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Secondary History/Social Studies

Task 3: Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY


Respond to the prompts below (no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. Attach the assessment you used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional pages) to the end of this
file. If you submit feedback as a video or audio clip and your comments to focus students cannot be clearly heard, attach
transcriptions of your comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to the end of this file. These pages do not count toward
your page total.

1. Analyzing Student Learning


a. Identify the specific learning objectives measured by the assessment you chose for
analysis.
[The learning objectives that will be measured all can be found in Lesson Plan 4, the day I
covered the Electoral College. They are as follows:
Students will be able to explain what the Electoral College is and how it is formed.
Students will be able to identify major pros and cons to the Electoral College system.
Students will be able to evaluate the role of the Electoral College system and determine if it
should be abolished or if it should be kept.
These learning objectives will be based off of four major writing criteria on the assignment;
.My school is in SRG (standard reference grading) format. The highest a student can earn on an
assessment is a level 4. In this case, there will be a general rubric for each standard. There are
as follows: Level 1; Student takes a stand on the issue, but does not provide any persuasive
reasoning for their stance. Level 2; Student takes a stand on the issue and answers why they
support that side. Student provides 1-2 persuasive reasons to support their argument with little
to no elaboration of those reasons. Level 3; Student take a stand on the issue and answers why
they support that side. Student provides 2 or more persuasive reasons to support their
argument with a brief or general elaboration of those reasons. They have no factual errors and
there are no highly opinionated responses.] Level 4; Student takes a stand on the issue and
answers why they support that side. Student provides 2 or more persuasive reasons to support
their side with a detailed elaboration on all of their reasons. They have no factual errors and
there are no highly opinionated responses.]
b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes student learning for your
whole class. Be sure to summarize student learning for all evaluation criteria submitted
in Assessment Task 3, Part D.
[
Scores
Students
Scores
]

4
2

3
7

2.5
11

2
5

1.5
0

1
0

c. Use evidence found in the 3 student work samples and the whole class summary to
analyze the patterns of learning for the whole class and differences for groups or
individual learners relative to

facts and concepts

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Secondary History/Social Studies


Task 3: Assessment Commentary

inquiry, interpretation, or analysis skills


building and supporting arguments or conclusions
Consider what students understand and do well, and where they continue to struggle
(e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater challenge).
[Facts and Concepts: Overall, my students did extremely well with facts and concepts. As a
whole class, there were only a few individuals who got their facts mixed up. The biggest
problem I saw was with confusion on how the Electoral College works. For instance, if we look
at student number 1 and her work, it is easy to see that she hasnt fully grasped the concept of
the Electoral College. Her confusion begins on line 4 of her answer, three words in, and lasts till
the bracket. Its a confused mess of what happens with the actual electoral votes. This could be
due to the fact that student 1 is an ELL. She has good English skills for still being enrolled in the
ELL program. I can see that her writing skills are a little lower than the average high school
student. Her reading and listening skills in English might have made her falter here. Students
not only had a handout on the background information of the Electoral College, but, as my video
clip points out, I lectured on the basic format of the Electoral College. Overall, however, a level 2
shows understanding of the basic facts and concepts of the information. A vast majority of my
students earned better than a 2, which means that they know the basic facts and concepts and
more.
Inquiry, Interpretation, or Analysis skills: Overall, a large majority of my students showed good
use of inquiry, interpretation, or analysis. I would attribute this with earning a level 2.5 or a level
3. These students not only showed me the facts, they also provided their arguments with deeper
information which students would have had to use analytical skills. Lets look at student number
2 for an example. She does a great job providing the facts and concepts. What she does next it
what sets her aside from other students; she analyzes the system of the Electoral College.
Thats one major element that sets aside a 2.5 from a 3.I look for that deep thinking; that
persuasive reasoning used as an element of analysis. Students for this assignment didnt really
need to inquire about the information. They did however, have to interpret. They were
responsible for interpreting the information about the Electoral College, and making a decision
of supporting or not supporting the Electoral College. Once they determined what side to take a
stand on, students were left to interpret the rest of the information and analyze what they had
read. One problem that students seemed to struggle with in this section was providing sufficient
elaboration. For instance, certain students provided one very detailed elaboration, which is
better than a 2, but they dont fulfill the requirements for a 3. This simply puts them at a 2.5.
Students could use more elaboration for this section, but as a whole, the class did a great job
here.
Building and Supporting Arguments or Conclusions: This is the area where my students
struggled. I had two students achieve a level 4, which shows me they had no major issues here.
However, a majority of those that earned a level 3 missed on earning a level 4 because their
argument abruptly ended; they had no conclusion for any of their writing. The building of the
actual argument was great. Take student 3 as an example. Student 3 picked a side to defend,
and introduced three persuasive reasons with a little explanation on each reason. But thats all
he did. He didnt wrap up his argument in any way, shape, or form. In terms of actually building
his argument, he did a really nice job. But then he just left it with no real conclusion. This was a
major theme among those students who received a level 3; built up their arguments and failed
to complete that process. I only saw 2 supporting conclusions; they were very simple, but very
effective. They built up an argument throughout the response and concluded on why their ideas
would be best for the system. This area needs the most work, and is something I plan on
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Secondary History/Social Studies


Task 3: Assessment Commentary

addressing in class in order to determine if I need to teach students how to conclude a


paragraph, or if they know how and just decided not to do it for this assignment.]
d. If a video or audio work sample occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion), provide the
name of the clip and clearly describe how the scorer can identify the focus student(s)
(e.g., position, physical description) whose work is portrayed.
[ N/A ]
2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning
Refer to specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanations.
a. Identify the format in which you submitted your evidence of feedback for the 3 focus
students. (Delete choices that do not apply.)

Written directly on work samples or in separate documents that were provided to the
focus students
If a video or audio clip of feedback occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion), clearly
describe how the scorer can identify the focus student (e.g., position, physical
description) who is being given feedback.
[ Feedback will be written directly on the work samples. ]
b. Explain how feedback provided to the 3 focus students addresses their individual
strengths and needs relative to the learning objectives measured.
[For all of the feedback presented to my students, I always make sure to start with a positive.
That is exactly what I did with these three students; I wanted them to know that I appreciated
their response here and that I enjoy reading any of the responses. I attempt to keep feedback
positive, even when discussing the issues that they missed or that they seem to lack the
understanding needed to fulfill the requirements of that question. On an individual level, I
provided the three students with different positive feedback that similarly said the same thing.
For instance, if we look at Student 1s feedback, we can see that I wrote to her about my
enjoyment of reading her response in the first sentence. If you look at students 2 and 3, I
compliment them in similar ways in the first sentence of their feedback. The next area where I
point out their strengths is directly related to their learning goals; explaining what the Electoral
College is and how it is formed. Students 2 and 3 had no problems here; their feedback says
that they both did a job well done. Student 1, however, needed work on her basic facts and
concepts, and this directly falls under this category. I comment that she seems to be confused
as to how this system works exactly. Not only that, but I explain to her how the system is
supposed to work. This feedback provides her with a way to realize she might have made a
mistake with her writing, or that she wasnt able to explain her writing as well as she would have
liked. This starts on line 11 of her feedback and goes on for the rest of her feedback. This was
done to make her aware of her mistakes as well as stress the importance of the learning goal
which she failed to achieve. Students 2 and 3 received feedback on their missed information as
well; student 2 gets feedback on her persuasive examples where I explain her lack of detail in
those examples is what led to her earning a 3 and not a 4. This takes place on lines 10-14 of
her feedback. For individual feedback on a students strengths, I think its best to look at student
number 3s very first sentence of feedback. I immediately let him know that this is the best
writing that he has turned in to date. This connects back to everything he has turned in and lets
him know that his development as a writer is getting better and is improving his grade in the
class as a result. Its important for him to see this so he knows that, not only has his writing
improved, but that he has improved his writing with the proper requirements for this specific
assignment.]
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Secondary History/Social Studies


Task 3: Assessment Commentary

c. Describe how you will support each focus student to understand and use this feedback
to further their learning related to learning objectives, either within the learning segment
or at a later time.
[With the feedback I have given them on their work, I expect my writing to give the focus
students the exact feedback they need. In other words, I expect the focus students to
understand the feedback as it is written, which is why I attempted to write as much as possible
about their writing. I will instruct focus students two things when I hand them back their writing
assignments. One, I will instruct the focus students to come see me privately if they would like
to discuss their feedback privately if they are confused or if they disagree with what I have said.
I will also instruct them to carefully read my feedback because it will help them with information
they will see on their unit exams. I will encourage the students to read over both the positive
comments, the strengths, in order to see what was well done, and the negative comments, the
weaknesses, in order to see what is needed to achieve the missed learning objectives. This will
allow the focus students to review the missed information and make the corrections on their unit
assessment to achieve the learning goals. If the writing is not enough, I have no problem sitting
down with the students individually in order to help them understand the written feedback.]
3. Evidence of Language Understanding and Use
When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the video clips and/or
student work samples as evidence. Evidence from the clips may focus on one or more
students.

You may provide evidence of students language use from ONE, TWO, OR ALL
THREE of the following sources:
1. Use video clips from Instruction Task 2 and provide time-stamp references for
evidence of language use.
2. Submit an additional video file named Language Use of no more than 5
minutes in length and cite language use (this can be footage of one or more
students language use). Submit the clip in Assessment Task 3, Part B.
3. Use the student work samples analyzed in Assessment Task 3 and cite
language use.
a. Explain and provide concrete examples for the extent to which your students were able
to use or struggled to use the

selected language function,


vocabulary/symbols, AND
discourse or syntax
to develop content understandings.
[During the formal assessment, all three focus students showed good knowledge of our
vocabulary word, which was the Electoral College. Student number 1 struggled with the exact
parts of it, but she has pieces of the concept and is just mixing them up. Overall, however, the
focus students showed that they understood what the Electoral College does at the simplest
level. Students are also able to show the use of discourse in this assignment. While I have been
checking to see if discourse was developed in their oral skills, I would hope to see a transfer in
those skills into a writing assignment; and I did. If we look at student number 3s work sample,
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Secondary History/Social Studies


Task 3: Assessment Commentary

its easy to see that he has stopped using they or them. Instead, he formally addresses the
Electoral College as the Electoral College. Take line 9 of his answer for an example. He is in the
process of describing one of the reasons he disagrees with the process of the Electoral College,
and he does a great job of not referring to the Electoral College as it. There are times where he
does do this, but this is a vast improvement from his last writing assignment where everything
was so confusing due to his use of they or them or any other words that dont definitively
define a vocabulary word in a sentence. Lastly, the focus students proved that they could
analyze a complex issue. All three focus students made an attempt to look at the system form a
neutral standpoint and then after receiving background information, analyze what information
they had just received. Drawing attention to focus student number 2, she clearly pulls
information from her readings that goes against the Electoral College. After bringing in her
reasoning, she simply explains why all of those are bad; she analyzed the role of the Electoral
College. This was not only shown in the three focus students, but a majority of my class did the
same thing, or close to the same thing.]
4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
a. Based on your analysis of student learning presented in prompts 1bc, describe next
steps for instruction to impact student learning:

For the whole class


For the 3 focus students and other individuals/groups with specific needs
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater support or challenge).
[The best course of action moving forward would be to spend less time working on the basic
facts and concepts of the unit and spend more time working on writing arguments and analyzing
the facts and concepts we learn about. The students clearly have a good understanding of the
basic concept of ideas and I would like to see their analysis expand. This would not only help
them in the class with further assessments, but for those students going to college, this will
ultimately prepare them for analytical writing. My plan of action for the next writing segment will
be to develop those skills. I plan on having a part of the lesson be dedicated to writing
analytically. Before they get their reading topic, we will pick a topic we have already covered. I
will provide students with the pros and cons and have them listed on the board. From there, we
will do a very simple writing assignment where I will instruct the students to tell me how to write
the paper. The goal will be to get the entire class to contribute to this writing assignment and
give those students that struggle a way to write better questions.
As for my three focus students, I plan on instructing them similarly to the way I instruct the
whole class. I want to give everyone the opportunity to better their writing and improve their
scores on assessments. My three focus students will be instructed to read their feedback on all
of their following assessments carefully; this allows students to see a direct way to track their
improvement in their writing. More importantly, I plan on asking my focus students for feedback.
There is clearly something that a majority of the class missed and I need to address that. This
will be easier to address if I have feedback from my focus students, as their errors were
common among the class and I could use it to help the majority. In terms of my students that
have specific learning needs, I am going to speak to each of them seperatly and request that
they come in outside of class so we can spend more time figuring out where the gaps form from
my lessons to their notes and from their notes to their assessment. This will allow me to have
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Secondary History/Social Studies


Task 3: Assessment Commentary

more time to see where each student struggles and gives me more options to use in my
differentiation. By having my students with specific needs come in and working together to
figure out the gaps, it gives me more ideas of where I can differentiate my lessons to improve
the learning of those students.]
b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of the student learning. Support
your explanation with principles from research and/or theory.
[The goal of this unit is to have students perform in a simulation. This simulation is meant to
show students how an election works with a very micro example of a classroom election. This
means that students have to be able to understand the basic facts and concepts of how an
election is run/how it works. I will model an explain to them how an election works and my plan
is to use the Gradual Release of Responsibility to have the students run their own election
during our class time. What I have analyzed is that my students will need more of a detailed
explanation on some of the abstract principles of the facts and concepts due to their scores on
their assessment. I would like to see more 3s than 2.5s. There is one clear way to make sure
my students fully understand these abstract principles; take more instructional time to clearly
model these principles to the students while having a larger list of probing questions in order to
make them think more critically. There is also the option of spending more time on their in class
group work. Activities like the one used for the writing assessment might need more application
time in order to fully understand some of those abstract principles. Sadly, with time restraints, I
believe that more instruction with more questions for discussion could provide a way for them to
develop their critical thinking. Clearly a majority of the students are missing some of the
connecting pieces in order to achieve a level 3 on this assignment, which will in turn result in
them missing some of those same pieces on their test. My goal is to be proactive for the rest of
my time in this role and help students achieve the level 3 or even a level 4. I need to reevaluate
my own modeling as well. With my feedback from my focus students, I hope to understand what
could be some potential areas that I need to improve on. This is an area where improvement
can be made from both the students and me as the instructor.]

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