Teacher PD Module – K-12 CS Assessments

Young Student and Her Teacher with Computer This professional development workshop series was designed to deepen teachers’ understanding of how to adapt and use formative assessment in K-12 computer science classrooms. In this multi-part series, we present a synthesis of research and many examples, plus interactive activities to practice evaluating, adapting, and responding to assessment items. Examples cover content related to algorithms and programming, with examples across grades 3-12.

These workshops were designed as professional development (PD) in-a-box — i.e., resources that can easily be used and adapted by others to facilitate high quality PD in their own regions and contexts. We recommend implementing as a series of four sessions of approximately 90 minutes each over the course of one month (e.g., weekly) or one semester (e.g., monthly).

Session Design

Each session includes direct instruction synthesizing research on assessment and guided practice with many examples of assessment items. Additionally, there are breakouts for practice of the target skills in small groups. Finally, there is suggested “homework” to apply the learning from each session and preview other resources. Subsequent sessions begin by reviewing this homework to provide some continuity across sessions.

Objectives

Understand what, why, and how regarding formative assessment.
Expand types of formative assessment used, and understand the value of different types.
Evaluate assessment items using a framework or set of design features.
Identify common misconceptions and select items to diagnose learning.
Plan how to respond to assessment results.

Session Resources

1: What/Why/How of Formative Assessment

Objectives

Understand what, why, and how regarding formative assessment.
Evaluate assessment items using a framework or set of design features.
Align assessment items to granular learning goals.

Resources

Slide Deck (embedded above)
Recording: 60-minute pilot session
Resource: Common Misconceptions and Student Difficulties in K-12 Introductory Programming
Breakout Activity: Identifying Misconceptions / Difficulties and Planning Follow-up Action
Reading (for Homework): Naive Conceptions of Novice Programmers by Sorva, J. (2020) in Computer Science in K-12: An A-Z Handbook on Teaching Programming

Agenda

Kickoff	8 min	Welcome & Introductions (4 min) Overview of Series and Session (4 min)
Session 2 Review	10 min	Recap Key Points from Session 2: Quick Quizzes (5 min) Share Reflections from Homework & Last Session (5 min)
Presentation / Direct Instruction	15 min	What are Misconceptions and Naive Conceptions? (3 min) Strategies for Teaching Strong Conceptual Understanding (5 min) Synthesis of Documented Misconceptions and Learning Difficulties (5 min) Action Planning based on Quiz Feedback (2 min)
Guided Practice	12 min	Six Examples of Items Targeting Known Misconceptions (12 min)
Application / Breakouts	35 min	Directions for Activities (3 min) Activities in Small Group Breakouts (22 min) Whole-group Share-out (10 min)
Close-out	10 min	Reflect on Takeaways (5 min) Share Homework Task (2 min) Complete Feedback Survey (3 min)

2: Quality Quizzes for Quick Feedback

Objectives

Expand types of formative assessment used (and understand the value of different types).
Select quiz-based assessment items for quick, quality measurement and feedback.
Evaluate assessment items using a framework or set of design features.

Resources

Slide Deck (embedded above)
Recording: 60-minute pilot session
Resource: Granular Learning Goals of Key Concepts in K-12 Programming
Breakout Activity: Identifying Problem Types and Designing Alternative Problems
Readings (for Homework):
- Feedback Through Formative Check-Ins by Grover, S., Sedgwick, V., & Powers, K. (2020)
- Assessing Algorithmic and Computational Learning in K-12 by Grover, S. (2017)
- Methods of Student Assessment by Kao, Y. (2019)

Agenda

Kickoff	8 min	Welcome & Introductions (4 min) Overview of Series and Session (4 min)
Session 1 Review	10 min	Recap Key Points from Session 1: What/Why/How (5 min) Share Reflections from Homework & Last Session (5 min)
Presentation / Direct Instruction	24 min	Types of Quick Quiz Assessment Items with Lots of Examples (24 min) What is being assessed? How is it being assessed?
Guided Practice	6 min	Two Examples of Designing New Items for the Same Learning Goals (6 min)
Application / Breakouts	32 min	Directions for Activities (2 min) Activities in Small Group Breakouts (20 min) Whole-group Share-out (10 min)
Close-out	10 min	Reflect on Takeways (5 min) Share Homework Task (2 min) Complete Feedback Survey (3 min)

3: Tackling Misconceptions Through Formative Assessment

Objectives

Identify common misconceptions and and student difficulties encountered by novice programmers.
Select items to diagnose learning.
Plan how and what follow-up pedagogical action to take to address the misconception based on assessment results.

Resources

Slide Deck (embedded to the left)
Recording of 60-minute pilot session
Resource: Granular Learning Goals of Key Concepts in K-12 Programming
Breakout Activity: Identifying Granular Learning Goals for Specific Assessment Items
Readings (for Homework):
- Feedback Through Formative Check-Ins by Grover, S., Sedgwick, V., & Powers, K. (2020)
- Framework for Formative Assessment in K-12 CS by Grover, S. (2021) | slides

Agenda

Kickoff	8 min	Welcome & Introductions (4 min) Overview of Series and Session (4 min)
Session 1 Review	10 min	Recap Key Points from Session 1: What/Why/How (5 min) Share Reflections from Homework & Last Session (5 min)
Presentation / Direct Instruction	24 min	Types of Quick Quiz Assessment Items with Lots of Examples (24 min) What is being assessed? How is it being assessed?
Guided Practice	6 min	Two Examples of Designing New Items for the Same Learning Goals (6 min)
Application / Breakouts	32 min	Directions for Activities (2 min) Activities in Small Group Breakouts (20 min) Whole-group Share-out (10 min)
Close-out	10 min	Reflect on Takeways (5 min) Share Homework Task (2 min) Complete Feedback Survey (3 min)

Development

This workshop series was created by Bryan Twarek and Dr. Shuchi Grover, as part of the SUCCESSinCS project, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1943530. Much of the research comes from Dr. Grover’s projects and K-12 CS Formative Assessment framework, and most examples come from her book Computer Science in K-12: An A-Z Handbook on Teaching Programming and the K-12 CS assessments hub in Edfinity.

License & Attribution

These resources are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Please note that this requires proper attribution and non-commercial use (i.e., no paid services).

Suggested citation: Twarek, B. and Grover, A (2022). Formative Classroom Assessment for Teachers in K-12 Computer Science: A Professional Development Workshop Series. Retrieved from https://csassess.org/fcat.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1943530. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.