Creating Assessments: The HOW TO Sequence

Step 1. Identifying and defining your purpose

This is the stage where you want to identify and define the purpose of
the assessment. You dont give tests to get points! You evaluate
students to determine their level of mastery of the standard/objectives.
Think carefully about what you want to measure first. That is why you
design the assessment instrument BEFORE you teach the objectives.
Doing so creates a reliable teaching purpose and keeps you, the
teacher, on track with your lesson delivery. If you know where you are
going before you leave (test development), your journey will be
straightforward and purposeful (lesson delivery).
Use this table as a template to fill in your ideas
1. What do you want to measure? (standards)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured
event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.A
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or
observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and
introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth
progression of experiences or events.
2. What topics will be included in this measurement?
Narrative, Narrator, and Characters.
Writing a short story (narrative) that includes a narrator and
characters.
3. Who is your audience for this test? (include any/all types of
learning levels)
10th graders

4. List how you are going to measure students mastery of these

concepts. (List types of testing instruments you will use; i.e., fill-inthe-blank, multiple choice, true/false, short essay, long essay,
research paper, PBL, etc.
Students will write a short story (1-2 pages)
Students will hand in rough draft of a short story (1-2 pages to

be turned in later)
Entrance Slip
Exit Slip
After each student has written their short story, have them
identify the narrator and characters of the story by circling or
highlighting them.

Step 2: Writing the Objectives

The next portion of creating the assessment is writing the objectives.
There is no rule of thumb as to whether the objectives should be
created first and taken from the lesson plan (which has NOT been
delivered yet) or whether the objectives can be designed right here on
the testing development templates and then placed in the lesson plan.
Either way, you are creating the objectives using the ABCD method and
creating the assessment instrument before any teaching is conducted.
Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree

Objective #1
Students will be able to identify narrative,
narrator, and characters with 100%
accuracy.

Objective #2
Students will be able to students will use
all three (3) vocabulary words (narrative,
narrator, and characters) in context.

Objective #3
Students will be able to write a short story
(narrative) that includes both a narrator

Engagement of students:
list the activity students
will engage in that
corresponds to the
objective
Entrance Slip
Exit Slip
After each student
has written their
short story, have
them identify the
narrator and
characters of the
story by circling or
highlighting them.
After each student
has written their
short story, have
them identify the
narrator and
characters of the
story by circling or
highlighting them.
Students will write a
short story (1-2
pages)

and characters.

Students will hand

in rough draft of a
short story (1-2
pages to be turned
in later)

Step 3: Determining the testing elements

This section of your testing design maintains assessment fidelity. You
decide how many questions you will ask regarding mastery of objective
#1. This decision should be based upon the degree you have listed
in each objective. For example, if your objective states, Students will
define 3/3 vocabulary words with 100% accuracy, then, you will not be
asking 10 vocabulary questions on the test. Once you determine this
for the 1st objective, you continue for each of the objectives you have
listed in this unit of study. Some objectives may be weighted more
than others. As the expert, you will make that determination. Step 2 is
a critical component of the assessment design and the final numbers
will add up to 100.
Portio
n of
the
Test

Objective 1

Number of
questions for
this
objective
(transfer the
% to actual
numbers)

43%

Total
number of
test
questions/
points on
this
assessme
nt
instrumen
t
7

43%

Students will be able to identify

narrative, narrator, and
characters with 100% accuracy.
Objective 2

Students will be able to students

will use all three (3) vocabulary
words (narrative, narrator, and
characters) in context.
Objective 3

14%

Students will be able to write a

short story (narrative) that
includes both a narrator and
characters.

Name:_____________________________
Date:_________________
Formative Assessment 1
Worth:_________

Total Point

Matching
Directions: Match the word to its definition.
______ Narrative
______ Narrator
______ Characters
story

A. The people in the story

B. The story
C. The person telling the

Context
Directions: CIRCLE the narrator and characters and (on a separate
sheet of paper) summarize the narrative.
Sixty seconds. That's how long we're required to stand on our metal
circles before the sound of a gong releases us. Step off before the
minute is up, and land mines blow your legs off. Sixty seconds to take
in the ring of tributes all equidistant from the Cornucopia, a giant
golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which
is at least twenty feet high, spilling over with the things that will give
us life here in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine,
garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia are other
supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn. For

instance, only a few steps from my feet lies a three-foot square of

plastic. Certainly it could be of some use in a downpour. But there in
the mouth, I can see a tent pack that would protect from almost any
sort of weather. If I had the guts to go in and fight for it against the
other twenty-three tributes. Which I have been instructed not to do.
We're on a flat, open stretch of ground. A plain of hard-packed dirt.
Behind the tributes across from me, I can see nothing, indicating either
a steep downward slope or even a cliff. To my right lies a lake. To my
left and back, sparse piney woods. This is where Haymitch would want
me to go. Immediately.
I hear his instructions in my head. "Just clear out, put as much distance
as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of
water."
But it's tempting, so tempting, when I see the bounty waiting there
before me. And I know that if I don't get it, someone else will. That the
Career Tributes who survive the bloodbath will divide up most of these
life-sustaining spoils. Something catches my eye. There, resting on a
mound of blanket rolls, is a silver sheath of arrows and a bow, already
strung, just waiting to be engaged. That's mine, I think. It's meant for
me.
I'm fast. I can sprint faster than any of the girls in our school, although
a couple can beat me in distance races. But this forty-yard length, this
is what I am built for. I know I can get it, I know I can reach it first, but
then the question is how quickly can I get out of there? By the time I've
scrambled up the packs and grabbed the weapons, others will have
reached the horn, and one or two I might be able to pick off, but say
there's a dozen, at that close range, they could take me down with the
spears and the clubs. Or their own powerful fists. Still, I won't be the
only target. I'm betting many of the other tributes would pass up a
smaller girl, even one who scored an eleven in training, to take out
their more fierce adversaries.
Haymitch has never seen me run. Maybe if he had he'd tell me to go
for it. Get the weapon. Since that's the very weapon that might be my
salvation. And I only see one bow in that whole pile. I know the minute
must be almost up and will have to decide what my strategy will be
and I find myself positioning my feet to run, not away into the
surrounding forests but toward the pile, toward the bow. When
suddenly I notice Peeta, he's about five tributes to my right, quite a fair
distance, still I can tell he's looking at me and I think he might be
shaking his head. But the sun's in my eyes, and while I'm puzzling over
it the gong rings out.

And I've missed it! I've missed my chance! Because those extra couple
of seconds I've lost by not being ready are enough to change my mind
about going in. My feet shuffle for a moment, confused at the direction
my brain wants to take and then I lunge forward, scoop up the sheet of
plastic and a loaf of bread. The pickings are so small and I'm so angry
with Peeta for distracting me that I sprint in twenty yards to retrieve a
bright orange backpack that could hold anything because I can't stand
leaving with virtually nothing.
A boy, I think from District 9, reaches the pack at the same time I do
and for a brief time we grapple for it and then he coughs, splattering
my face with blood. I stagger back, repulsed by the warm, sticky spray.
Then the boy slips to the ground. That's when I see the knife in his
back. Already other tributes have reached the Cornucopia and are
spreading out to attack. Yes, the girl from District 2, ten yards away,
running toward me, one hand clutching a half-dozen knives. I've seen
her throw in training. She never misses. And I'm her next target.
All the general fear I've been feeling condenses into an immediate fear
of this girl, this predator who might kill me in seconds. Adrenaline
shoots through me and I sling the pack over one shoulder and run fullspeed for the woods. I can hear the blade whistling toward me and
reflexively hike the pack up to protect my head. The blade lodges in
the pack. Both straps on my shoulders now, I make for the trees.
Somehow I know the girl will not pursue me. That she'll be drawn back
into the Cornucopia before all the good stuff is gone. A grin crosses my
face. Thanks for the knife, I think.
Excerpt from The Hunger Games 2008 by Suzanne Collins.
Writing
Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, write a short narrative about
anything that is school appropriate (must include characters and a
narrator).
Name:_____________________________
Date:_________________
Summative Assessment 1
Worth:_________

Total Point

Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, write a narrative about an

event in your life. Then, identify the characters and narrator.

Step 4: Creating the testing rubric

At this stage, you are now ready to create the rubric on how YOU, the
evaluator will assess the instrument you are using. If this is a
straightforward, 30/30 question/answer test, you do not need a rubric.
However, for all PBLs, essays, research papers, etc., a rubric needs to
accompany the instrument and be given to students when assigned.
First, determine whether you will use a holistic or analytic rubric. There
are pros and cons to each and what you choose is more user-comfort
than anything else. Having used both, I prefer the holistic rubric as it
gives more leeway to both the student and the teacher in the
evaluation process.
There are many premade templates for rubric design. Here are a few
hyperlinks to help you:
Kathy Schrock's guide to assessment rubrics
Rubistar
SAS Assessment Creator