All Students1.1 What Is Cognitive Rigor?1.2 Developing a Common Understanding of What Cognitive Rigor Is and What It Is Not1.3 Seven Common Misconceptions About Rigor1.4 Bloom Meets Webb: Origins of the Hess Cognitive Rigor MatrixReflections1.5 Getting Started Applying Your Understanding of Rigor and Deeper LearningPart 2: Support Materials for Module 1I. A Workshop Plan for Module 1II. The Hess Cognitive Rigor Tools: About the Tools in This ModuleIII. Strategies and Tools for Professional Developers and Teacher PlanningIV. Kid Tools: Resources for Use With Students to Support Deeper ThinkingModule 2: Is the Task Appropriate to the Text? Examining and Using Increasingly Complex Texts2.1 What Makes Texts Complex, and Why Should Every Teacher Care?2.2 The Thinking Behind the Tools in Module 22.3 Five Key Learnings From a Text Complexity Analysis Process2.4 Understanding Quantitative and Qualitative Complexity Measures2.5 Unpacking Overall Text Complexity Using a Qualitative Analysis Approach2.6 A Detailed Discussion of What to Look for—Eight Qualitative Complexity FactorsReflectionsPart 2: Support Materials for Module 2I. A Workshop Plan for Module 2II. The Hess Text Complexity Tools: About the Tools in This ModuleIII. The Importance of Teaching About Text StructuresIV. Sample Instructional Strategies for Teaching About Text StructuresV. Sample Text-Based Assessment StrategiesModule 3: What Does This Test Really Measure? Designing and Refining High-Quality Assessments for Deeper Learning3.1 What Is a High-Quality Assessment?3.2 Assessment Purposes and Use: Formative, Interim, and Summative3.3 Developing and Refining Rubrics and Scoring Guides3.4 What Can You Learn From Analyzing Student Work Products?3.5 Developing Anchor Papers for Performance Tasks and Anchor Sets for Calibration3.6 Cognitive Labs: An Effective and Efficient Alternative to Piloting New AssessmentsCognitive Lab Part 1: Observe and Document—Done While Students Are WorkingCognitive Lab Part 2: Small Group InterviewCognitive Lab Part 3A: Interpret Student Work Samples and Make DecisionsCognitive Lab Part 3B: Collaboratively Interpreting Evidence in Student Work3.7 Guidelines for Creating Task Validation Teams: Analyzing Technical Quality of AssessmentsLocal Assessment Cover Page for Task ValidationAnalyzing Assessments for Technical Quality: Conducting a Task ValidationReflectionsPart 2: Support Materials for Module 3I. A Workshop Plan for Module 3II. The Hess PLC Tools: About the Tools in This ModuleIII. Strategies and Tools for Professional Developers and Teacher PlanningIV. Sample Formative Assessment StrategiesV. Sample Performance Assessment Design StrategiesModule 4: Where Do I Start, What Do I Teach Next, Which Supports Work Best? Using Learning Progressions as a Schema for Planning Instruction and Measuring Progress4.1 What Are Learning Progressions (or Learning Trajectories), and How Can They Be Used to Scaffold Instruction and Guide the Design and Use of Assessments of Deeper Learning?4.2 Four Interrelated Guiding Principles of Learning Progressions4.3 Standards, Learning Progressions, and Curriculum: How Are They Related?4.4 Zooming “In” and Zooming “Out” of Learning Progressions: Two Sides to the Same Coin4.5 Applying the Four Interrelated Guiding Principles to Better Understand a Learning Progression4.6 Providing System Coherence: Using Learning Progressions for Instructional and Assessment Planning4.7 Lessons Learned—Using Learning Progressions to Guide Instruction and Change Assessment Practices4.8 Looking for Increasing Rigor—by Observing Shifts in Teacher and Student Roles4.9 Suggested Ways to Get Started Using the “Looking for Rigor” Walk-Through Tool #26ReflectionsPart 2: Support Materials for Module 4I. A Workshop Plan for Module 4II. The Hess LP Tools: About the Tools in This ModuleIII. Strategies and Tools for Professional Developers and Teacher PlanningIV. Strategies and Resources for Use With StudentsModule 5: Is This a Collection of Tests or an Assessment System? Building and Sustaining a Local Comprehensive Assessment System for Deeper Learning5.1 Rethinking What It Means to Have a Comprehensive Local Assessment System5.2 Five Indicators of a Comprehensive Local Assessment System5.3 Multiple Measures and Common Assessments5.4 What Exactly Are “Common” Assessments and Where Do They Fit in the Local Assessment System?5.5 Revisiting Alignment From a Systems Perspective5.6 Interpreting Results From Local Assessment AnalysesReflectionsPart 2: Support Materials for Module 5I. A Workshop Plan for Module 5II. The Hess Alignment Tools: About the Tools in This ModuleAppendicesAppendix A: Summary of Hess Tools to Guide Local Assessment Development, Instructional Planning, and PLC ActivitiesAppendix B: Instructional and Formative Assessment Strategies to Uncover ThinkingAppendix C: Troubleshooting Tips When Designing Assessment Items and TasksAppendix D: Sample “What I Need to Do” Rubrics—Science, ELA, Mathematics, Blank TemplateAppendix E: Student Profile: Science Inquiry Learning ProgressionAppendix F: Student Learning Progression Literacy Profile—Grades 7–8Appendix G: Writing Persuasively Learning Progression (Strand 7, LPF)Appendix H: LPF STRAND 7 (Grades K–2) Sample Lesson Planning Steps Using Learning ProgressionsAppendix I: An Expanded Glossary for Understanding and Designing Comprehensive Local Assessment SystemsReferencesIndex

"Karin Hess has a gift. She understands the complex and technical world of assessment, but she is able to convey concepts, techniques, and strategies in a way that is clear, practical, and right on target for today’s schools and classrooms. Her central focus on transfer is operationalized in practices that depend upon and promote cognitive rigor, literacy, and student performance. This IS assessment for deeper learning. But her greater gift—and the one offered to teachers and instructional leaders so ably in this invaluable resource—is her richly developed ′toolkit′ of professional development modules. Karin Hess not only gives us the why but also the how and the what if around developing great assessment practices."