Performance Assessment for Science Teachers
This course is divided into three lessons. In each lesson, you will find three sub-areas: Goal, Learning Activities, and Evaluation Activities.
The Goal states what you will be able to do as a result of your study.
Learning Activities outline ways for you to learn the material. Usually the activities will be organized in a suggested sequence. As you proceed through the Learning Activities you may reach a point when you feel that you have learned enough to achieve the objective. Therefore, no particular number of activities is "required." But it is better to be thoroughly prepared and perform well, than to produce work of marginal quality. After all, the only real reason for taking this course is your own improvement--that should never be minimized.
The section entitled Evaluation Activities outlines what you should prepare as evidence
of your having achieved the objective. Follow these instructions very carefully, since a
partially completed assignment cannot be given credit.
Among the learning activities in each lesson, you will usually find reference to a
self-test. The answers to self-tests are located in after each test. Please take the
self-test, correct it, and restudy if you need to do so. Do not submit self-tests with
your material to be scored. The symbol to the left will signal a self test.
C. Credit &
Grades
Normally those who take college courses are doing so because they are in pursuit of excellence. Mediocre work in this course will not be acceptable. A lesson that is marked NA (Not Achieved) must be resubmitted for re-scoring; a reasonable effort should find you achieving the objective. Specific criteria used to score your assignments are outlined for each topic under the heading "Scoring."
You may earn two semester- or three quarter-hours of credit for completing the requirements of this course if your instructor has arranged for credit through a local university. Or, you may earn three units of inservice credit by applying to the Utah state science supervisor. This course is usually offered as a pass/fail credit though sometimes arrangements for a letter grade may be made in advance of your doing the work of the course
To earn credit you must do the following:
- 1.
- Pass an objective test with a score of 80% or better on each part of the Background Reading Material. You may retake this test once.
- 2.
- Prepare appropriately written interpretive and essay items with scoring guides for each one. See Chapter 2, Evaluating Higher Order Thinking.
- 3.
- Prepare at least one "performance test" with scoring materials and one "performance task" with scoring materials. See Chapter 3, More Authentic Performance Measures.
If your work is unacceptable when submitted the first time you will be given an opportunity to revise it until it is acceptable. If letter grades are to be awarded, an "A" will be given for work done acceptably and on-time. A grade of less that an "A" will be given for acceptable work submitted after the due date.
D. Text
This work text is the only required text for the course.
E. How to Proceed
All teachers use tests to make important decisions about student learning. As a teacher using tests, you need to know about the strengths and limitations of different kinds of tests and test questions. You need to know how to identify the bad questions in a test so that you can correct or eliminate them. As you prepare tests, they should be good ones; they should measure what was taught; the questions should avoid some of the common problems which upset students and make the tests invalid as measures of pupil growth.
Tests and other forms of evaluation can be used as powerful learning activities. You should know how to use them as such.
At one time, civilization could only use five percent of the population in occupations requiring higher or secondary education. In this context, evaluation became a method of weeding out ninety-five percent of the students, and determining the five percent or so who were most talented and thus most deserving of filling these positions. However, today in our highly complex society, the vast majority of the work force requires at least secondary schooling. Thus, the role of evaluation in elementary and secondary schools has correspondingly shifted away from the primary functions of choosing the few best students in a group, a ranking function, and now serves functions related to helping all students learn. The emphasis of this course, therefore, is evaluation to improve learning. This emphasis will become evident as you work toward the goals of the course, listed below.
