Assessment
Introduction
Assessments are the foundation of academic growth of scholars. Using assessments can track a student's growth in many contents such as phonics, reading levels, diagnostic data, reading and writing. Assessment is an ongoing process that arises out of the interaction between teaching and learning. What makes assessment for learning effective is how well the information is used. The information should be used to inform the student, family members and staff. This information is vital for the student to know because the student can become invested in their own scores and should be encouraged to improve them. Presenting this information to the family can motivate the family to create a goal along with the student to attain the goal. Assessment data is important to share with the school because goals can be created for the classroom. In addition, sharing assessment data can assist with providing students with accommodations due to a potential learning disability.
Assessment in my classroom is daily in some form or not. I try to use some form of assessment in my classroom everyday or weekly. I assess my students in many areas such as reading, writing, phonics, and yearly using diagnostic data. I use this data to re-teach a skill, put emphasis on a skill in a small group, differentiate and I use data as evidence when referring a student to the student study team to assist my student with academic services. In addition, assessments give me the information to re-assess because rushing a skill can be a common mistake which can produce low data.
Please click each image below to see how I use multiple methods of assessment in my classroom.
In TASC Standard 6: The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
Conclusion
Using assessments are essential to teaching and fostering academic growth in our students. What and how students learn depends on a major extent on how they think they will be assessed. Assessment practices must send the right signals to students about what to study, how to study, and the relative time to spend on concepts and skills in a course. Accomplished faculty communicate clearly what students need to know and be able to do, both through a clearly articulated syllabus, and by choosing assessments carefully in order to direct student energies. High expectations for learning result in students who exceed expectations.