A slideshow about Thomas Guskey's chapter in Doug Reeves' book Ahead of the Curve

1. THOMAS GUSKEY 1
“For assessments to become an integral part of
the instructional process, teachers need to
change their approach in
three important ways. They must:
1. use assessments as
sources of 2. follow assessments
information with high-quality
for both students and
teachers… corrective
instruction…
3. and give students 2nd chances to
demonstrate success.”

2. THOMAS GUSKEY 2
1. Assessments as Sources of
Information
“Classroom
assessments
that serve as
meaningful
sources of
information
DO NOT
SURPRISE
STUDENTS.”

3. THOMAS GUSKEY 3
“The results of the
assessments facilitate
learning by providing
ESSENTIAL FEEDBACK on
students’ learning progress
and by helping to identify
learning problems.”

4. THOMAS GUSKEY 4
“Assessments
should reflect the
concepts
and skills
the teacher
emphasized in
class, along with
the criteria the
teacher provided
(ahead of time)
for how s/he
would judge
student
performance.”

5. THOMAS GUSKEY 5
NOTA BENE!
Assessments
need to be
aligned with
provincial
standards
which have been
reduced to no
more than 12
essential
outcomes.

6. THOMAS GUSKEY 6
“If a particular concept
or skill is important
enough to assess, then it
should be important
enough to teach.”
“And if it is not important enough to teach, then
there is little justification for including it
in the assessment.”

7. THOMAS GUSKEY 7
Assessments
provide teachers with
specific guidance in
their efforts to
improve the quality of
their teaching by
helping identify what
they taught well and
what needs work.

8. THOMAS GUSKEY 8
When, through
analysis, a teacher
sees that as many as
½ the students in a
class answer a clear
question incorrectly or
fail to meet a particular
criterion or essential
outcome, it is not a
student learning
problem – it is a
teaching problem…
If, based on this assessment evidence, a teacher is reaching less
than ½ of the students in the class, the teacher’s method of
instruction needs to improve.

9. THOMAS GUSKEY 9
2. High Quality Corrective
Instruction
“If assessments
provide vital
information for both
students and
teachers, then it
makes sense that
they donot
mark the end
of learning.”

10. THOMAS GUSKEY 10
Assessments
must be followed
by high-
quality
corrective
instruction
designed to help
students remedy
whatever learning
errors identified
with the
assessment.

11. THOMAS GUSKEY 11
“To charge
ahead knowing
that certain
concepts or
skills have not
been learned
well would be
foolish.”

12. THOMAS GUSKEY 12
High-quality corrective instruction is not the
same as re-teaching…
1. Present ‘unlearned’
concepts “with instructional
alternatives that present
those concepts
in new ways
and engage students in
different and more
appropriate learning
experiences.”

13. THOMAS GUSKEY 13
High-quality corrective instruction is not the
same as re-teaching…
2. Accommodate
differences
in students’
learning styles
and intelligences.

14. THOMAS GUSKEY 14
High-quality corrective instruction is not the
same as re-teaching…
3. Must be done
IN CLASS,
under teacher’s
direction.
Therefore, there
must be
extension work
for those who ‘got
it’ the first time.

15. THOMAS GUSKEY 15
High-quality corrective instruction is not the
same as re-teaching…
TEACHERS
ALREADY
DO THIS
when they
tutor
individual
students.

16. THOMAS GUSKEY 16
3. 2nd Chance to Demonstrate
Success
“Assessment
cannot be a
one-shot,
‘do-or-
die’
experience for
students.”

17. THOMAS GUSKEY 17
Only in schools do students
face the prospect of one-shot, do-or-
die assessments, with no chance to
demonstrate what they learned from
previous mistakes.
> Surgeons
> Pilots
> Driver’s License Exam

18. THOMAS GUSKEY 18
“Mistakes should not
mark the end of learning;
rather, they can be the
beginning.”
“Those students who
do well on a 2nd
chance assessment
have also learned
well.”

19. THOMAS GUSKEY 19
It must be an
ONGOING
EFFORT
to help students
learn.

20. THOMAS GUSKEY 20
“If teachers follow
assessments with
high-quality
corrective
instruction, then
students should have a
2nd chance to
demonstrate
their new level of
competence and
understanding.”

21. THOMAS GUSKEY 21
“Teachers who use
classroom
assessments
as part of the
instructional process help
ALL of their students do
exactly what
the most
successful
students
have learned to do for
themselves.”