Classroom Management and Assessment Practices

These flashcards cover key terms and definitions related to classroom management and assessment practices, designed to aid in understanding and remembering essential concepts from the lecture.

Classroom Management

Blends warmth and structure to create a safe, orderly, supportive learning environment, increasing academic engagement, reducing disruptions, and supporting positive relationships.

Communicate Expectations

Involves clear rules, routines, and procedures, explaining and modeling expected behaviors.

Maximize Academic Learning Time

Minimizes transitions and downtime, maintains efficient routines and smooth pacing.

Prevent Problems Before They Occur

Uses proactive strategies and arranges physical space to support movement and visibility.

Promote Positive Relationships

Builds trust and rapport, provides encouragement and respect.

Be Fair and Consistent

Applies rules the same way for all students and follows through on consequences and supports.

Support Student Independence

Encourages responsibility and teaches self-management and ownership of learning.

Humanistic Tradition

Focuses on students’ needs and feelings, emphasizing belonging, respect, and intrinsic motivation.

Ginott’s Congruent Communication

Emphasizes respectful, non-blaming language, focusing on the situation, not the student’s character, and avoiding labels and personal attacks.

Glasser’s Reality Therapy / Lead Management

Based on the belief that behavior is driven by four needs (belonging, power, fun, freedom); teachers lead, not boss; students evaluate their own choices; emphasizes responsibility and quality relationships.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

A tradition of classroom management that uses principles like positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, shaping, and extinction to modify behavior.

Positive Reinforcement

Increases desired behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Increases behavior by removing discomfort.

Punishment

Decreases behavior (used sparingly) and does not teach the desired behavior.

Shaping

Reinforcing gradual steps toward a desired behavior.

Extinction

Removing reinforcement for unwanted behavior.

Five Steps to Improve Behavior

1. Identify the behavior (operational definition), 2. Collect baseline data, 3. Choose an intervention, 4. Implement consistently, 5. Monitor and adjust.

Punishment (Last Resort)

Does not teach desired behavior, can cause fear, embarrassment, or resentment; used only when necessary and always paired with teaching appropriate behavior.

Assessment

Collecting information about student learning.

Measurement

Assigning numbers to performance (e.g., test scores).

Evaluation

Making judgments based on assessment results.

Assessment FOR Learning (Formative)

Occurs during instruction, helps teachers adjust teaching and students improve learning; feedback-focused.

Assessment OF Learning (Summative)

Occurs after instruction, used to assign grades and certify student achievement.

Diagnostic Assessment

Occurs before learning, identifies prior knowledge, strengths, and gaps.

Formal Assessment

Structured and planned assessment methods like tests, quizzes, projects, and rubrics.

Informal Assessment

Ongoing and flexible assessment methods like observations, questioning, and check-ins.

Steps in Assessment for Learning

1. Clear instructional goals, 2. Appropriate assessment techniques, 3. Enhancing motivation and confidence, 4. Adjusting instruction based on results, 5. Communicating with parents.

High-Quality Assessments

Assessments that are valid (measure what they should measure), reliable (produce consistent results), and free from bias (fair to all learners).

Validity

The extent to which an assessment measures what it is intended to measure.

Content Validity

Assessment covers the appropriate content and skills.

Construct Validity

Assessment measures the intended underlying construct (e.g., reading comprehension, not just decoding).

Criterion-Related Validity

Assessment correlates with other established measures (predictive or concurrent).

Reliability

The consistency of an assessment across time, scorers, or items.

Ways to improve reliability

Add more items, use clear directions, use rubrics or scoring guides.

Table of Specifications

A planning tool that aligns learning objectives, content areas, cognitive levels, and the number and type of assessment items to ensure assessments are balanced, valid, and aligned with instruction.