Assessment Protocols
The assessment protocols listed below were developed over the years working with classroom students and teachers to aid in having a clearer idea of the developmental levels of thinking and strategy usage at which the students were working. The various tasks are drawn from various research studies and combined to provide evidence of student thinking and to aid future instruction.
When faced with assessing a whole class, being strategic with whom assessments are conducted is necessary. Much of the tasks in all of the protocols can be gleaned directly by observing and analyzing children's whole or small group responses. Doing one-on-one interviews then become a strategic decision of which student do you have questions about that are potentially masked in the larger setting. While the ideal goal may be to do one-on-one with each child, that is not always practical. Use these assessments practicably.
K-1 Developmental Interview
This protocol is a possible flow of a developmental interview to conduct with young children to explore the developmental range of problem types as well as to assess the level of strategy used to solve any of the tasks posed. Note that number range can influence a child's success in solving any of problems. Adapt the names and contexts to be relevant to the child.
Early Base Ten Assessment
Intended for late first grade or early second grade. The protocol asks four basic questions with number combinations that relate to how a multi-digit number is composed, decomposed, and compared with another. Students are either automatic (answers within 2 seconds or less) or need to calculate. It is the profile across the four problem types that indicates a student's fluency in understanding core place value concepts.
Base Ten Assessment
The initial opening tasks (Tasks 1 & 2) need to be conducted one-on-one. With the other assessments listed, the information could be gathered from small group or general classroom work, albeit not as rich as when done one-on-one. - This assessment is largely targeted for second graders and emergent third grader.
Assessing Multiplicative Thinking Grs. 3-5
The document contains a protocol for each grade (3-5). Scroll through the document to locate the suitable protocol. Each protocol is largely identical; it is just that the number range adjusts with age. Note that should your fourth or fifth graders not have had a rich prior experience working with tasks such as these, you might start with the 3rd-grade assessment and adjust accordingly.