Assessment

The Wellness 10 curriculum is designed to begin instruction from what students already know about the strands of wellness, testing for HIV, injuries related to physical activity, and volunteering. The curriculum is based upon a decision-making process that provides opportunities for students to apply their informed decisions in their daily lives. Throughout this section of the curriculum guide, suggestions are provided to help teachers find out about student growth in skills and knowledge from one day to the next and from one unit to the next.

Assessment techniques in Wellness 10, as in all other subject areas, need to give students opportunities to demonstrate what they know about wellness-related topics and what skills they possess for designing their own wellness. Students should be made aware of the objectives of the program, the procedures to be used in assessing performance relative to the objectives, the expected learning outcomes, and examples of high quality work. A variety of assessment tools and techniques are needed to determine where students are, to monitor their learning, and to give feedback to students so they can monitor their own progress. Students should be given multiple opportunities to express what they understand and think, and can do. Assessment techniques need to provide for a range of abilities, interests, and learning styles to accommodate students who learn at different rates and in different ways. Assessment needs to be fair and equitable, giving all students opportunities to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Methods of Data Recording

While a single assessment technique can provide a snapshot, it cannot provide a comprehensive view of what a student knows and can do. A variety of assessment techniques are needed to complete the entire picture. Also, to provide authentic information about student progress, there should be congruence between intended learning outcomes, learning activities, and assessment techniques. This linkage provides for curriculum-referenced assessment.

Teachers determine the instructional strategy and method that will be used to achieve a grouping of learning objectives and then choose an appropriate assessment technique. Suggested ways of keeping track of student achievement are described below.

Anecdotal Records

Anecdotal records are written descriptions of regular student progress. Anecdotal records can be used to keep track of a student’s ability to work in groups, conduct themselves appropriately for an invited speaker, or complete a research project.

Observation Checklists

Observation checklists are a quick way of assessing knowledge, specific skills, or attitudes. A list of specific criteria gives the teacher the opportunity to assess several students over a short time. Students should be aware of the criteria before observation assessment takes place. Students can use these checklists and rating scales to monitor their own progress.

Rating Scales

Rating scales have the same use as observation checklists with one essential difference. While checklists record the presence or absence of a particular knowledge item, skill, or process, rating scales record the degree to which they are found or the quality of the performance. A rating scale can be adapted into a rubric.

Rubrics

Rubrics include criteria that describe each level of a rating scale and are used to determine student progress in comparison to these expectations. Rubrics describe the attributes of student knowledge or achievements on a numbered continuum. Choosing criteria that are easily observed prevents vagueness and increases objectivity.

Ongoing Student Activities

Ongoing student activities include learning activities that students are engaged in on a daily basis throughout the semester or year.

Presentations

A considerable portion of Wellness 10 features the connections among the strands of wellness. These connections are many and varied. It is advantageous to have students present their findings to their classmates. Teachers may use checklists, rating scales, and anecdotal records to assess presentations, but they may also enlist the help of those students acting as observers.

Performance Assessments

Assessment data may be collected on various types of performances. Wellness 10 students may be asked to role play the application of various stress management techniques appropriate for a particular situation. Another example is that students may be asked to create a three-dimensional organizer that displays their understanding of the ways in which two or more strands of wellness are interrelated. Students may also be asked to perform a particular skill such as a yoga posture, series of tai chi moves, or a set of stretching activities.

Written Assignments

Teachers may collect student progress information by having students plan the design phase of an action plan, refine it based upon peer and/or teacher feedback, and produce a daily journal of the implementation phase of the action plan.

Homework

Homework may be assigned as an instructional method and/or as an assessment technique. For example, the teacher may ask students to record what they eat throughout a 24-hour period and to analyze the degree to which the food they consumed was “nutrient dense” or, conversely, was made up of “empty calories”.

When homework is assigned as an assessment technique, students need to know what criteria will be used in assessing their work.

Quizzes and Tests

Quiz and test items need to be directly related to the learning objectives of the unit of study. Some test items allow students to demonstrate their understanding of concepts. Other test items allow students to demonstrate particular skills or values. Furthermore, different types of test items are required to allow students to demonstrate their abilities to use a variety of processes (e.g., accessing and evaluating information, generating alternatives and evaluating them against specific criteria).