•  Process Standards and Depth of Knowledge

•  Harvest Ridge Elementary

•  October 24, 2008

•  Measures the degree to which the knowledge asked of students on activities and assessments is as complex as what students are expected to know and do as stated in the curriculum/GLEs/Show-Me Standards. This criterion is met if the assessment is as demanding cognitively as the expectations standards are set for students.

•  WHY DOK?

  • Auto mechanics perform alignments by lining up the direction of the wheels so the vehicle is pointed in a straight line. Curriculum alignment follows the same principle, with the "wheels" being curriculum, DOK, GLE and instruction/assessment. Research indicates this kind of alignment can point a school or district toward improved student achievement.

DOK
Depth of Knowledge

  • DOK levels are not related to the score points.
  • The level of a DOK item is determined by the task (defined by complex thinking and reasoning skills), not grade level or ability of the student. Verbs alone do not determine the DOK’s levelof an assessment task. DOK’s focus is on how deeply students need to know content for a given response.
  • DOK levels are a ceiling, not a target.
  • Multiple-choice questions can be written at a DOK 3 or 4 level; however, to design a question in this format is difficult.
  • DOK is NOT–
  • about verbs. Verbs are not always used appropriately.
  • about "difficulty". It is not about the student, or level of difficulty for the student - it requires looking at the assessment item, not student work, in order to determine the level.
  • DOK is –
  • about what FOLLOWS the verb. What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself.
  • about the complexity of mental processing that must occur to answer a question.
  • Remember DOK...
  • is descriptive; different from “Bloom’s Taxonomy”, which is based on verbs and somewhat on difficulty. (Norman Webb – WCER)
  • focuses on how deeply the student has to think about the content in order to respond. (not the same as difficulty)