No Excuses University — Assessment

 

In Chapter 8, Lopez sends a resounding message: “Assessment is not about you as a teacher; it is about your students” (p.97). He goes on to say that our reason for assessing students should be grounded in our commitment to use the information collected in a way that helps us generate greater success for our students. 

• Share your perspective on Lopez’s quote and statement above. Describe how your mindset has changed or been validated.
• Consider the 4 questions Lopez lists under “Defending our Assessment Practices” (p.98). How might you use these questions in your current or anticipated practice? What value might it add to your practice by keeping these questions in mind?
• In what ways have you succeeded/failed to make students your partner in assessment?

 

Lopez, D. (2013).

No excuses university: How six exceptional systems are revolutionizing our schools

(2nd ed.). Turnaround Schools Publications.

• Chapter 8: Assessment (p. 98)

  This chapter addresses the “bureaucracy of assessment” and how to best use the leadership team to create components of the assessment plan.

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Chapter Eight – Assessment

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“Make no judgments
where
you have no compassion.”
– Anne McCaffrey

1

Assessment is not about the teacher; it’s about
the student.

2

Leadership teams play a key role in creating an
exceptional system for assessment.

3

Educators at all levels must fight through
bureaucracy in an effort to be explicitly practical
in the area of assessment.

 

It always happens in the middle of the night, doesn’t it? Your little one complains of the aches and pains that come with being sick. It’s all parents can do to wipe the sleep from their eyes and muster just enough attention to shine a flashlight in the mouth of their child or place a thermometer under their tongue before Dr. Mom finally decides to see the pediatrician first thing in the morning. If I were to give my wife a nickel for every time she took on this duty, let’s just say that the royalties from this book would be going straight to her.

On occasion, I’ve stepped up to the plate to take my girls to the doctor, such as the time we thought our daughter Olivia had strep throat. I suspected that the result was not going to be good, but like most dads I tried to ease her anxiety. As hard as I tried, my words of support fell on deaf ears as Olivia just kept asking me the same question in a million different ways: Am I going to need a shot, Daddy? Will it hurt? Oh, I hope I don’t need a shot! Have you ever had a shot for a sore throat? Why aren’t you answering me, Dad? Is it because you know I’m going to need a shot? To say that I was relieved by the doctor’s bedside manner is an understatement. I’ll never forget the way he put my girl at ease as soon as she sat on the examining table. His words not only comforted her, but also taught me a thing or two about how children perceive the unknown. Instead of having Olivia open her mouth and jamming a cotton swab down her throat to test for an infection, with calm confidence, he looked Olivia right in the eyes, held up the testing swab, and said, “Olivia, this is a cotton swab. I’m going to gently wipe the back of your throat to test for something called a strep infection. If you have this infection, don’t worry; YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET A SHOT. I’ll only need to give you some medicine to drink, and I’ll even have the nurse make it taste like bubble gum. Deal?” Immediately, any anxiety that Olivia had about the test turned to relief before it even began. She shook his hand, wiped her tears away, and opened her mouth as if she were the world’s greatest patient.

So what’s this have to do with assessment? Today in our schools, teachers are jamming numerous assessments down the throats of our kids without any explanation of what they are measuring or how it will help them achieve success in the long run. In our classrooms, we often call our students to the back of the room so we can meet with them individually. Without showing that bedside demeanor that made all of the difference for my daughter in her doctor’s office, and usually without any warning or explanation, we jam that cotton swab down their throats. We ask them to count, make a pattern, or read a story until we gather the information we need to consider this ambush—I mean, assessment—complete. Sure, there’s value in knowing where our students stand academically, but we can achieve so much more on behalf of our students if we would just take 30 seconds to create buy-in for the process.

As for me, I was as guilty of this as anyone. During my first year of teaching, I spent 90 percent of my time collecting data and 10 percent using it to the benefit of my kids. By my second year, I had discovered that I could turn that ratio on its head by having one simple conversation with my students before each major assessment. It went something like this:

“Miguel, this is an IRI assessment that helps me know what level you are at as a reader. As you can see, you have a copy and I have a copy. As you read aloud, you’ll see me making notes, but don’t worry; I’m not interested in giving you a grade for a report card. I simply want to know your strengths as a reader and also ways that I can help you become better. The test will only take about three minutes. When we’re done, I’ll share your level with you, and we’ll make sure to pick out some books that are perfect for you as a reader. Sound good?”

I can only imagine that it took you no more than 20-30 seconds to read the previous paragraph. Whether you are a high school science teacher speaking to your class as a whole, or a kindergarten teacher talking with a student on his first day of school, your conversation with students can be achieved in the same amount of time. With an area of focus like assessment, we are often concerned with the bottom line, so let me say this in the simplest of ways: Assessment is not about you as a teacher; it is about your students. All of it! Our reason for assessing students has to be grounded in a commitment to use the information in a way that helps us to generate greater success for them. Clearly, this is not an easy job. But the challenging nature of this task should never give educators license to hand out tests, set the timer, collect the tests, grade the tests, post the scores, and do it all over again, and again, and again. Unfortunately, far too many of our colleagues are doing just that. It’s time that we recalibrate our priorities by creating an exceptional system in the area of assessment.

FIGHTING THE BUREAUCRACY OF ASSESSMENT

Before we go any further, let’s make sure we are all on the same page in regard to the topic of standardized tests. This chapter is not about those tests. State tests are required across the country, and they serve a role for districts and schools as they help to track trends over time. Frustrating as they may be to me, you might be surprised by my lack of enthusiasm to even attempt to complain about them. I’ve learned to accept them as a tool that is used to promote accountability. If you want to waste your time fighting the system or complaining about them to your colleagues, be my guest, but know this before you continue going down that road: Schools that use meaningful assessments based on state standards that drive instruction tend to be schools where the state test takes care of itself. In the previous chapter, we discussed the ways we could teach to the standards and hence give our students a better chance at being successful on state tests. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot more you can do. And if there were, don’t you think I’d dedicate a whole chapter to it? No, this is not the kind of bureaucracy that I am concerned about. What I’m concerned about is the way that some schools and districts blindly mandate assessments to our teachers in such a way that only encourages them to make the priority about getting assessment data turned in by a deadline. This hinders growth for our kids and prevents our teachers from utilizing a number of other skills that they could be spending their time on instead. No Excuses University schools must operate differently.

DEFENDING OUR ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

Think about the following questions related to assessment:

Why are you participating in the assessments that you use with students?

Can you share in explicit detail the value that you find in each assessment?

Do you participate in assessments that you find no value in for students?

Are you using an assessment you have no idea how to deliver, but are afraid to ask for help with?

I think I’d be hard pressed to find anyone reading this book who would argue with the practicality of every question that I have raised. Yet they are exactly the questions that far too few of us are asking of ourselves and our leaders. Why? I contend that it is because we have been victim to a frenzy in public education that has us delivering our tests as a judgment that tracks students instead of as a tool that assists their learning. Sure, every teacher across the country knows the concept of data-driven instruction, but I have found it to be used more as a buzzword than anything else. It’s not that teachers don’t want to use data to drive instruction. It’s more that they are not given the proper assessments and time, or held accountable to do so. If we are going to create an exceptional system for assessment, we need to begin by asking the tough questions of ourselves. If your school or district is continuing to use an assessment, even one, without first asking why you are using it, then stop. If you are delivering assessments, even a single one, without first considering how you plan to involve students in the process, STOP!
The litmus test for our assessments must include a deep focus on student involvement because it inevitably leads to student achievement. If we cannot explicitly show how students are engaged in assessments that we deliver, then we cannot sufficiently defend the use of those very assessments.

THE ROLE OF A LEADERSHIP TEAM
As we head down the path of creating an exceptional system in the area of assessment, it must be noted that a leadership team on your site has to play a key role in its development. Remember, systems that are created by a leader will stay in place for as long as that person leads the organization. However, exceptional systems that are created by the critical mass of the staff in a highly collaborative way are far more sustainable. This highly collaborative component involves the work of a leadership team.
Most leadership teams are made up of grade level or department representation whose role is to support the site administrator in making plans for the future of the school. This concept of site-based decision making is an excellent one that has been around for many years. Unfortunately, decision making has turned into debating as more and more leadership teams work together. For some reason, many school leadership teams think that their sole responsibility is to represent their grade level or department. This often leads to a never ending back and forth between the leadership team and the grade level that produces all talk and no action. And because true leadership can only be measured by the results that it produces, these teams must find ways to operate differently. While No Excuses University grade and department representatives embrace the act of being the conduit of ideas from their team, they do so knowing also that they have been elected to make decisions on behalf of them.
Our leadership teams typically meet once a month. In between those meetings, team leaders are given a topic of conversation to collaborate on. Team leaders then bring those ideas back to the monthly meeting, where they spend their time making decisions about that particular topic. While we often actively debate about topics, we fight any efforts to get caught up in the meaningless back and forth that causes delay in decision making. I recall during one such meeting, after a lengthy debate of whether to participate in a new intervention, one team member asked the group, “How will we know if it is the right fit for our school if all we do is talk about it and never give it a try?” To us, one of the worst things to happen to kids is to have adults constantly talk in a room until they agree on something. Leadership teams may not always agree, but they always take action. And they do so in an effort to focus, not for the good of the grade level or department that members represent, but instead for the school as a whole.
CREATING AN EXCEPTIONAL
SYSTEM
FOR ASSESSMENT
The Los Peñasquitos Elementary assessment plan in the appendix is an example of an exceptional system at the elementary school level. The components within this system have been refined in the past and will continue to be in the years to come. As you attempt to create a system like this on your own, let me guide you in two specific areas. First, I will share the pattern of conversations that we engaged in as a leadership team in an effort to create this plan for assessment. Second, I will break down the main components of the plan and share the value of each. The Theory to Practice section at the end of this chapter will offer some meaningful next steps that your own leadership team can focus on when it comes time to move up the exceptional system staircase.

CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN
THE LEADERSHIP TEAM
As I began to lead the discussion around the creation of a site assessment plan, I did so by asking the most practical questions of my teachers: “Which assessments do you value? Which assessments do you not value?” During those conversations, I paid close attention to the reasons why my staff valued or did not value the assessments that they were using. Occasionally, we came across an assessment that nobody liked. Their rationale was well thought out and convincing. Because of this, I said that we would simply not use those particular assessments. They were shocked. One teacher even asked, “How can you do that? Aren’t we going to get in trouble with the district?” This was a fair concern on their part, but I said that it was something that I would have to handle as the leader. Fortunately for me, I worked with outstanding leaders at the district level who understood the need for teachers to value the assessments that they used on a daily basis. For years, my teachers were using assessments simply because they were told to by previous site or district administrators. To me, this is a flawed concept, as it takes the responsibility out of the hands of the professionals in charge of using assessments to drive instruction, the teachers.
Now, I’m not trying to cause a rift between your school and your district office. Nor am I trying to cause division between principals and staff members. I’m simply trying to bring the practicality back to our profession. To listen to experts in our field about the value of a particular assessment is crucial, but that expertise must be accompanied by evidence of the practical ways that these assessments are useful for teachers as they work with their students. As I write these words, I can just hear the whispers from the “experts” in the field who are cringing at my suggestion to give our teachers more of a role in this kind of decision making. Truth be told, I could not care less. All I want is what most leaders want, which is for my staff members to get great results for their students. The only way that this is going to happen when it comes to assessment is if we as leaders engage in no-nonsense conversations with our teachers. Once your leadership team is able to decide upon the assessments that are most valued by their colleagues, everything just begins to fall into place. As you engage in those conversations, here are the three requirements that our NEU teams agree upon as we select assessments.

Participating in state-required assessments is non-negotiable.

You must choose at least two assessments to use in each subject so as to offer multiple measures that provide data to validate your work.

The team must be driven to choose assessments that can be used from one grade level to another in an effort to track a student’s progress over time.

Making decisions about assessments is never easy. There’s no guarantee that the assessments you choose to use will work perfectly for every teacher or student. This alone creates a hindrance for many to even attempt to be courageous in their decision making. But what’s the worst that can happen? You find out that the assessments that you use are not all they were cracked up to be? So what? Wouldn’t you rather try assessments that teachers value and are willing to stand behind instead of having them go through the motions on mandated assessments?

COMPONENTS OF THE ASSESSMENT PLAN
As seen in the appendix, an exceptional system in the area of assessment can be detailed without being cumbersome. It can remain practical without needing to be micro-managed by a site leader. All of this is because the system was created by the same professionals who are expected to implement it, the teachers. While your exceptional system in the area of assessment may have several components and a variety of different kinds of assessments, I would urge you and your staff to include sections that address the following key elements.
Declaration: Like every exceptional system, if you can’t explain it on one page then you need to start over. Declarations related to assessment systems must work the same way. Think about it this way. If visitors from another school were to come to your campus and ask you to summarize how your staff works in the area of assessment, you should be able to give them one page that explains your plan in a way that they could take back to their site to begin similar work.
Assessment Grid: I’m a big fan of the Food Network. I have learned many tips about cooking over the years. One of them is the idea that if food is pleasing to your eye, it will also be pleasing to your palate. This relates directly to the way that we organize our exceptional systems. If I were to give you a long list of assessments at each grade level that spanned three pages, you might not get past the first page. You might even think that the assessments you were reading about were too lengthy and lacking connection between the grade levels or departments at your school. However, if I were able to bring these assessments all together on one page in a way that shows when they were given, what the benchmarks were at each stage, and how they related to the preceding and following grade levels, you would feel much more at ease. The task would be far more attainable. The example of our assessment grid in the appendix exemplifies this belief.
Assessment Table of Contents: Having a table of contents that defines each assessment and how it can be used as an assessment that drives instruction for students is done for one reason: to ensure that all staff members know why they give the assessment in the first place. This sounds so simple, but my experience shows that if you ask ten teachers about ten different assessments, you’ll get one hundred different opinions. Exceptional systems ensure that staff members are on the same page by asking the right questions, making sure that everyone understands the answers, and taking explicit steps to guarantee that nothing falls between the cracks. As you can see in the appendix, that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Commitment to Involving Students: While the assessment table of contents asks how we “can” involve students in the assessment process, the example in the back of the book shows plans for how we “will” involve them. Assessments that used to be delivered without explanation are accompanied by plans that secure student involvement. This not only supports our partnership with students, but also strengthens the collaborative efforts between our teams.
Standardizing Our Efforts: During my teaching experience, I learned of several colleagues who always seemed to get better results than the rest of us. In fact, not only were their overall results better, but so was the growth that they showed for each student. Were they cheating? No, they were simply delivering their assessments differently than the rest of us. While we would give our first assessments on the first day of school, these high scoring teachers started their assessments two weeks later. This was done in tandem with them giving their next assessments two or even three weeks later than the rest of us. When you added it up, they had an extra month of instruction between assessments. Of course their kids were going to show greater results! This may seem totally ridiculous to you, but you must understand that because there were no systems in place at the school, it was every teacher for him- or herself. It wasn’t until we created our systems that we finally sat down and decided on the ways that we would standardize when and how we delivered our assessments to students. Is it easy to do? Yes. Is it done at the majority of schools across the country? Not by a long shot.
Assessment Calendar: Having an assessment calendar as part of your assessment system goes hand in hand with standardizing your efforts. Most schools and districts have calendars like these, which is great. Many, however, don’t display them in a practical format, which isn’t so great. As you create your assessment calendars, be sure to present them in a crystal-clear format for your staff. Print them on a magnet or on a bookmark that can be placed prominently next to a teacher’s work area. Use technology like Outlook, I-Cal, or Dropbox to ensure that assessment dates and protocols are just a click away. It’s all about making sure that we’re all on the same page.
Remember, the creation of an exceptional system is far different from the implementation of one. Creating one is a start, but the results can be found only when you turn talk, or writing, into action. Once you have created your exceptional system in the area of assessment, you are now in a place where you can speak the same language as a staff. At Los Peñasquitos Elementary School, we had nearly forty different languages represented within our student body. Knowing this, people always asked me, “What’s the most common native language spoken at your school?” My answer: “Data.” We taught it to our students, parents, and staff. The only reason that we were able to do this was because we have an exceptional system for assessment. Until you have taken this step up the staircase, consider yourself speechless.

 

ITEMS FOR ARTICULATION

In what ways have you succeeded/failed to make
students your partner in assessment?

What assessments do you value, and why? What
assessments do you wish you did not have to deliver,
and why?

How aware are you about the assessments that are
being given by your colleagues at other grade levels
or departments?

ITEMS FOR ACTION

As a leadership team, use the assessment plan in
the appendix as a guide as you begin to engage in
conversations about the components that were discussed
in this chapter. As you do, remember to keep students
at the forefront of the exceptional system that you create
for your school.

 

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+Cover and Front Matter Copyright
Dedication
About the Author
About This Book

Chapter One – Five Whispered Words
Chapter Two – Let’s Be the Research
Chapter Three – Finding Possible in the Impossible
Chapter Four – No Excuses University
Chapter Five – Culture of Universal Achievement
Chapter Six – Collaboration
Chapter Seven – Standards Alignment
Chapter Eight – Assessment
Chapter Nine – Data Management
Chapter Ten – Interventions
Chapter Eleven – What’s the Alternative?
Chapter Twelve – A Rationale for Readiness
Chapter Thirteen – Time for Action
Chapter Fourteen – Marketing the Message
Chapter Fifteen – No Excuses Begins with the Staff
Chapter Sixteen – High Expectations for Every Student
Chapter Seventeen – Partnering with Parents
Chapter Eighteen – The NEU Endorsement: A Staff’s Promise
Chapter Nineteen – Joining the No Excuses University
Network of Schools
Chapter Twenty – Extraordinary
Appendix
Bibliography

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