Curriculum and Assessment Introduction
Assessment has always been a component of education (Marwick, 2007). Our national focus on educational assessment began when the article A Nation at Risk (1983) detailed the rising concerns of vulnerability in US education. The journal commentary focused particularly on the K-12 grades, also the troublesome issues dealing with higher education. National and State officials quickly agreed that assessment of student learning was the method that all levels of education must use to illustrate accountability (Marwick, 2007). This paper will cover traditional, reflective, self, peer and portfolio assessment methods.
Traditional Assessment practices
Faculty have always assessed student learning and assigned grades but often struggle to write objectives and assess student learning across all sections of a course or for all students from grade school through university level programs (Marwick, 2007). In the past, four-year college instructors have grappled with issues revolving assessment requirements, keeping students learning focused strictly in harmony with state assessment requirements. In recent history, community colleges have demonstrated a strong spirit of innovation and flexibility keeping standards that are still proportionate with local and state assessment procedures.
Often the most demanding area of assessment is with the general education goals. These should explain what the institution intends students to know and be able to do when they complete their degree program. Colleges must answer to challenging questions of how they know that students are truly learning what is intended.
Teachers often rely on students’ in-class discussions and pop quizzes along with personal observation...
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... new grade or class should dovetail from earlier classroom knowledge. As with all strategies, properly designed assessment plans must be regularly updated, evaluated and revised with quarterly planning sessions to make needed adjustments until the assessment results show that students are learning what is intended.
Works Cited
Carr, S. (2008). Student and Peer Evaluation: Feedback for All Learners. Counicil for Exceptioinal Children, 40(5), pp. 24-30.
Kennedy, C., Long, K., & Camins, A. (2008). The Reflective Assessment Technique: A New Way Of Evaluating In-Class Student Work. Methods and Strategies of Science and Children, 47(4) , 47 (4), pp. 50-53.
Mack, J. (2008). Continuous Progress Schools See the "Whole Child". Education, 129(2),
pp. 324-326.
Marwick, J. (2007). Assessment: The Key to Teaching and Learning. The AMATYC Reivew, 28(2), pp. 57-59.
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,
The 21st Century Educator is inundated with a plethora of assessments which dominate the education landscape from one side to the other. Whether one is assessing formatively or summatively, educators are evaluating on a weekly basis. In fact, in Citrus County, students take a reading comprehension test called Fast Bridge three times a year, which helps them see their potential college readiness skills and what improvements they need to work on. They also take a District created assessment twice a year, which consists of 9 grade level passages that they must take over a 2-month period time. This test focuses mainly on all of the standards that our students will be tested on in the Spring FSA. Not to mention, the formative assessments given on a
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.
Referred to as “assessment of learning,” (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5) components of summative learning include evaluating, measuring, and making judgements about student knowledge, both on individual levels and group levels. Rather than supporting learning by way of formative assessment, summative assessment verifies learning, (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., Arter, 2012). Naturally, this is what interests educational stakeholders: administrators, parents, teachers, and those who create educational policies. (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5). Summative assessment historically and presently presents itself in the form of graded quizzes, tests, graded papers and presentations, district benchmark tests, state standardized tests, and college entrance
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
Sufficient and current and - Meet internal and external assessment requirement Involve learners in assessment : peer and self-assessment represent an interesting way to involve students in the assessment process as students assess each
McMillan, J. (2010). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standards-based instruction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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.
Feedback is one form of assessment that teachers think will take long, however, if given orally to the students it allows them to correct what they are misunderstanding or doing wrong. Most teachers feel that feedback is meant to be written down but it is not necessary to do so. Oral feedback as well as written feedback can be very effective and beneficial for a student if done correctly. According to Leahy et al (2005), “To be effective, feedback needs to cause thinking. Grades don 't do that. Scores don 't do that. And comments like “Good job” don 't do that either. What does cause thinking is a comment that addresses what the student needs to do to improve…” (p. 22). I felt that this quote was very fitting to what I did in the classroom while walking around and checking up on the students. Instead of saying “good job” or “looks good,” I found myself watching bits and pieces of several
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
Perhaps the most prominent form of alternative assessment in use today is the student portfolio. A portfolio can be described as a “purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas of the curriculum.” Key elements of the portfolio include evidence of students’ choosing the contents of their own portfolio, specific criteria for the selection and assessment of student work, and clear evidence that the student has reflected on his or her work (Chriest & Maher, n.d.). Portfolios have been proven an effective means of student assessment in many areas of schooling, from preschool all the way through post-graduate work. Portfolio assessment has also been rendered effective in many business settings to determine the value of an employee.
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.