Authentic Assessment Methodologies In Mathematics

Getting assessments to the desirable level is therefore vital, both for teacher and students. From the Educational Assessment Landscape chart, I believe the measurements go hand-in-hand to offer students the opportunities to show what they have learned through differentiated assessments, all leading to the final result of success in summative

These assessments offer a better view of true student learning than standardized tests. Students must be able to to think and work together to find a solution as opposed to the multiple guess tests used to measure student achievement. To truly understand what knowledge students possess and own the assessment must be able to evaluate true student

Assessment, both formative and summative, plays a significant part in the learning experience as it determines progression and enables learners to demonstrate that they have achieved their desired learning outcomes.

Mathematics: The rubric used with the assessment checks for students’ understanding and work process through all problems presented on the quiz: do they understand the concept? Are they able to follow the process correctly? The rubric focuses on John’s thought and reasoning process.

Principles of assessment, different methods, strengths and limitations of these, relevant to their subject area, which can effectively meet the individual needs of learners.

“Assessment focuses on the learners’ performance. It is about measuring achievement, both ongoing (formative) and at the end of the programme (summative).” Wallace. S (2007: 118)

Assessment is an imperative part of the learning process. According to Stiggins and Chappuis (2012), “Assessment is, in part, the process of gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional decisions. This process can be done well or poorly.” To learn more about assessment I sat down for a one on one interview with Jim Libretti. Coach Libretti is the head coach of the freshman football team at Paradise Valley High School. Also, he is a math teacher.

This October 2017, practicum observation at Sharpsville Elementary consisted of a third grade Math Assessment interview and observation. The third grade teacher works on formative and summative assessment in the math class. The teacher uses different ways to assess students in the classroom. In most cases, whether the child is above level or at the level where the child should be she has many options and strategies on how to solve mathematical problems as a whole-group or individually. This reflection will discuss the formative assessment, summative assessment, how students respond to the instruction, and a student interview observation..

Ch. 2 – Who are the various users of assessment and its results? What specific instructional decisions can be made based on assessment results? Why must we build balanced assessment systems to support the instructional programs we offer students? This chapter nails down the purpose of assessing, which is gathering information to inform teachers of students of their instruction and learning, respectively. In this way, assessment is individualized to each student and classroom, and because all students/classes are different, it should inform the teachers of what is working or not working in the classroom, which should then influence some sort of change to instruction. This chapter also talks about the different levels of assessment – from the individuals

The assessment method must take into account the characteristic of the learner and needs to be consistent and relevant to what is being assessed. The assessment will not only focus on improving the learning, it will measure their achievements and also remind the learner of how they are progressing.

This section of this essay critically evaluates the use of two different assessment activities used to check the learning of students. This will be done by considering the key strengths and weakness of each type of assessment will also be considered, as well as, the Validity; Reliability; Sufficiency; Authenticity and Relevance of each assessment method.

For the majority of these classes, I must rely on my own assessments to measure my effectiveness. Using the TI-Navigator system, I formatively assess students by sending questions to solve throughout the period. I then determine whether to address the entire class or to work one on one with a student. Often students mimic the mathematical process, but have little understanding of “why” so I assign writing journals to encourage mathematical thinking. Reading the journal provides me insight into the student’s understanding, their decision making, and any misconceptions they may have to guide my future lessons. Within my classroom, I integrate a variety of hands-on activities that expand my students’ understanding of mathematics: dressing as a zombie to model exponential growth, performing “Function Aerobics” to move as the graphs shift, and measuring football lights outside using trigonometry. I always seek innovative ways to teach mathematics that is relevant to my students’

“Research studies show that when students discover mathematical ideas and invent mathematical procedures, they have a stronger conceptual understanding of connections between mathematical ideas” (Grouws & Cebulla, as cited in Quinnell, 2010, p.35)

In the society of today, there are various educators who believe in assessment as proper method to measure the performance of a child in school as well as the overall achievement of a specific school system. The assessment may be presented in the form of verbal, written, or multiple choice, and it usually pertains to certain academic subjects in the school curriculum. Recently, many educators began to issue standardized tests to measure the intelligence of a common student body. (Rudner, 1989) These standardized tests were initially created to reveal the success in institutional school programs, and exhibit the abilities of students today. The standardized tests can reveal the strengths and weaknesses

Informal assessment allows students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways which can benefit all students. It can include group or individual projects, presentations, essays, experiments, or demonstrations. Each of these can allow for “knowledge that transfers from one situation to another [which] is based on students’ abilities to understand central principles, see connections and make distinctions, and be strategic in attacking problems and analyzing information” (Darling-Hammond, p. 285). A variety of assessment methods allow for this to happen and for students to use their personal strengths to demonstrate understanding of the information. “Research into students’ preferences for alternative assessments shows that the assessments that have been positively evaluated by students were more authentic and thus made learning more realistic and powerful” (as cited in Brown, Irving, Peterson, and Hirschfeld, 2009, p. 99). Students should be able to think creatively and take hold of their own education and learning because they must ideally be prepared for a rapidly changing society where they must be able to adapt and formulate their own solutions. Teachers are able to provide feedback to the children so they know what was done effectively and what needs to be modified. Rather than teachers pressuring students to show understanding through a single examination, they will have opportunities to confidently demonstrate knowledge with less