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Program Overview

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Administrator's Presentation
Program Overview
Session 6: Questions (PDF) or view the PowerPoint Presentation

Dynamic Classroom Assessment is designed to enrich teachers’ knowledge so that they can implement better instruction using knowledge of what students know and can do. There is strong evidence that if teachers use classroom assessment effectively, one result will be greater student learning.

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  Exploring the ways in which different assessment methods can be aligned with specific learning targets. Different methods have the potential to reveal different information about students’ thinking, just as different approaches to solving mathematics problems may indicate different levels of mathematical thinking. These explorations help teachers become more cognizant of the importance of examining students’ thinking.
• Learning to distinguish between what students know (i.e., the substance of an idea) and the way that students show what they know (i.e., the presentation of an idea). Said another way, the substance of an idea is the meaning that students have internalized, while the presentation of an idea is the way that this meaning is communicated. Errors that students make may be miscommunication of real understanding, or they may be more-or-less accurate communication of misunderstanding.

"Of all the professional development experiences that I have provided for math teachers, the material presented in DCA has been some of the most worthwhile for teachers. They learn instructional strategies that directly relate to their classrooms and learn about techniques that they can use immediately with their students."

Carolyn Arline,
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
Augusta, Maine

 

• Developing questioning skills. There are several kinds of questions that teachers might ask, but the most important ones for revealing students’ thinking are clarifying and probing questions. These questions help students clarify their own thinking and clarify that thinking for the teacher and other students. Developing the skills to create specific questions takes practice and reflection.
• Using their inferences as part of instructional decision-making. Better planning happens when there are opportunities for reflection, discussion with colleagues, analysis of associated mathematical ideas, and exploration of different strategies for teaching. DCA helps teachers improve their instructional decision-making.