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Range and purpose of different forms of assessment
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Reflection on Alternative Assessments
Traditional and alternative assessments share some key elements, yet differ as well. All assessments, whether given as a test after a unit or alternative, should be measurable and be reliable and valid by having clear criteria to measure the learning targets. Traditional and alternative assessments generally differ in timing, feedback, student's involvement, and how the teacher uses the information.
The time in which traditional assessments such as after the unit tests are designed to provide feedback is at the end of a unit only. There is also generally a time limit to complete this type of assessment as well. These are not true of alternative assessments. A KWL or pre-test can provide feedback before a lesson or unit. Nearly all alternative assessments can also provide ongoing feedback during the lesson or unit as well as after it is completed. Also, many alternative assessments do not have a time constraint to demonstrate understanding of content.
The feedback given from a traditional assessment is a letter or percentage grade, which does not tell the content that the student knows, only a measure of quantity of knowledge from a scale of nothing to everything. This feedback is used to tell the teacher and/or school whether or not to promote the student and how they fall in comparison to the other students. With alternative assessments the feedback can be used by all parties (teacher, student, parent, and sch...
The district is now making all teachers use an assessment tool called iReady. It is a website that assesses students in math and reading. They are first tested on a kindergarten through fifth grade range to find out what they know. Then the program takes that score and determines the right level for the child and they are tested again on the level. Once all students have been assessed the program orders the students from highest to lowest and by average grade level skill they are on: early second grade, middle second grade, late second grade or any other grade. The teacher uses those scores to create her reading groups, math groups and the students she will give extra assistance to. They haven’t officially established how many times and when they will do this iReady assessment but for now they are doing it once a week for forty five minutes. The test also flags if they spent too long or too little time on a question. The ones that spent less than 15 seconds per problem are to go back and do the assessment again.
In conclusion I feel that using effective assessment methods throughout any course allows tutors to give feedback at the right time to allow the correct progress for the learners to achieve. I have experienced feedback many times as coach and more recently as a teacher and feel it has only helped me to improve and to keep wanting to improve so I can inspire others to achieve.
The main argument put forth in this article is that Nolen believes that “we need to better understand the connections between teachers’ assessment practices and students’ motivation and engagement in terms of the social systems in which they exist.” (Nolen, 320). She goes on to discuss the significance of formative assessments providing feedback and how this feedback can be used to measure the gap between current and desired performance. This article took into account the “balance of multiple purposes for assessing and providing feedback”. (Nolen, 321). Nolen goes on to state how teachers provide useful information to students in regards to self-assessment but are often just as concerned with student’s emotional issues such as motivation to learn. This article illustrated the connection and significance of student motivation and feedback in regards to formative assessments. It was also helpful to read that even when the feedback on formative assessments is clear, the assessment may still not produce the desired effect on student engagement and learning. This is the central focus question I have and will find out regarding using formative assessments with my students. This article reaffirmed the validity of my action research topic and gave me a realistic outlook on
Feedback gives students a better idea of what concepts they need to work on in class. There are many ways to integrate formative assessment and feedback into the classroom. Ms. Ladsten is the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Big Foot High School. She has included a variety of formative assessments throughout each of her classes. Ms. Ladsten started keeping a clipboard nearby during her classes to take notes on what students needed to improve on and questions to ask students.
In conclusion, though assessment is repeatedly debated if the discussions are conducted in a positive and productive manner the deliberations ought to be continued to benefit all students in the learning process. Additionally, alternative assessments may vary by individual state requirements each method needs to be considered by teachers in assisting all students based on their individual learning style in achieving academic excellence.
“What used to be a thoughtful, creative profession has become more like working in a factory”. That is an eye opening statement for me. Nothing will change my love and passion for wanting to work with children for as long as I live, however I wish that teaching could be “like it use to” as people say. It use to be the child 's fault if they had bad grades and now it is the teachers fault. All blowback hits the teacher. However, all standardized tests are essentially the same, but not all students are the same. So much weight is put into these tests it is completely unfair for the students and teachers. The article from salon.com mentions documentary called “Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture”, that is something
2). As with informal assessment, I feel that this is more flexible and can depend on students’ response to activity, lesson, or content. This can be a faster way for the teacher to see results of the students work. Some students prefer a more planned out way of testing them where the questions are written, and they have an idea of how the assessment is planned out and taking place. Other students like anything but written, long exams and would prefer to be evaluated in other ways. I feel that in my future classroom I will vary my type of instruction and allow for all the different types of unique learners to be assessed in a variety of different ways.
There are different methods and uses of assessment that are used in the Education system, the reason for this, is that not all assessments serve the same purpose for its methodologies, the feedback that learners receive needs to correspond with the purpose of the assessment. (Sieborger, 1998)Thus educators tend to make use of multiple assessments to establish a fair and just measurement of the learner’s capability. This essay will extensively describe and analyse the tensions between the two methods of assessment: Summative assessment and Formative assessment and further reflect on their ability to integrate.
Even though this is the first time of me going through this type of learning and thinking assessment, I do agree with all the three results. Each of them seems to depict my way of learning and thinking.
Assessments are according to Edglossary.org (2014), “the wide variety of methods that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning process, and skill acquisition of students”. Assessments can be used to identify several important aspects of learning and development. First, they can be used to distinguish a child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as measure specific knowledge and skills. Assessments can also be used to demonstrate what a child has learned and what they understand (“Assessment,” 2014). My opinion of assessment has not changed; however, now I understand how to use assessments that will help ensure that I am providing the most benefits for my students.
Curriculum and instruction is impacted by assessment, and whether in the design, delivery or data interpretation processes, aligning these apparatuses is most challenging part of being a teacher. Teachers are called to exercise an alignment between assessment and curriculum, use assessment to guide instruction, and deliver assessment that truly evaluates achievement. Two forms of assessment used in the classroom, formative and summative possess important components, that track them into purposeful, designated uses. Even more so challenging as a teacher in using these two assessments is understanding how they work separately, together, and exploring how they might be used with and for each other.
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
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
I use assessments to assist me to identify and to develop their learning process. Assessment is not about the final grade, but the learning experience. I would rather have my students know how to look up information and apply knowledge than to memorize it and forget it ten minutes after the test. Learning is a life-long adventure and I want my students to know how to adjust and cope during their adventure. I want my students to have the skills for researching and finding the answer. It is not always that answer which demonstrates learning; it is in the process in which you find the answer that demonstrates learning.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.