The Ideas And Contributions Of Robert Marzano

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 suggested this book because it was the book I studied when I was challenged to question my own practices. This book showed me that grading practices are directly linked to student performance, and play an essential role in building a culture of learning. I learned that grading practices go beyond scoring papers and calculating final averages. Grading practices include creating quality assessments, focusing on standards, and involving students in the learning process. My goal for the book study is to apply my learning described in PGE#3 to guide teachers to the same conclusions. I asked to facilitate the book study because I felt that I could use my own experiences to help move us forward. My long term goal is to engage teachers in meaningful, research-based discussions in order to build a shared vision, allowing us to create a school-wide grading policy that supports student

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 and data driven instruction are a vital part of teaching. Assessments are used frequently to guide the proceeding lessons. I am interested in learning more about the different types of assessments and the appropriate uses of each. I think it is critical as a future teacher to have many resources to back up my techniques, especially with the growing interest in data and tracking students’ progress. Gathering information about assessments will allow me to broaden my own techniques and strategies that I use in the classroom, more specifically the ways in which I grade and provide feedback on assessments so that students can use that feedback in a positive way. In my past experiences I have noticed my cooperating teachers providing grades on all assessments with no feedback because they want the students to correct their own mistakes. This may work on summative assessments but I think that there needs to be comments on formative assessments so that students know how to correct their mistakes for the end of the unit tests.

This article is about how using standards and assessments do not fully measure the educational quality of the students. It also suggests that the standardized assessments promise something that is not possible with all students. It is important to keep the standardized assessments simple and not go to deep into each subject.

Ch. 1 – What are my classroom assessment responsibilities as a teacher and how can I fulfill them in ways that maximize the success of my students? This chapter speaks to the nature of what sound assessment is, and the importance of really involving students in this process. Assessment is, of course, FOR the students. The idea that assessment is used by the students, and that teachers should “demystify” assessment and the meaning of success in their classroom is a very simple one, but one that is often forgotten in the context of high-stakes test-ridden classrooms, and schools that view letter grades as the only evidence of learning.

Juan Francisco Manzano was slave in the country of Cuba in the 18th century. In the year 1797 he was born into slavery from slave parents and would remain a slave for the majority of his life. With all odds against him he was able to become very knowledgeable, like tailoring, writing, reading and writing poetry, with minimum resources that he acquired. Any opportunity that came his way to expand his knowledge he would take full advantage of it and practice until it was up to standards. But his main objective was to become a free slave, which was a rejected idea by his mistress. After his hard work of being a poet and being recognized by others of the time he was able to receive his freedom. Of course this couldn’t be done without the help of Del Monte, who bought Manzanos freedom. As a result from the help of Del Monte, Manzano was insisted by Del Monte to write an autobiography. With much fear and insecurity Manzano wrote his autobiography.

Efficient educators know and understand the importance of selecting, planning, and implementing effective assessment tools and strategies that measure student’s levels of understanding. Different types of assessments are used for a broad range of purposes that include formative, placement, diagnostic, and summative assessments. However, the main purpose is to “foster learning in all its forms” (Lefrancois, 2013, Ch. 6.1). Teachers use pre, formative, and summative assessments to determine what students know before, during, and after instruction. Each measurement is used to plan, modify, and adjust instruction to meet the needs of all learners. Although each form of assessment plays a critical role in ensuring all students succeed, educators

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 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

I found De-testing and de-grading schools: Authentic alternatives to accountability and standardization by Bower and Thomas, an interesting read and consistent with the critiques of high stakes testing and assessment we’ve read about and watched in this class. It is a collection of essays from educators and stakeholders in the field. The book is broken up into distinct sections, the first focused on testing and the second on grading. A historical context regarding failures of testing and grading is also provided to give context to the current problems with high stakes assessment and grading. The main message presented in this book is that high stakes testing and assessments (grading) are not working and alternatives should be considered. Specifically, the law of No Child Left Behind is critiqued through out, especially in the first few chapters.

After reading chapter 11 of our textbook, there were three important topics that stood out to me. The first topic that I thought was interesting was the purposes of assessments. According to Carjuzaa and Kellough, the purposes of assessments are for assisting student learning, identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, assess the effectiveness of a particular instruction strategy, assess and improve the effectiveness of curriculum programs, assess and improve teaching effectiveness, to provide data in order to communicate with parents and guardians and to involve them in their children’s learning, and to provide data that assist in decision making about a student’s future (Carjuzaa & Kellough, 2017, pg. 337-338). Assessing to identify strengths

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.

This article attempts to compile teachers' opinions and self-perceptions of various classroom assessment techniques. Research shows that formative assessments consistently show improvement in student learning and achievement, and that formative assessments are the most effective techniques in reducing the achievement gap between higher performing and lower performing students. This article describes how elementary and secondary teachers in Ontario, Canada perceive different assessment techniques, and how they incorporate formative assessments into their classroom (Volante & Beckett, 2011).

The assessment process is one that an educator often contemplates while planning a curriculum, implementing instruction, and after the assessment. Creating an assessment that helps students continue their learning should be the main goal. One way to help foster an assessment environment of continuous learning is to provide students with authentic assessments that they play an active role in. Performance assessments that give students authentic tasks to complete help teachers assess what students know and are thinking (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). It is important that students are able to demonstrate their learning in a way that suits them. In order to do this, assessments should be aligned with the standards and should be