Benefits Of Preparing The Children For The Upcoming State Tests

Assessment plays a significant role in the learning experience of students. It determines their progression through their programmes and enables them to demonstrate that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is assessment that provides the main basis for public recognition of achievement, through the awarding of qualifications and/or credit.

This is why assessments should be an ongoing process throughout the learning experience. Assessments are not only there to assess a learner to sit an exam to test a learner’s knowledge of the subject matter but to:

During the time of instruction students are drilled with testing and learning strategies, along with numerous mock test throughout the year. There is a emphasis placed on the importance of high test scores, not because high scores help the student personally or academically, but because the scores help the school, school district and state. Through current research taken in south Texas elementary school, to include twelve districts," Teachers stated that they experienced a great deal of pressure, especially from the emphasis on outcomes of state-level tests, campus principals, central office, and other teachers." (Cruz and Brown) This places a tremendous amount of stress on the student, as if just the stress of taking a test isn't enough, but now their scores not only effect them, but their teachers, school, school district and even the state of Texas. Should our students at any have this amount of stress placed on them, or even more so, our third graders? How does placing this much stress on these students, teachers and administration surrounding the STARR test benefit them, their scores, or their education? Some individuals my argue that repetition and stress is the key to success, and that by drilling the students they are more apt to retain the information taught to them.

These tests have been faulty and inadequate for use of assessment when given electronically. Also, the stress put on students to perform well overworks their brain, giving them poorer scores than hoped for. Both students and teachers have been so worried by the scores that they have cheated to get the scores they truly hope for, leading to inaccurate results for the entire school system. Nonetheless, schools are still using these results to define their students’ intelligence and refine their schedules for upcoming years. These assessments are so important to the state’s performance rate of students, yet they are not proven to provide accurate information of the population’s true aptitude. If the government continues to administer such defective evaluations to the people we will lose the true value of an education across the nation, and the stress levels of students and teachers will continue to rise at an inordinate

Student assessment is something we take very seriously. It is our duty to make sure our educators are doing what they are supposed to be doing and our students excelling. We have diverse learners attending our school district so this is something we take into consideration. Every child has a different way in developing and each student has a different way in learning. How they learn is what makes them unique. Coming up with the right methods to reach our students is something our educators do best. They

people believe that these tests help with students' education, and they should have to pass these

I believe assessment is important and is the basis of planning for instruction, whether it is diagnostic prior to learning, formative during units or lessons, or summative to evaluate student learning. Rowan’s quote in Every Teacher’s Guide to Assessment, "After all, in the end, the problem is less the idea of testing itself, but how we design them, apply, them, and make use of their data." definitely has an impact on my assessment practices. I feel it is necessary to make sure the student acquires all aspects of the learning. Assessment should be used to bring a value for students. Within my instruction, I implement daily formative assessments which may include turn and share, quick writes, graphic organizers, online discussion responses, KahootIt, and other forms. Designing the appropriate formative assessment to match the lesson is important to assess how the learning is taught and whether the students are showing progress. In addition, I have worked on building blocks of formative assessments in checklist style leading up to the point of reviewing for a summative test. Each of these are checked off as completed and instant feedback is given. Feedback from an assessment is essential to student learning and how a teacher will ensure the content is being acquired.

In my point of view assessment is a testing tool by which a teacher or assessor can use to detect the outcomes of teaching, learning or assessment process with the learners by

Assessment is carried out to ensure that learning has taken place. This is used to measures the learner’s knowledge and skills in their chosen area of learning. Assessment can be used to encourage learners to ask questions on anything they have not understood, learners at some point will have to know that they will have to prove their knowledge and understanding to the standards of the awarding body.

The function of assessment in learning and development is to provide a measurable way of planning and supporting students’ progress. Assessment is carried out by means of checks and tests carried out throughout the course. Assessors should provide feedback throughout ensuring that learning is occurring and the learner is at the correct level. It is also important that assessor’s decisions are also consistently reviewed and internally and externally verified.

Assessment is often thought of as a punitive exercise. But the purpose of assessment is to ensure that students meet specific standards of progress and to rectify learning deficits before a child falls too far behind. Assessment can also identify a child's strengths as well as his or her weaknesses. As well as comparing the child's performance with his or her peers, the teacher can assess specific learning needs, learning styles, interests, aptitudes, and other critical components of the child's developing learning personality.

The use of assessments in school is always creating controversy due to the fact that many people believe that quizzes and tests do not define a student’s learning. While I agree that tests should not be the only defining factor of a student’s grade, assessments can be a valuable tool in understanding what a student has learned. Personally, I struggle with assessments because I went to a Waldorf school, which is an institution that does not believe in test taking. I believe that there are pros and cons to this approach, one of the cons being that when I reached high school I was bombarded with many multiple choice assessments. Multiple choice assessments became my enemy in high school as well as college because I wasn’t taught the test taking strategies my peers had learned and practiced. As a middle school math teacher, I quickly learned that multiple choice assessments fail to tell an accurate story about a student’s skills. My department head explained this to me by reminding me that although a student may have gotten the incorrect answer their process might have been accurate. In my classroom, their is a culture that celebrates the correct process because often times students make little mistakes, however it should not define them as not understanding a problem or concept. In other words, the process that my students take to answering a math problem matters.

Assessment is a valuable tool to measure students learning and achievement. It is an essential element for teacher to reflect on what and how they teach. To assess students is to collect evidence of their learning. Teachers use the information to modify their lesson plans and adjust their instructional methods; students need feedback on their performance to concentrate on their vulnerable areas. Assessment is necessary for parents to reinforce their children strength and assist them where extra attention is required. The data collected will inform school

Assessment is carried out to ensure that learning has taken place. It measures the learner’s knowledge and skills in their learning area. Assessment encourages learners to ask questions on anything they have not fully understood, as learners know that they will have to prove their knowledge and understanding to the standards of the awarding body.

Standardized tests are not an adequate way to measure students abilities in school. Three times a year we line our kids up, take them down to the computer lab, instruct them that there is to be no talking as they put their headphones on and start to take their tests. They sit as still as they can at five-years-old (which let’s face it isn’t very still when forced to sit for an hour or more) most of them try their best to do what we ask and try their hardest on the tests. Some look around nervously, they aren’t sure of the answer. Others get nervous as soon as they hear the guidance counselor say the word test as she gives directions. We have prepared them the best we can, tried to tell them not to be nervous just do their best. But is it enough? I have seen a child that can read me a book in the classroom, now mind you it is an easy reader book but still at five, they are reading! The test scores come down and that child’s may not be that good. They don’t test well so therefor that score doesn’t do him justice, it doesn’t tell the administration that he can read, that he has worked so hard to read a book, he is more than the number on that score. Then the big day comes all the school meets in the gym for the assembly. Everyone that shows growth in their test scores gets a certificate, and gets their picture taken even though Johnny is reading now and Tommy isn’t, Tommy gets an award and Johnny doesn’t. His little heart is broken. He doesn’t think he is good at school