I hope you liked the video! In case you didn't catch on, today the topic is based on tests – Are they the only objective assessments for student learning?
An
article by Linda Suskie states, “What is a ‘good’
assessment? More than anything else, it is an assessment that gives us truthful
information; it tells us what our students have truly learned. Students who have truly learned what
we want them to will do well on a “good” assessment; students who truly have not learned
what we want them to will not do well on it” (2003).
I love Suskie’s words, and think that it marks several key aspects
to assessment worth discussing. Often when individuals hear the word
assessment, they start getting sweaty palms and their heart starts racing as
they think of the word most often associated with assessments – TEST. However,
that’s not the only type of assessment that teachers can incorporate into their
classrooms, and other assessments don’t tend to create the same psychological
issues that the word “test” does.
Take my math classes for instance. The moment I tell my kids that
we have a test or quiz, the first thing out of their mouths is, “ah man! Not again!”
Then I get to hear moaning, groaning, and complaining until the test or quiz is
completed, and the only happy thought they have is that they don’t have
homework that night. Is this how I would like reactions in my class to tests
and quizzes? Definitely not. But math doesn’t always bring the happiest side
out of kids, so I’ve kind of just gotten used to it. The people I work with
like tests and quizzes the best to see how much our students are taking in from
our classes, but I wish there was another way…
I find that my tests don’t always get the highest scores because
of the wording of the questions. That in and of itself doesn’t ensure that a
test score is objectionable. I also just had parent teacher conferences, where
I talked to several mothers who explained to me the difficulty that their
children have with test anxiety. Even when they know as much as they can know
about the subject, they still find themselves failing tests simply because of
how anxious they get thinking about the importance of that test on their grade.
I feel so bad for these students, because then I get to correct their test and
see just how hurtful their test anxiety is for their grade. It’s awful!
But back
to Suskie’s quote… Her definition of an assessment didn’t say a word about a
test! It says an assessment “gives us truthful information … [about] what our
students have truly learned.” There
are so many forms of assessment that teachers can incorporate into their
teaching without even noticing too much of a change… But the change is that
they will better understand where each individual is at, making a huge
difference in how a teacher teaches, interacts with, and personalizes with
every student.
There are many types of assessments. The chart above lists several formative, interim, and summative assessment ideas. In my opinion, no two teachers are the same, so each of us needs to figure out what types of assessments work best for us and our classroom subjects and styles.
My
favorite form of assessment in my class right now is when I make students come
up to the board or answer a question. I’m not mean about it (at least not too
mean…), because I generally have the kids work with their partners before I
tell them to go show me what they did. However, even this objectionable assessment
gets nerves riding high. I like that it gets the students to pay more attention
(because at least on tests, no one else knows what you got… But if you do
something wrong in front of everyone, then EVERYONE knows), but I don’t like
how freaked out they get. Just last week I had a student tell me how much he
hated my iPod, and how terribly afraid he was to come to my class, just because
of the fear that the iPod would choose him that day. I know he was mostly
joking, but I also know that there is always quite a bit of truth to any
sarcastic comment.
Presentations are one of my favorite forms of assessment that show
exactly how much a student actually knows. If a kid is presenting their science
fair project to an audience, but mommy and daddy did the whole thing for them,
they aren’t going to have a clue what to say. Even kids that have a hard time
speaking in front of other people can at least sputter out enough logical
reasoning that the teacher knows if they really
understand what they’re presenting or not. I had my students give presentations
on historical math figures last year, and I’d love to incorporate it again this
year, if time will permit. I thought it was not only a great way for me to see
how well their research was done, and how much they really understood about the
importance of their individual, but they students enjoyed listening to their
peers present, and especially all of the food involved with activities and
games that the presenters put together.
I know I haven’t gone into too much detail on various types of
assessment, but the main point is that teachers (and students) realize that
there are more than one way to assess students’ progression. Other forms of
assessment include, but are not limited to, interviews, group and individual projects,
portfolios, lab reports, spreadsheets, poems, essays, journals, research
papers, rubrics, observational data, demonstration and exhibitions, self and
peer evaluation, short answer, and bell quizzes. Although I’m unable to
incorporate all of these types of assessments within my math curriculum, I would like to improve the amount of
variation that I assess my students so that I know who needs more help, and can
adjust appropriately.
Suskie, L. (2003, Sept.). What
is "good" assessment?
Retrieved from http://faculty.ccp.edu/dept/viewpoints/f03v4n1/suskie.html
