Using the Six Facets of Understanding to Evaluate Student Learning: Modeling and Implementing Best Practice

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Using the Six Facets of Understanding to Evaluate
Student Learning Modeling and Implementing Best
Practice

• Pamela Luft, Ph.D.
• Kent State University
• March 16, 2005
• Charting the Course Together Collaborative
  Assessment in Preparing Ohios Educators
• pluft_at_kent.edu

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The Pressure for Assessment

• Federal Requirements
• Goals 2000 America 2000
• NCLBA
• AYP
• Proficiency Tests
• State and District Requirements
• Use of Ohio Curriculum Standards
• Grade-level Proficiency Tests

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Teacher Preparation Programs

• Professional Accreditation
• NCATE
• Outcomes-based measures using 6 - 8 assessments.
• Council for Exceptional Children KSUs
  Assessments
• Praxis I II
• Clinical and Field Experience
• Assessment and IEP Development
• Behavior Change Project
• Curriculum Based Measurement
• Classroom-Based Unit Plan
• Portfolio

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Outcomes-Based Assessments

• States and Districts
• Schools are under increasing pressure to raise
  student outcomes based on state standards.
• Higher Educations Responsibility
• To prepare their graduates to incorporate
  standards into their teaching.
• To document outcomes based on these standards.

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Conceptually Focused Assessed Teaching Units

• Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe,
  1998)
• Based upon research on learning and teaching
  (http//www.ubdexchange.org/resources.html).
• Uses backward design process
• Incorporates multiple assessments to ensure
  understanding

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Unit Design Process

• Stage One Begin with Needs
• Incorporate external standards
• Unpack them into meaningful and teachable
  chunks.
• Review the standard for those elements that are
• (a) worth being familiar with,
• (b) what is important to know and understand, and
  
• (c) what is authentic and relevant and of
  life-long value to the student.
• Identify student needs that are
• Life-long and enduring
• Relevant and authentic
• Address key misperceptions or misunderstandings

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Unit Development cont.

• Stage One Identify Overarching Questions
• Review key unit elements
• Standards that are at the heartthe core of the
  content
• Reflect life-long, enduring, and authentic
  student needs
• Synthesize these into overarching and enduring
  understandings
• Develop inquiry-based unit questions
• These focus and link the unit assessments and
  teaching activities to the overall unit goals

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Unit Development cont.

• Stage Two Identify Comprehensive Assessments
• Plan a variety of assessments that demonstrate
  achievement of overarching understandings
• Use the Six Facets of Understanding
• Review to ensure sufficient evidence that
  demonstrates the unit understandings
• Stage Three Develop Instruction
• Plan lessons and activities that prepare students
  for the assessments that demonstrate their
  understanding

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Development Summary

• Use Stage Ones
• overarching and enduring understandings,
• which incorporate and unpack external standards,
• To plan Stage Twos
• assessments to collect evidence of these
  understandings,
• across the Six Facets,
• Which are supported by Stage Threes
• learning experiences and instructional activities
• that ensure that students have the necessary
  skills and knowledge
• to fully and effectively demonstrate these
  understandings
• across each of the Six Facets.

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Six Facets of Understanding
UbD Facet Facet Description
Facet 1 Explanation Sophisticated explanations and theories
Facet 2 Interpretation Interpretations, narratives, and translations
Facet 3 Application Use knowledge in new situations and contexts
Facet 4 Perspective Critical and insightful points of view
Facet 5 Empathy Ability to get inside another person's feelings
Facet 6 Self-knowledge To know one's ignorance, prejudice, and understanding
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Unit-Based Teaching

• Good teaching should aim for depth, rather than
  superficial breadth (TIMMS report)
• Develop instruction based on unit themes
• Broad themes can address the comprehensive nature
  of standards
• Unit themes support redundancy of learning, to
• increase depth of understanding
• allow expansion and extension of related skills
  and knowledgethe standards
• Unit themes link individual tasks and activities
  to reduce fragmentation and build these broader
  knowledge and skill learnings.

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Instructional Unit

• Deaf Education course
• Choose one theme for course units
• Use the three stages of unit design
• Stage One
• ODE Standards
• K-12 student needs across all instructional areas
  and theme
• Stage Two
• Assessments across the Six Facets
• Stage Three
• One lesson plan for each content area

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Dual AssessmentExperience

• Course evaluation
• Understanding of UbD as evidenced by the unit and
  other course projects across the Six Facets
• Implementation
• Use of UbD process and Six Facets for the unit
  design and assessment of learning

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Course Assessments

• Course Rubric
• Unit Assignment

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Assessment Skills Learned

• Assessment across multiple facets of
  understanding
• Value of thorough evaluation
• Synthesis of state standards and student needs
  into unit addressing life-long skills
• Multiple assessment experience and perspective
• Application with own unit and for evaluating
  studentsimposer
• Utilization for evaluating courseworkreceiver

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Programmatic Evaluation NCATE and CEC Outcomes

• Classroom Based Unit Plan
• Thorough learning of rubric use and development
  through
• Their own teaching unit with K-12 students
• Their projects evaluation
• Course-based evaluation becomes NCATE portfolio
  evaluation
• Data is accumulated across program

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Unit Rubric

• The Six Facets of Understanding document both
  knowledge and skill aspects of unit design and
  instructional planning
• Factual and declarative knowledge (Facets 1-2)
• Procedural knowledge (Facet 3)
• Abilities to synthesize and evaluate oneself and
  others (Facets 4-6)
• Implementation of NCATE rubric
• Utilized the six assessment facets with a 3-point
  rubric
• Special Education program chose this as a
  framework, pending implementation decisions
  throughout the College

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NCATE Application

• Rubric
• 3 Exemplary
• 2 Satisfactory
• 1 Unsatisfactory
• Tasks
• Students will explain (Facet 1) and give examples
  or analogies (Facet 2) to show how use of the
  three steps of unit design, and the six facets
  help to ensure that students truly understand a
  unit.
• Students will develop an integrated teaching unit
  (Facet 3), using the three stages of backward
  design, incorporating the six facets of
  understanding, with lesson plans that provide the
  skills each student will need (Facets 4 5) to
  successfully complete the facets and demonstrate
  understanding of key unit outcomes.
• Student will reflect on strengths and needs
  initially perceived and later evidenced through
  the unit development process will identify two
  areas for improvement prior to student teaching
  (Facet 6).

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Programmatic Implementation

• Use of e-portfolios
• Assignments loaded on college server and locked
• Instructor uses e-rubric to grade
• NCATE search accumulates individual assignments
  with grades across program
• Technical support
• Undergraduate technology course
  assigns individual server space
• Graduate workshops TBD

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Issues Still Pending

• Student passes course but fails NCATE project
• Locating student files
• Must use exact assignment name instructor cannot
  retrieve otherwise
• Student can revise own version but course and
  NCATE version are locked

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Project Implementation

• OSERS-funded Transition Services Preparation for
  Teachers of D/HH Students
• Unit development process that integrates
  transition skills
• Life-long, authentic, and relevant needs
  integrated into content-area instruction
• Year One Backward design process
• Year Two Documentation of outcomes
• Year Three Research-drive unit topics
• MS-IEPs HS-IEPs
• Career Awareness Career Exploration

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More Information

• KSUs Special Education Program NCATE evaluation
  http//sped.educ.kent.edu/Files.htm
• Unit Rubric Unit Directions
• More information on utilization of unit design
  rubricsee Teaching Units http//www.educ.kent.ed
  u/fundedprojects/TSPT/grant.htm

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References

• National Center for Educational Statistics
  (2003). Trends in international mathematics and
  science study (TIMSS). Washington, DC Author.
  Available online http//nces.ed.gov/timss/.
• Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding
  by design. Alexandria, VA Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Development.