INTRODUCTION
Assessment has been a constant life theme. It has been part of my student learning experience, performance evaluation in the work setting and now an important part of my teaching. I hope to give you a good insight into my understanding, perspectives, biases and attitudes toward the subject of assessment and to further add to this with my experience as a teacher this year.
STUDENT VIEW
A student’s approach to learning and the quality of learning achieved will be influenced by the way in which this learning assessed (Gibbs 1999, Entwistle and Ramsden, 1983). As a student, assessments always provided me with a benchmark: the level I’m at, what going well/not so well and the area for improvement. They provided me with the tools to make decisions about a change in approach to obtain better grades or to make life decisions in order to obtain goals such as college or job placement.
I successfully came through second level assessment and received my first choice for third level. I narrowly missed out on my desired grade in my primary university degree and this had a knock on effect as it reduced my employment prospects. The result was undertaking a postgraduate course to up skill my existing qualification. Again it was difficult to get onto this course due to previous grades, but once on the course my determination saw me achieve higher overall grades than in my primary degree, which in turn opened up more employment opportunities.
My experience here did strike a chord with me with regard to educational and workplace selection assessment. I did accept that there were quotas and limited number of places due to the economics of supply and demand in the education and employment markets, but as Nitko and Brookhart (2006) ...
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...ng”, London: room Helm.
Gibbs, G. (1999). “Using assessment strategically to change the way students learn”, in Brown, S. and Glasner, A. (eds.) “Assessment Matters in Higher Education: Choosing and Using Diverse Approaches”, Maidenhead: SRHE/Open University Press.
Irons, A. (2007). “Enhancing Learning Through Formative Assessment and Feedback: Key guides for effective teaching in higher education”. Routledge: Oxon
Knight, P. (ed) (1995). “Assessment for Learning in Higher Education”. London: Kogan Page.
Nitko, A. J., and Brookhart S.M. (2006). “Educational assessment of students”, (5th ed.). NJ:Pearson Merill/Prentice Hall
Popham, W. J. (2005). “Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know”, (4th. Ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Stiggins, S. (2002). “Assessment crisis: the absence of assessment for learning”. Phi Delta
Kappan, 83:10, pp 758-765
Even though this article is written about higher education assessment, the information can be applied to any area of education. Boud states that “sustainable assessment encompasses the abilities required to undertake activates that necessarily accompany learning throughout life in formal and informal settings”. He discusses how both formative and summative assessment influence learning and how students need to be better self-accessors. He goes in to great length about the basic resources needed for sustainable assessment, how this way of thinking will affect teaching and assessment practices,
Assessment has been the greatest challenge in my development as a professional. My coursework as supported my growth in this area, especially in understanding the broad range of assessments used to support students’ growth and development. My courses have also supported my understanding of how ongoing observational assessment and standards-based measures can be used to inform instruction and support the cycle of observation, reflection and planning. Coursework
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, November/December). Assessment for learning: A key to motivation and achievement. Edge, 2, 3-19.
Although somewhat vague compared to summative assessment, several key features help frame formative assessment. First, formative assessment happens while learning is taking place as opposed to at the end of content delivery. Rather, this is considered “assessment for learning,” (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5). The format is formal or informal, but the outcome in its use is an in-progress check of what students know and what students do not know. Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, and Arter (2012) define formative assessment as, “Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning,” (pg. 24). Second, this type of assessment is used to make instructional strategy adjustments. If student learning did not happen via one instructional method, the teacher must make the necessary accommodations to reteach the concept or skill. Next, it is not only used by teachers for feedback on instruction, but formative assessment is also used for providing timely, descriptive feedback to students and extends to allow for student self-assessment (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012; Popham, 2008). Formative assessment provides opportunity to provide specific feedback to students on where they are currently in their learning, and where they should be headed.
make it work? In C.A. Dwyer (Ed.), The future of assessment: Shaping teaching and learning
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
McMillan, J. (2010). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standards-based instruction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Regular use of formative assessment improves student learning as instruction can be adjusted based on students’ progress and teachers are able to modify instructions to cater to students’ individual needs (Black & Wiliam, 2010; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Various forms of informal and formal formative assessment methods are conducted as learning takes place, continuously through teacher observations, questioning through individual interactions, group discussions and open-ended tasks (McMillan, 2011). tests can tell us a lot about students and be used to inform and guide teaching, rather than simply to determine grades. Teachers can learn a lot from test results if they analyse the data generated to inform their teaching and learning programs (Perso, 2009). However, high stakes tests may result in students becoming stressed, leading to misreading questions, careless working and incomplete answers (Booker et al., 2010).
Stiggins, R. (1991). Facing challenges of a new era of educational assessment. Applied Measurement in Education 4(4), 263+. Retrieved September 25, 2003 from Academic Search/EBSCO database.
Newmann, F. M. & Archbald, D. A. (1992). The nature of authentic academic achievement. Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment. State University of New York Press, Albany New York. 71-84.
I always knew that assessments were valuable to teaching, but I never understood their true value. Now, I have a better understanding on how to use assessments in my classroom to provide students with developmentally appropriate practices that are geared more towards the specific student and their needs. For instance, if I assessed a student using a task performance checklist and noticed that he had already accomplished a task, it would not be beneficial to have him keep doing the same thing that he already knows over and over. Instead, since the assessment
Assessments were not aligned and incongruent with what was happening in the classroom. It was difficult to accurately measure student success (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). One of the greatest contributors to the difficulty of aligning assessments to standards is that the standards are so complex (LaMarca, 2001.) How can a single assessment demonstrate mastery of so much content? Also, some assessments items measure multiple standards. This can be difficult to analyze. Furthermore, some assessment contain content that is neither developmentally appropriate for the intended audience or it may content that is not mentioned in the standards (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). This can be discouraging and frustrating for both students and
Stiggins, R., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., Chappuis, S., (2007). Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right -- using it well. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.