Let's cut right to it. The purpose of assessment is to improve student learning through feedback. Frequent assessment is best, although too frequently can be unnecessary. Accurate assessment can be completed after a sufficient amount of evidence has been provided from which to draw reasonable conclusions from.
Assessment can proceed in different ways. Teachers can assess student learning by way of conversations, products and observation. This triangulation of evidence can be used to provide a holistic assessment of student learning on the report card. Reporting student achievement should reflect the evidence gathered from these variety of assessment methods. It is important to provide multiple opportunities for students to reflect their learning so that results being reported accurately reflect student learning and achievement.
Assessment through conversation
There are three purposes of assessment: 'for learning', 'as learning' and 'of learning'. Assessment for learning uses this practice as a diagnostic in order to determine students' prior knowledge. From there, the teacher can proceed with instruction from the appropriate starting point according to the student level of readiness. The second purpose of assessment, as learning, is done by students themselves either by completing peer reviews or reflecting on their own work. It offers students the opportunity to reflect on their own learning. The third purpose of assessment is of learning. This summative assessment type assesses the products of student learning. One method of assessing student products is using a rubric. The rubric is an achievement chart based on the performance standards of the Ontario curriculum that clearly identifies the learning goals and success criteria. Teachers will use their professional judgment to indicate at what level students are achieving the learning goals.
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| Nickelcachers. (2009). Rubric1 [Online Image]. Retrieved from: Flickr.com |
Providing feedback is another important aspect of assessing that is based on professional judgement. When providing feedback, assessors should keep in mind the goal of assessment (to improve student learning). . Specific feedback allows students to acknowledge areas where they need to improve and set future goals for improvement. Feedback should be framed emphasizing the positive. Negatively framing feedback can be de-motivating - just the opposite of what we want to do with feedback for our students. One way to structure feedback can be as 1. areas of strength, 2. opportunities for improvement and 3. recommendations for future success.
Ineffective Feedback
Stay assessable, mathletes.
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ReplyDeleteI LOVE your post this week. I'm still giggling over here. Especially, I like how you broke down the three types of assessment, and the fact that you nailed the idea of 'triangulation of evidence' in terms of assessment. I never really thought about in these terms before, but it makes complete sense. In effect, we are trying to get the best and most accurate evidence from our students to help us understand if they are learning information. As such, we need to make sure these assessments remain fair, reliable, and accurate, not unlike when we conduct experiments. Awesome post this week!
ReplyDeleteReally great job breaking down the different forms of assessment and how you will use it in the classroom. I too, found the lesson on assessment to be useful and interesting, especially when Pat stated that there are different ways of assessing students in math. The old style of math was not only boring and rigid but now I am realizing so too was the way of assessing students’ work. I love the idea of peer feedback in math, as I think it is a useful tool for students.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!