Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

One topic that comes up again and again at my workshops is this: what does extending (aka exceeding or excelling) on a proficiency scale mean?According to one proficiency scale, extending is where students demonstrate a sophisticated understanding. Unfortunately, many colleagues misinterpret sophisticated understanding as going “above and beyond” the course material. This is absolutely false. Sophisticated does not mean above and beyond grade level. It means that students can use the information at grade level in a sophisticated way.

Episode Notes

To assess all levels of the proficiency scale on my tests, these are a few best practices I tend to follow:

1. I properly define what I’m looking for at each grade level. This means crafting questions that fit an initial, partial, complete, and sophisticated understanding of course material.
2. I ask questions of increasing complexity (questions asked earlier in the test are “emerging” level questions, while later questions are “extending” level questions).
3. I ask fewer questions, but those questions I ask are rich in detail.

With regards to test questions:

1. Emerging level questions assess the simplest ideas students need to grasp in a unit in order to navigate problems.
2. Developing level questions assess the most basic problem a student is likely to encounter on the topic (ie. refer to homework questions).
3. Proficient level questions assess the most basic problems but with an added level of advanced details (ie. the homework questions that tend to be on the difficult side that have more advanced concepts built in).
4. Extending level questions require students to take the ideas learned in the chapter and apply them to unfamiliar or new contexts. This may require me to craft new questions students have not seen before but are able to answer with the knowledge they’ve acquired.

Download Ep87 handouts below to see sample test questions (based on the genetics unit) that align with the proficiency levels above.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep87 Handouts – What is Extending on a Proficiency Scale?

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