Narrower and Deeper
California Standards Test, 2012
Smarter Balanced Common Core Assessment, 2014
Look at the two 5th grade assessment questions above. The first question is from a 2012 California Standards Test. The second question is from a 2014 Smarter Balanced Common Core assessment. In the first question, students only need to remember the formula for volume and complete the calculation. In the second question, students must recognize that the problem is assessing volume, and then calculate the volume with a variable height that would equal the volume of 1050 cubic inches. The Smarter Balanced question involves a higher level of thinking and a deeper knowledge of the concept of volume. Seeing this evolution in testing, it’s no wonder why administrators often ask DataWORKS, “What are you doing to address the Depth of Knowledge issue?”
Depth of Knowledge Levels
In the latest round of Common Core assessment questions released by Smarter Balanced, each question is labeled with a Depth of Knowledge (DOK) level. The four levels and examples of questions within each level are shown below:
DOK Level 1: Recall.
Recall facts, information, or procedures.
DOK Level 2: Skill/Concept.
Requires thinking beyond habitual response using conceptual knowledge. Often requires multiple steps.
DOK Level 3: Strategic Thinking.
Requires reasoning, developing a plan, or following a sequence of steps. Often more than one possible answer.
DOK Level 4: Extended Thinking.
Requires investigation, complex reasoning, planning, and developing over an extended period of time.
Addressing Depth of Knowledge
To meet the rigor of Common Core assessments, daily lessons in all content areas should address higher-order thinking by:
- Including question types modeled after the Smarter Balanced questions.
- Having the teacher model thinking processes.
- Asking students to justify answers and explain how they determined their answer.
The chart below shows the breakdown of questions from the Smarter Balanced assessment questions in ELA and math released in May 2014. From this data, teachers can determine that basic recall questions in ELA are nearly obsolete. Students are now expected to answer conceptual questions and/or questions involving strategic thinking or analysis.
In math, the questions are heavily weighted in the skill/concept category; however, recall is still alive and well in mathematics.
To address the narrower and deeper aspect of DOK, DataWORKS is using higher-order questions in all lessons, coupled with a strong focus on building deep conceptual knowledge. DataWORKS is designing lessons that are narrowly focused on a standard and a concept, and that require students to go beyond the basic arithmetic or recall of information. Lessons are challenging students to explain why, interpret their results, translate an author’s idea, and solve problems with applications to the world around them.
DataWORKS believes that by increasing the depth of knowledge in the classroom every day, students will be better prepared for the assessments, and ultimately, better prepared for college and careers.
