Low-Stakes Assessment Strategies
Low-stake assessment strategies allow teachers to assess what their students know and don't know without having to collect and grade everything. If teachers want to grade they have that flexibility, but it is not necessary to learn what the students comprehend and understand.
Quick Write
A QuickWrite is an informal writing assessment that is completed in class. Instructor's give the students a writing prompt and then the students write non-stop for the time frame set by the instructor. Different ways to use a QuickWrite:
- The Middle 2 minutes of the 10-2-2. A QuickWrite would be used for students to write everything they can remember about the lecture they just heard. They can also write questions about concepts or points that they didn't understand.
- Entrance Ticket--Instructors can have students recall everything they can remember about their homework
- Brainstorming or Pre-Writing. QuickWrites could be used to help students develop ideas for essays.
- Instructors create a sentence starter to help students focus on the lecture or maybe a theme in literature.
- Brainstorm key terms about the lesson--could be used to help review for a quiz or a test.
3 - 2 - 1
3 - 2 - 1 is a simple way to for instructors to gauge what their students understand and need to know more about. The very basic way is to ask your students to list 3 things and then 2 different things and finally 1 different item. The 3 -2 -1 assessment is best used in conjunction with the Costa's 3 levels of questioning. The 3 should be for level one questions. The 2 should be for level 2 questions and the 1 should be for level three questions. This will allow your students to think and process the information in more complex ways. Different ways to use 3 -2 - 1:
- The Middle 2 minutes of the 10-2-2. List 3 things they learned from the lecture; 2 things they still have questions about; 1 key term that they didn't know and will look up when they get home. Your 3 -2-1 for the middle 2 minutes could be anything as long as they are each different.
- Entrance Ticket--Using Costa's Questions: Define 3 key terms from last night's readings; What are 2 things that you didn't understand; How will you apply one thing from last night's reading to our project that is due next week?
- Pre-Writing--3 things you already know about your subject; 2 key search terms; 1 question you must answer to complete this writing assignment
- Interacting with Non-Fiction: 3 points the author makes; 2 pieces of evidence the author uses to provide support; 1 conclusion or claim from the text
- Interacting with Fiction: 3 traits that the protagonist has that reminds you of someone you know; 2 symbols that represent youth; 1 theme that you have found in another story we have read (list other work)