- The purpose of Stage 2 is to design good assessments that indicate how students are meeting the standards and/or learning objectives set out in Stage 1 of the UbD planning process.
- Assessments are described as either formative or summative, where formative assessment are "assessments for learning" and summative assessments are "assessments of learning."
- Assessment should clearly align with the standard (s) or learning objective(s) of the unit.
- Grading scales are described as either those that use the "accumulation of points" method or those that determine "levels of achievement" to assign a grade.
- Both the "accumulation of points" and the "Levels of achievement" methods may be aligned to standards and or learning objectives.
- However the "achievement levels" system clearly describes expected learning outcomes that must be met at each level in order to attain the achievement level grade.
- The use of zero's on the 100-point scale unfairly weights failure and results in distorted "averages" to reflect learning.
- A hybrid system using the 50-100 scale better aligns with the practice and philosophy of the 4-point scale.
In designing assessment formats it is recommended that teachers use an A-B section format. In brief the A-B format differentiates between the rigor of questions posed. While all questions deal with the standard or learning objective, questions in section B are more challenging and assess deeper understanding. They would clearly require higher order thinking, problem solving ability, transference, and/or a higher DOK level of rigor. Questions in section A, deal with the basic understanding and skills of the components of the standard or learning objective. These include content vocabulary, concept definitions and basic skills indicated by the standard or learning objective.
It is recommended that sections A and B be weighted at 80% and 20% respectively.
