Chapter One- Assessment of Learning

 

Essential Questions

Response

1. What are the philosophical beliefs underlying the 4 principles of assessment mentioned in your text? 2. How do these principles relate to student achievement? 3. How does assessment data help students to achieve? 4. Who would benefit from using assessment data? 5. How do we make assessment meaningful so students will want to become involved? Think about Emily. 6. If a student becomes involved in managing their performance, what effects will it have? 7. Read the following classroom assessment scenarios. Is each likely to increase or decrease student confidence and motivation to learn? Why? 8. Why is it important to identify learning or achievement targets prior to assessing students?

1. The four philosophical beliefs that underlie assessment are classroom assessment can both promote and verify student learning, clear and appropriate achievement targets are essential, accurate classroom assessment is essential, and sound assessments communicate results effectively. 2. These principles are directly related to student achievement. The assessment allows the teacher to see if the student comprehends the information, he/she is being taught. Without assessment, teachers would not have a clue where student's level of achievement was. 3. The assessment data helps students to achieve by targeting the area of most need. The teachers can use the data collected by the assessment to work with the students where they are struggling. 4. Both the teacher and the student would benefit from the data collected from assessment. The student would benefit because it would target his/her weakness. For the teacher, it would compact the teaching material into what is essential for the child to understand. 5. The assessment has to be applicable to the student. If the student can relate to the topic and tie, it into the assessment the student will be more interested. The teacher also has to be flexible with the student. When the student sees the teacher working with him/her then he will be more receptive to learning. 6. When the student becomes involved in managing his/her performance he/she will: take the test and receive the grade, be invited to offer the teacher comments on how to improve the test, suggest possible assessment exercises, actually develop assessment exercises, assist the teacher in devising scoring criteria, create the scoring criteria on their own, apply scoring criteria to the evaluation of their own performance, come to understand how assessment and evaluation affect their own academic success, and come to see how their own self-assessment relates to the teacher's assessment and to their own academic success. 7. With the following scenarios, it is more likely to decrease student confidence to learn. All of the following events are degrading to the students. It either embarrasses the students in front of his/her peers, in front of people the student trusts, and through the students work. As students learn, they need to hear positives rather than negatives. 8. It is important to identify learning targets for achievement prior to assessing the student, in order that the student understands what his/ her goals are before entering into the assessment. The learning targets are a good way of setting goals and finding ways to meet those goals.