Assessment Tools

Assessments are keys to first ensuring the base knowledge that students have, then for
verifying students are gaining the knowledge as the knowledge is being gained and finally to
verify the all of the objectives set forth at the beginning have been realized in the end. These
assessments can and should take many forms to provide students with a variety ways to show
that they are learning..
For this unit there was a 15 question traditional summative pre-assessment, albeit one
with questions that tied to a variety of standards. The questions ranged from the Enlightenment
through the French Revolution. The questions aligned with history standards and objectives.
Specifically, the enlightenment goals and objectives about major world philosophies including
the enlightenment. The objectives asked students to present on the enlightenment thinkers and
write responses about how those thinkers would view their school. The questions on the French
Revolution connect to the objectives of that unit. These included questions relating to the goals
and objectives about the third estate, the declaration of the rights of man and citizen, the reign of
terror and Napoleon.
In order to ensure that the pre and post assessments could be accurately compared, I used
identical assessments. That way when analyzing the results, I would have clear comparisons and
be able to accurately quantify growth through the unit.
Throughout the unit, I employed a variety of assessment types to ensure that the students
had learned the material. For the pre and post assessments, I utilized a traditional assessment.
Throughout the unit I utilized formative assessments for a variety of objectives, in order that I
could adjust my teaching to make sure that all students were engaged and learning the material
and skills. Each lesson contained objectives for content, literacy or numeracy, and democracy or
21st century skill. Each of these objectives were aligned with a formative assessment. These
included written work, observed performance, including presentation and discussion, created
images and drawings and other works that demonstrated their understanding of the materials and
skills of the unit.
I used authentic assessment as well. One example had students writing descriptions of
what the enlightenment philosophers would think about Fossil Ridge High School. I also had a
number of self assessments throughout the unit. Often these were included on tickets out the
door, which asked students to rate their understanding of the lesson's contents and write
questions that they had about the material. On occasions I included a fist-to-five for students to
show me where they were at in the midst of a lesson.
I also included peer assessment, generally related to collaborative projects and activities.
In these circumstances I included peer as well as self assessment. These were sheets that also
asked for reflection from students on how they could do better o the project and how they could
improve their work as a team.
I also included questions for students about the assessments themselves. Did the
assessments demonstrate your learning? How could assessments better reflect your learning? The
responses will be helpful in crafting future assessments.
The alignment of the assessments follows from the objectives, which are directly aligned
to the standards. The assessments are aligned with three different standards, namely content
standards, literacy and numeracy standards, and democracy and 21st century skills standards.
Though varied in type, the assessments are created to demonstrate that the students have met the
objective. The assessments are also clear, in that students are told or shown what the assessments
are and what their completion looks like. I ask students to put it in their own words to ensure

understanding. To ensure developmental appropriateness, pre-assessments are used often, to

show where students are and what they already know, in order to ensure that further learning
takes place instead of repeating what is already known.
The first formative assessments in the unit were the presentations on the enlightenment
philosophers as well as the notes taken on other students presentations. After each presentation, I
added details that may have been omitted in the presentation. I also looked at the notes taken, in
order to see what students have gotten from other presentations. This was a traditional formative
assessment.
The second formative assessment was the written prompt that asked students to imagine
what each of the enlightenment philosophers would think about their school. This was an
authentic formative assessment that had a brief rubric but let the students decide for themselves
how the philosophers would think, and asked for reasoning in their responses.
The third formative assessment asked students to write about their learning after a
simulation of the economic situation previous to the French Revolution. This assessment asked
students to reflect on what they learned, how the simulation made them feel, and how they could
best demonstrate their learning. Thus this was an authentic assessment as well as a
transformative assessment. Confusions were addressed the next class period.
The fourth formative assessment was a series of questions about a primary source
document about the third estate. Students were struggling with the document, so I adjusted the
lesson and went through the document with the class. I did not answer the questions for the
students, I merely helped them understand the word of the document. I assessed the students
before looking at the final formative assessment and determined that I needed to adjust the
lesson.
The fifth formative assessment had the students summarize rights from the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and Citizen, draw the rights, and create their own rights. This was an authentic
formative assessment which required creativity. Again, students struggled with the text of the
document, so I adjusted the lesson based on my informal formative assessment of student
understanding.
The sixth formative assessment asked students to write several arguments for executing
King Louis XVI and several arguments against killing the king, followed by a debate about the
topic using cold calls to get a more accurate feel for the class at large. This was an authentic
assessment, as students could create their arguments, based on a brief rubric.
The seventh formative assessment had students read primary and secondary sources
about the Reign of Terror and answer questions about each document, followed by writing a brief
essay taking a stand on whether the Reign of Terror was justified at the time.
The eighth formative assessment had students present on an incident in Napoleons rise
or fall and then students had to decide if Napoleon was a hero or a villain based on their
understanding of the incidents. The assessment was authentic in that there was a rubric for
students to follow (use the incidents as evidence on one side or the other) but students came to
their own conclusions.
The ninth assessment was an authentic summative assessment. Students were to make a
timeline using online software. The timeline required accurate placement in time, and used the
different incidents that had been discussed through the unit.
The final summative assessment included the fifteen questions that were on the unit preassessment as well as a written essay on the causes of the French Revolution based on primary
source documents provided.