EPSY 590 ASA Major Assessment Project

 Spring 2007
Lee Wilkinson

The Major Assessment Project focuses on using assessments to make informed and meaningful changes in your curriculum.

Your final project should be Web-based, even if you will be printing out your assessments for your students.  The use of multimedia in your assessment project is encouraged.  These projects will be written and submitted in stages throughout the semester.  You will receive feedback at each stage of the development from the instructor as well as from each other.

Stage One: Project Proposal 

Objectives of the Project: Think about some aspect of your classroom assessments that you would like to change. Write a short description of what you would like to do for your assessment project vis-à-vis this aspect.

Develop a KWL Chart: Create a KWL (Know, Want to Learn, and Learned) chart that identifies the issues, problems, and/or questions to be investigated and their significance to your curriculum and classroom assessment practices.

·        In the “Know” column, write down issues that you already know about your curriculum and assessment practices.

·        In the “Want to Learn” column, write down assessment issues that you want to pursue in your assessment project and why they are important.

·        The “Learned” column will be filled in later in the semester, as you will write down what you have learned about the issues you have originally identified, as well as newly gained insights that pertain to your classroom assessment.

Stage Two: Curriculum Map 

Construct a Curriculum Map for the course you are teaching this semester that documents how your current assessment practices are aligned with your curriculum. This map should describe the content and skills to be covered during the course of semester, as well as how they are to be assessed.

Stage Three: Revised Assessments

Revise the assessments in your curriculum map using the guidelines discussed in the readings so far. If all of your assessments are Objective or Multiple-choice, revise at least two assessments to measure more complex achievements, using essays or other written forms of assessment, performance- or project-based assessments, and/or portfolios. Submit the revised assessment items and/or tasks alongside the original assessment items

Stage Four:  Analysis and Conclusions

Administer your revised assessments with your students and start filling in the “Learned" column in your KWL Chart.

Also include a 2-3 page draft of your analysis report that you will be using, as a guide to your final presentation.  Include things such as

  • A 150-word abstract of your project.
  • A description of what you've learned while working on your project.
  • A description of what things you would do differently next time.
  • Guide the discussion by asking 1-2 questions to your group members. "While working on this project, I had some difficulties/successes with ___. I'd like to get some feedback from you on __."
Final Presentation Powerpoint Summary