The assessment that was created for this unit is based on three goals. These goals include federal, state, and district testing initiatives. They also are to provide accurate and timely data regarding testing purposes, procedures, and results to the school and staff members. The Unit 5 Curriculum incorporates all the Student Learning Objectives (SLO), intended for six weeks of instruction. Each unit contains the content of the grade that can be taught to proficiency by the end of the unit. The assessment allows for measuring student proficiency of those targeted skills as the year of instruction progresses. Assessment procedures are not only used to evaluate student success but can also be used to evaluate the curriculum itself. Essentially, by assessing our students, we are also evaluating the curriculum. There are two categories assessments can be placed into; traditional and alternative. Both assessment approaches can prove useful in different ways. Traditional assessment includes multiple choice, true/false, matching, and completion tests. With the constant push towards raising statewide test scores it is hard to create a curriculum without having this in mind. At the elementary school level, students are required to take the PARCC assessment. Alternative assessments may include student projects, portfolios of collected work samples, and real problem solving activities. Alternative assessment is being used a lot more today than in previous years. Although the
After a long year of teaching the core curriculum standards, every year in the spring, students are to take a progress test to determine if they have learned the minimum required, to determine if their teacher had taught effectively. When I think about assessments, I think about State assessments, standardized test, Maps, and AYP. However not all assessments are test. There are many different types of assessments, for example, there are comprehensive, formative, summative, and performance assessments. Different types of assessments help guide students to do the very best work they are capable of doing.
Improved Assessment Literacy: Unlike the current education system that treats assessment more separated from teaching, the core teaching standards recognize that teachers need to have greater knowledge and skill on how to develop a number of assessments, how to balance use of formative and summative assessment as
I am a strong believer that one test defines a students. Therefore, variety is key when assessing students. When using formative assessment I use student reflections, journal entries, exit cards in addition to non verbal communication such as thumbs up or down. I also make anadotal notes on students to help assess the overall learning journey of the student. When using summative assessments, I use district assessments, state assessments, portfolios, short answer, multiple choice, and student based projects. In all forms of assessments, students are provided the appropriate accommodations. My learning goal for assessing students is to have a valid assessment that demonstrate the student’s understanding of the specific skill. It is crucial that I understand the purpose of the assessments and the content that is being taught, therefore, I often start instruction with the assessment piece in
The classes also both used technology by using smart boards and videos to teach their lessons. Students also have access to school laptops and computer labs. These teachers both used multiple forms of assessment to measure students achievement and understanding of material. I was told tests are given at the end of a unit and mini quizzes may be used in between tests. Both the English and social studies had upcoming projects that counted as much of a test grade and allowed students to be creative. Projects hung in both classrooms showed me that these teachers allowed students to combine creativity and learning. The English teacher also uses portfolios to assess students. Students made portfolios during their poetry unit. I was pleased to see that tests were not the only form of assessment used. Some students do not perform well on tests but do well in other forms of assessments. It is important for teachers to use multiple forms of assessments to assess students as all students have different learning needs.
What is the purpose of initial assessment and what kind of methods could be used? Evaluate these methods with reference to the ways they can help in the overall objective of achieving learning goals. How can you ensure learners are kept motivated and working towards these goals?
Within the classroom their needs to be a variety of assessment strategies as not all learners will be able to express their knowledge to the best of their ability in some forms of assessment.
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 primary types of assessment are formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments take the form of
Classroom assessment involves the professional decision of the teacher to determine how to implement assessment, what should be assessed, and when should assessment occur. Teachers must be able to interpret each students’ unique learning abilities in ways that are credible, fair, and free from bias. Possible factors to consider when creating these multiple formats for assessments include gender, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic backgrounds, and special needs. Each and every student in the classroom should be give the same opportunity to display their strengths. And it is important for teachers to properly manage an assessment plan that will benefit students, as well as the teachers, in the classroom. Eventually, a well-constructed assessment plan will be able to contribute to the development of lifelong learners within the teacher and the students.
The seven assessments I chose for the unit plan include a variety of assessment methods which will be very beneficial for my students. When assessing, it is important to use different methods, so students
The question of assessment in the "school system, individual schools, and teachers has evoked strong and sometimes violent emotions from the educational community, the general public and their legislative representatives"(Brown & Knight, 1994). Assessment based on standardized tests has been looked at very closely over the recent years, and some people have even mentioned that they be eliminated completely. Those who feel traditional methods should be replaced by alternative methods. These people feel that demonstration, exhibition, investigation, oral response, portfolio, and written response's are all examples of
Assessments have been used in the classroom throughout the years as feedback to educators on how effective they are at teaching and how well students are learning. Since school’s decision-making is being predicated off assessment scores, they are increasingly becoming more important. “Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding” (Edutopia, 2008, para. 1). With more and more reliance on assessments, it forces educators to take a step back and reflect on their lessons in order to ensure that all accommodations and strategies are in place to promote student success. Among those strategies, teachers must be able to “demonstrate skills at selecting, developing, applying, using, communicating, and evaluating student assessment information and student assessment practices”(Buros, 2014, pg.1). While reflecting on my own skills or competencies involving student’s assessment, I have found that my strengths lie in administering, scoring, and interpreting assessments; and choosing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions. On the other side, my weaknesses lie in developing valid grading procedures that incorporate assessment information. This paper will analyze these strengths and weaknesses and examine how they impact the development of assessment inside the classroom.
As an educator it is very important that a teacher uses different methods to teach the variety of different learning styles, and it is also important that the teacher uses a variety of assessment procedures. People don’t learn the same, and people don’t test the same either. I personally, am horrible when it comes to taking multiple choice and problem solving type assessments. I do better with essay and writing assessments, presentations, and teaching back what I have learned. With the understanding of how I can best be assessed myself, it will be important when I am the teacher that I use many methods to assess and grade my students work.
Teachers need to collect assessment information using multiple sources of information to get a more comprehensive view of the children. By using diverse forms of assessments teachers are able to gain more information, thus having a more complete view of the child. Different assessments will yield results that will expand on what you have previously learned about the child.
Assessments are integral parts of instruction, they determine whether classroom goals have been achieved, and help teachers know what areas they should focus on and maybe reteach. They are great tools for developing lesson plans and answer questions such as; “do my students possess full understanding of the material?” There are many ways of assessing students’ learning, one of which I have personal experience with are on-the-spot assessments.