DEVELOPING CULMINATING AND PROGRESSIVE ASSESSMENTS

Summative assessments happen after learning is supposed to have occurred to determine if it did (stiggins2007).

The preceding chapters have presented reasons for integrating new forms of assessment into your teaching, as well as discussion of various types of performance based and authentic approaches that teachers can use to design assessments. This chapter begins our consideration of how to design the following: (a) culminating, or summative, assessments that are linked to specific unit goals and targeted broad standards and (b) formative, or progressive, assessments that are integrated with learning activities in order to help students prepare to complete their culminating performance or product. The chapter provides you with sample culminating and progressive assessments in three units: tumbling, archery, and golf. Chapters 8 and 9 then take you through the entire process of designing standards-based instructional units that include integrated formative and summative assessments; they also present two sample unit plans, one for tennis and one for soccer, along with sample assessments for each.

CULMINATING (SUMMATIVE) ASSESSEMENTS

A culminating or summative assessment is generally a final performance or product that the student completes in order to provide evidence that he or she has achieved broad standards and specific unit goals (Kentucky Department of Education 2008). Identifying these standards and unit goals is the first of five steps that teachers take when implementing the standards based planning process, which is described in detail in chapter 8. For now, however, in order to guide you through the sample culminating assessments presented in this chapter we will provide the relevant national standards and specific unit goals for you, which are usually identified in the first steps of planning. Teachers can use the National Standards for physical Education (NASPE 2004) or individual state or district goals as broad and targeted goals in the planning process, which serve as the final student destination in the planning and teaching process. Teachers must also identify content specific unit goals which directly relate to the broad standards and goals, before developing the culminating assessment. The targeted standards and unit goals determine the destination- the culminating performance or product-and indicate to the students and the teacher how close the student has arrived to the destination.

Once you have identified standards and goals and thus know where your students are headed, design a culminating assessment to determine whether they do, in fact, arrive at the desired destination (see figure 7.1) At this point, it is essential to address the following question: how will the students and I know if they have achieved the unit goals and targeted standards-and at which level? Much of the answer to this question can be found in the culminating in which students based instruction, this culminating or summative assessment should serve as a demonstration of students’ learning and their achievement of goals, as well as their progress toward targeted standards. Students should demonstrate their ability to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in the context of an authentic or realistic task or performance. The culminating performance or product then serves as the accountability measure for both the students and the teacher.

When designing the culminating assessment teachers must consider unit goals and targeted standards in a true-to-life situation. This final assessment should be designed before the unit begins, and it should be tailored to the length of the unit and the available instructional time per day. this final assessment should consist of a group or individual performance, a completed product in which the student assumes a real-life role and engages a specific audience, or a student portfolio – along with the corresponding scoring guides or rubrics-should be shared with students at the beginning of the unit so that they know from the outset what is expected of them. The culminating performance may take the form of a project that students work on for several weeks, or it could consist of an event task that they complete during one or two class periods. This final assessment should be engaging to the students, and should serve as both the ultimate learning experience and the summative assessment. It is this final performance or product that ultimately demonstrates a student’s level of achievement of unit goals and standards.

Once you have established the student goals for your unit, you must then think about ways in which students can provide evidence that they have achieved those goals by demonstrating their knowledge, skills, and abilities in a culminating performance or final product. Culminating experiences should give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in a way that is authentic in terms of the activity or a real-life application. As you design a culminating assessment for an activity unit, ask yourself the questions featured in figure 7.2. Using these guiding questions, we have developed culminating performances and sample progressive assessments for three activity units-tumbling, archery, and golf-which make up the bulk of this chapter.

In the culminating performance or product, students may take on an authentic or realistic role (e.g  athlete, coach, sportswriter or fitness writer, director, sportcaster) appropriate to the task. The performance or product might take any of various forms, as suggested by the list presented in figure 7.3

Initial steps in standards-based physical education planning

1.      Identify broad, targeted goals based on the national standards for physical education (National Association for sport and physical education 2004) and state or district goals.

2.      Identify specific goals that are relevant to unit content or activity and link directly to achievement of the broad standards and goals.

3.      Design a summative or culminating assessment performance or product that engages students and requires them to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge and skills in a realistic setting.

4.      Design a series of progressively complex formative assessments- for students to participate in throughout the unit-that are linked with learning activities. These assessments should provide students with feedback about their progress toward completing the culminating assessment and meeting the goals.

Guidelines for designing culminating assessments

1.      What is the nature of the activity or content? How are students expected to use the skills and knowledge?

2.      How can my students demonstrate that they understand and can apply knowledge and skills authentically in this activity?

3.      How can I design the assessment so that it is meaningful and has real-life applications for my students?

4.      How can I make this culminating assessment an interesting and fun learning experience that fully engages my students?

5.      Should the culminating assessment be a performance or a product? What is my rationale? Should I have students do both?

6.      How can I design the culminating experience so that I am assessing all three educational domains: psychomotor, cognitive, affective?

7.      What is the culminating assessment?

8.      Should it be a group or individual effort?

9.      Is the culminating assessment designed so that students of all ability levels can complete the assessment successfully at their level of performance?

10.  What criteria should students have to meet when completing the culminating assessment? How can I encourage students to use higher-order thinking skills, such as synthesis, evaluation, and analysis?

11.  How do I evaluate student performance on the culminating assessment?

12.  How much does the culminating experience contribute to the student’s learning and grade?

13.  Is the culminating assessment efficient? How much time will students need to complete the assessment?