Diagnostic Assessment

EDUC3626

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General Design for Improving Learning Outcomes
(Hill & Crevola, 1997)

Leadership and
Home, school coordination
Standards
And
and
Community
Targets
Partnerships

Intervention Beliefs Monitoring

And Special and And
Assistance Understandings Assessment

School Classroom
and Class Teaching
Organisation Professional Strategies
Learning
Teams
Monitoring
And
Assessment
 To or for?
• “Assessment should be more than merely a test
at the end of instruction to see how students
perform …it should be an integral part of
instruction that informs and guides teachers as
they make instructional decisions.

• Assessment should not merely be done to

students; rather, it should also be done for
students, to guide and enhance their learning”
(NCTM, 2000, p. 22). Consequently, a
comprehensive mathematics program will
include assessment f o r student learning in
addition to traditional assessments of student
learning. 6
 Melbourne Declaration
• Assessment for learning – enabling teachers to
use information about student progress to
inform their teaching.
• Assessment as learning – enabling students to
reflect on and monitor their own progress to
inform their future learning goals.
• Assessment of learning – assisting teachers to
use evidence of student learning to assess
student achievement against goals and standards.
Assessment for student learning is
only effective if it is diagnostic—
guiding and supporting teachers in
customizing instruction for individual
student needs—and provides direct
and systematic interventions when
the results of ongoing diagnostic
assessments call for them.
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 Equity
• NCTM’s Equity Principle states that “excellence
in mathematics education requires equity—high
expectations and strong support for all students”
(NCTM, 2000, p. 12).
• The authors of the Standards went on to write
that “equity does not mean that every student
should receive identical instruction; instead, it
demands that reasonable and appropriate
accommodations be made as needed to
promote access and attainment for all students
… some students may need further assistance
to meet high mathematics expectations” (NCTM,
2000, pp. 12-13).
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National Numeracy Review
Report
May 2008

Commissioned by the Human Capital

Working Group,
Council of Australian Governments
National Numeracy Review Made 15
recommendations
Minimum of 5 hours per week for mathematics
High quality diagnostic assessment
Numeracy
Intervention focus in the early years
Language and literacies of maths be explicit
‘Streaming’ not recommended
Professional Development
PCK (Knowledge about teaching specific
mathematical content)– pre service teachers
National Numeracy Review
To these ends we recommend:

5. That the necessary resources be

directed to support teachers to use
diagnostic tools including interviews to
understand and monitor their individual
students’ developing strategies and
particular learning needs.
 There are many models

• One excellent model for diagnostic assessment

comes from the First Steps in Mathematics
(FSiM) professional development and related
resources
• You will have looked at much of the FSiM work
throughout your course
• There are other models available
• Interviews

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Other diagnostic tools:
Count Me In Too (NSW)
SINE
Nelson Interview
Booker profiles
Alistair McIntosh (WOMBAT)
Assessment for Common
Misunderstandings (Siemon, Vic)
DiMaths
 So what? A great question!
• Detailed diagnostic assessment
provides insight into children's thinking.
• Scores, statistics, bands etc. are all
USELESS unless you can interpret
their meaning
• Diagnostic assessment must address
the “So What” question

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 Principles – remember this?
• Children often get the right answer but for the
wrong reasons.
• Good questions and tasks provide students the
chance to show us what they know and
understand
• We must know the mathematical key
understanding behind a question to obtain useful
information
• Often our thinking about a student’s thinking is
incorrect

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 Sarah’s Work Samples…
. A Taste of the Research
128 = 100 + 20 +8

621
X3
1863

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 Researching
Sarah’s Counting

• 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 200

• 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 300

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 What Sarah Thought

When there are two rows you

add the numbers down.
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+2
3
+6
7
+1
 What is
Actually Happening?

• Sarah’s calculations
enable her to get the
right answer but this
does not mean that
she can read, write and
count into the
hundreds.
 ? What is
Actually Happening?

Sarah’s strategies enable her to get the right

answer but this does not mean that she can
partition 3 digit numbers using standard place
values and know the magnitude of the number.
 What is
Actually Happening?

• Sarah’s strategies together

with her ability to recall
multiplication facts does not
mean she is able to use multiplication
to problem solve.
 Sarah’s Rules

• When there are two

rows you add the
numbers down.

• When the numbers are in a row

you add the numbers across.

Western Australian Minister for Education: 2004

 Sarah’s
Mathematics Ability

• Look at Sarah’s ordering of numbers

in the hundreds.
• How has she applied her rule?
• What new judgements can we make
about what Sarah knows, and needs
to learn?

Western Australian Minister for Education:

2004
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To provide teachers with information
about a student’s learning in order to
establish starting points for instruction
To enhance teacher judgement about what
to teach whom
To help identify ‘at risk’ students and to
ensure that instruction is directly related to
the learning needs of the student
SUSTAINED monitoring and assessment
provides means for measuring growth over
time
Provides opportunity to evaluate
effectiveness of programme
 HOW?
A variety of strategies including an
MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT
INTERVIEW
which can be used to gain detailed
information about students’
understandings in Mathematics
Number
Buster!
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‘the data from the interviews were
revealing of student mathematical
understanding and development in
a way that would not be possible
without that special opportunity
for one-to-one interaction’.
(Clarke, 2000)
 The interview is organised
into the following areas:
Counting
Place value
Addition and Subtraction
Multiplication and Division
Time
 Measurement
Space (properties)
Space (Visualisation)
 The interview is organised
into the following areas:
Counting
Place value
Addition and Subtraction
Multiplication and Division
Time
 Measurement
Space (properties)
Space (Visualisation)
Involves oral questions
Best conducted beg. of each school year
Best conducted by classroom teacher
Takes about 30 minutes per child
Set script and recording sheet
Leads to building student profile
Equipment list for creating interview kit
EQUIPMENT:
Equipment and cards needed are
listed at the start of each section of
the interview
Tasks for each section of the
interview should be stored together
and clearly labelled
Before starting, arrange materials on
a separate table in the order in which
they will be required
RECORDING SHEET
Recording sheet follows sections of
interview
Recording a student’s response
varies according to task
Majority of tasks have a box where
a correct or incorrect response is
indicated
 ANALYSING THE RECORD
SHEET

Stages of mathematical
growth (growth points)
Interpretation of student
responses will allow a student
profile to be determined
Student profile will inform
teaching and learning
 What
What are Growth
are Growth Points?
Points?

Developed as part of ENRP

(Clarke, Gervasoni, Sullivan, 2000)
Growth Points describe children’s
mathematical learning in the
domains of Counting, Place value,
Addition and Subtraction and
Multiplication and Division
strategies (Number)
 Growth Points

The Mathematics Assessment

Interview enables teachers to
identify Growth Points children
have reached in their mathematical
learning.
 Growth Points

Open ended tasks and on-going

assessment tasks provide further
insights for teachers about
children’s understanding of
Number.
 Growth Points

Growth points are useful because they help teachers:

•Understand how children learn.
•Assess and monitor children’s growth in
understanding.
•Identify children at risk.
•Identify the zone of proximal development for
children’s learning.
•Plan and target teaching so that we can identify
the experiences that will most effectively help
children to reach the next growth point in their
mathematical learning.
 Growth Points and EMU
• Use of Growth points helps
us to identify children at risk
in Mathematics.
• Children who are not
reaching minimum standard
growth points or not
progressing to the next
growth point are at risk and
possible candidates for the
EMU intervention
programme.
FIRST WAVE – best classroom practice
SECOND WAVE – Individual and small
group specialised intervention:

EMU (Extending Mathematical

Understandings)
THIRD WAVE – Long term support
PREPARATION:
Familiar with tasks, wording used,
starting points, possible responses,
different pathways
Comfortable environment-
positioning important
CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW
Explanation to student
Exact words of script
How to present questions
Pathways
Symbols and styles of text

☺→
To provide teachers with information
about a student’s learning in order to
establish starting points for instruction
To enhance teacher judgement about what
to teach whom
To help identify ‘at risk’ students and to
ensure that instruction is directly related to
the learning needs of the student
SUSTAINED monitoring and assessment
provides means for measuring growth over
time
Provides opportunity to evaluate
effectiveness of programme
 What is the Interview

•One-on-one interview away from

the regular classroom
•Mainly hands-on tasks
incorporating concrete materials
•Focus is on mental computation
•Responses focus on strategies that the students use
… not only the correct answer
•Should take 30 - 40 minutes
 Video

https://youtu.be/c1Xh9m
gAsMQ