AssessmentAssessments and how to best use assessments is a huge topic in the world of education. Our students are expected to pass "one size meets all" assessments while teachers are expected to differentiate instruction to best meet the needs of our students. Our students come from various backgrounds, cultures, have diverse needs, and learn at various rates. This program has helped me to reflect on how to best use assessments in my classroom to best meet the needs of my students and how to help students become more accountable for their learning.
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Assessments to Guide Learning vs. High-Stakes Testing Standardized tests have become an all too familiar site in classrooms around the United States. Students are tested many times throughout the year to decipher if they are meeting goals. The data taken from these tests are supposed to show where students are struggling. These “one size fits all” standardized tests are created for all students. As teachers, we know data from standardized tests does not show what our students know; “Years of experience have clearly documented that when one type of assessment is used to serve multiple purposes and audiences, it serves none very well” (Samuels, p.381).
I wanted to discuss testing and standardized testing, because it is important to remember that these test scores are not correlated to achievement. They are found in almost every classroom, but formative assessments, anecdotal notes, monitoring your students daily, and knowing students’ backgrounds and needs is a much more effective measure of student success. Literacy instruction and student learning are not effectively measured by standardized tests and educators must remember to keep that in mind. I did not get into this profession for my teaching or my students to be measured by standardized tests; I became a teacher to create a passion for knowledge and learning. As educators, we must have a passion for teaching and continue to be advocates for our students, to teach for student success, not to pass a “one size fits all test.” Samuels, S., & Farstrup, A. (2011). What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.). Newark, DE: IRA. |
Student Needs
Assessments should be used to guide student learning; what have our students learned, what do they still need help with? There are many types of assessments available for educators to use to better understand the needs of students. Teachers can use formal assessments, such as mClass results, to guide instruction or meaningful, informal assessments given during class-time to evaluate student learning.
Examples of assessments I have used or created during this graduate program are found below.
Examples of assessments I have used or created during this graduate program are found below.
This is a Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan from ECI 508: Teachers as Leaders. I worked with the first grade team at my school to decide what our students needs were and how to use our assessments to plan instruction. We decided to assess our students' knowledge of high frequency words using Fry's High Frequency Word List to then differentiate our instruction to better meet their needs.
The button above is a link to the Project Based Inquiry Unit (click on the link for more information about the PBI framework) I created for my first grade students to complete when learning about the Environment. Project Based Inquiry aims to engage students in learning by focusing on authentic, extended projects or work that go beyond the normal expectations we have of our students while keeping students motivated to learn. This PBI unit includes standards of learning, lesson plans, assessments, and materials to use with students.
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