Describe:
This week’s reading focused on the assessment of students –what
we do and why we do it. There are many different ways to assess students, as is
revealed by the text. Assessment is an essential part of educating effectively.
We can use assessment to change what we teach, how we teach it, and even
reteach with different approaches.
Learning or behavioral objectives are the outcomes that we
set for students. These outcomes should be measurable and achievable by
students. Slavin defines a learning objective as, “a statement of skills or
concepts that students should master after a given period of instruction,”
(Slavin, p. 398). A quality learning objective has three parts which are:
condition, performance, and criterion. Condition is what medium will be used to
assess, whether it be through an exam, writing, or the practice of a skill.
Performance is what the students will be able to do. Criterion is a statement
of a standard for success. Objectives should always be clear and project a
meaningful goal.
Evaluation is used to measure
student success. When we evaluate a student, we compare their knowledge and
skill to the learning objective and analyze to see if the objective has been
achieved. Evaluations, or assessments, have a variety of purposes. They serve
as a source of feedback, information, and incentive. Assessments can give feedback
to both teachers and students. Teachers can use this feedback to evaluate the
effectiveness of their instruction, while students can use assessment to judge
their skill level and what they need to work on. Evaluation is a resource of
information for parents. Parents can look at the assessments their students
have completed and judge whether or not their child needs extra help or if they
have gotten off track. Assessments can also be used for information to guide
decisions of selection and certification. If an assessment is used for this
purpose, it could be to judge whether or not a student is ready for the next
grade or if they should be recommended for the gifted program. Lastly,
assessment can be used for incentive. Students are motivated by doing well on
assessments and can earn rewards for high marks. Once students get to higher
grades, these rewards might change from stickers and candy to college entrance.
Student learning is evaluated through different types of
assessments. Assessments can be sorted into many different categories, however
the most regularly used are formative and summative assessments. Summative
assessments evaluate how much students have learned overall. These assessments
usually evaluate students on a large amount of material, such as a unit. These
assessments usually have a grade attached to them that carry a high weight.
Formative assessments are a teacher’s best friend. They can be used during
lessons, after lessons, or can simply be a checklist. Formative assessments
gauge whether or not students are developing understanding, have
misconceptions, and if they need more time or are ready to move on. It is
essential to use formative assessments frequently in order to effectively guide
instruction and use students’ time wisely.
When constructing assessments, teachers must take into
account many different variables. The teacher always has to keep in mind the
objective when constructing an assessment and they must be sure to focus on the
material that has been taught. Assessments should also be designed to improve
learning, according to Gronlund and Brookhart (Slavin, p.415). There are many
different ways to construct assessments, however, one should always take into
account the material being assessed and the students being assessed. When
evaluating, it is critical that students’ abilities are taken into
consideration and that the assessment is developmentally appropriate.
Analyze:
In
my own classroom, I constantly use formative assessments. This comes in the
form of checklists and questioning in which I evaluate whether or not students
are understanding and reaching the learning objective. It would be highly
inappropriate to give my students summative assessments all the time because
they are developing so many skills and basic knowledge. My goal is to keep
their learning on track in the day-to-day and to make sure that any
misconceptions they develop are cleared.
In
this week’s discussion, we talked about the importance of formative
assessments. All of my colleagues were in agreeance that formative assessments
are essential to quality instruction. James pointed out in his discussion post
that, “Formative
assessments are valuable for students as it allows them to track their own
progress toward goals and allow them the opportunity to distinguish which areas
they need to focus on more.” I
found this statement to be very insightful and true. When students are
given formative assessments regularly, they can hold themselves accountable for
their own learning because they can see where they need improvement.
Reflect:
Significance
of the concept concerning the context my classroom…
Assessment is extremely important in my classroom.
Without it, I would not know which students could count or say the alphabet
before getting to my classroom. I also would not be able to sort my students
into ability groups to get them the attention and the challenge that they need
without assessment. It is extremely important for me to constantly assess and
reassess my students to make sure that they are progressing and learning as
they should. If they are not, I know that I need to either change my
instruction style or give them extra help.
My
learning confirmed my knowledge about teaching…
Learning more about assessment and evaluation
confirmed that regular assessment is essential for effective teaching. It also
confirmed that formative assessments are the most effective for correcting
teaching mistakes and evaluating how much students are learning.
How I
feel about the concept…
I feel that more focus should be placed on formative
assessments and summative assessments. These evaluations are what happen in the
day-to-day classroom and are accurate measures of student learning. Criterion
referenced testing is often too high stakes and only takes a single snapshot of
what students are capable of in the assessment.
Additional
questions sparked by this content and how I will address them…
As I am
just starting out, I would like to know more about the most effective formative
assessments for my students. Right now I mostly do questioning and checklists,
but I would love to know of more and better ways to assess my young students.
Sometimes my thoughts get disorganized and my questioning assessments are
ineffective. I would like to speak with more vetted pre-k teachers to see how
they track learning and growth.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology:
Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA
No comments:
Post a Comment