Assessment Belief Statements
Assessment does not generally seem to be a topic teachers are too thrilled to discuss. Teachers do not seem to crowd the teachers’ lounge in an excited frenzy each Monday morning to show off new assessments they have made and I am quite sure I have never heard a teacher excited to teach students how to prepare for the next upcoming standardized test. Truthfully, assessment may not be an incredibly exciting topic, but as a future teacher, it is a highly important topic for me to consider. As a teacher, I desire my students to learn and to grow, and I know assessment is necessary to understand students and help them learn from where they are at. My assessment beliefs and the research I have found will drive my use of assessment in the classroom as I seek to use the most effective assessment processes available.
I will incorporate all three main forms of assessment into my classroom.
I desire to use assessment not only to measure student learning after they have finished a unit or semester, but also to give me an idea of what students understand and how I can adjust my teaching to increase student learning. According to Perie, Marion, and Gong, each of the three types of assessment (summative, formative, and interim) is used for a specific reason (2009). In my classroom, I will use a combination of each of these types of assessment to most effectively assess my students. Much emphasis will be placed on formative assessment, and I will constantly be assessing basic student understanding of a topic while also giving students plenty of opportunities for self-assessment. By doing this, I will increase the ability of assessment to be used as a teaching tool.
I will use a wide variety of assessment methods.
I believe tests are not the only form of assessment, and often are not the best form of assessment. According to Wiggins, although they may be easier for teachers to administer than other forms of assessment, tests often come short of truly measuring student learning because they offer students only a select array of questions and one short timeframe in which to answer the questions. This is especially true of selected-response tests, which often completely miss even measuring the entire objective (Wiggins, 1993). Because of this, I will use many types of assessments in my classroom, and these assessments will be designed to specifically fit the learning target to be measured. In many cases, assessments may include acting out scenarios, creating models, or simply self-checks on understanding (formative assessment). Creativity is one of my greatest strengths, and I am excited to use this skill in creating meaningful assessments for my class.
I will use quality filters to create my assessments.
From personal experience taking and making tests, I have found that it is very easy to create assessments which do not actually measure the targeted learning concept or complicate the objective in some way. As a teacher, I will use quality filters to determine the quality of each assessment component. Although I realize I will not be able to constantly check each component of every assessment against a long list of filters, I will keep the six non-negotiable filters in mind when creating assessments. By doing this, I will make sure all questions measure the targeted learning goal and are easily understandable to students.
I will involve students in the assessment process.
I believe assessments are most effective when students truly understand how they are being assessed and why they are being assessed that way. According to Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, and Wiliam, many students fail simply because they do not understand what the teacher requires of them (2005). In my classroom, I will make sure students understand what is required of them by allowing them to have a part in creating assessments. For big projects especially, students will be given a chance to take a look at good and poor examples of work and develop criteria for what a good product should look like and what a poor product would look like. I will use these criteria in forming rubrics and creating assessments. In this way, students will be directly involved in creating the assessment, and will more clearly understand what they are to do. I will also involve students in the assessment process by providing clear, detailed feedback on assessments they complete. By receiving feedback rather than simply a score, students will better understand how their work compares to my standards and what they can work on to be more successful.
I will use information I gather from assessments to adjust my teaching.
The main idea behind the concept of formative assessment is that it gives the teacher information on what students do or do not understand. Effective teachers take information they have gathered from these assessments and use it to adjust their teaching (Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, & Wiliam, 2005). In my own classroom, all of my formative assessments will have a purpose. I will look at the results of formative assessments to gauge what students have learned and what they need work on. When many students struggle with the same concept, I will take this as a cue that my teaching needs to be adjusted, and will design a way to reteach the concept in a more understandable way. In this way, both student learning and my personal teaching will continue to improve.
I will incorporate all three main forms of assessment into my classroom.
I desire to use assessment not only to measure student learning after they have finished a unit or semester, but also to give me an idea of what students understand and how I can adjust my teaching to increase student learning. According to Perie, Marion, and Gong, each of the three types of assessment (summative, formative, and interim) is used for a specific reason (2009). In my classroom, I will use a combination of each of these types of assessment to most effectively assess my students. Much emphasis will be placed on formative assessment, and I will constantly be assessing basic student understanding of a topic while also giving students plenty of opportunities for self-assessment. By doing this, I will increase the ability of assessment to be used as a teaching tool.
I will use a wide variety of assessment methods.
I believe tests are not the only form of assessment, and often are not the best form of assessment. According to Wiggins, although they may be easier for teachers to administer than other forms of assessment, tests often come short of truly measuring student learning because they offer students only a select array of questions and one short timeframe in which to answer the questions. This is especially true of selected-response tests, which often completely miss even measuring the entire objective (Wiggins, 1993). Because of this, I will use many types of assessments in my classroom, and these assessments will be designed to specifically fit the learning target to be measured. In many cases, assessments may include acting out scenarios, creating models, or simply self-checks on understanding (formative assessment). Creativity is one of my greatest strengths, and I am excited to use this skill in creating meaningful assessments for my class.
I will use quality filters to create my assessments.
From personal experience taking and making tests, I have found that it is very easy to create assessments which do not actually measure the targeted learning concept or complicate the objective in some way. As a teacher, I will use quality filters to determine the quality of each assessment component. Although I realize I will not be able to constantly check each component of every assessment against a long list of filters, I will keep the six non-negotiable filters in mind when creating assessments. By doing this, I will make sure all questions measure the targeted learning goal and are easily understandable to students.
I will involve students in the assessment process.
I believe assessments are most effective when students truly understand how they are being assessed and why they are being assessed that way. According to Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, and Wiliam, many students fail simply because they do not understand what the teacher requires of them (2005). In my classroom, I will make sure students understand what is required of them by allowing them to have a part in creating assessments. For big projects especially, students will be given a chance to take a look at good and poor examples of work and develop criteria for what a good product should look like and what a poor product would look like. I will use these criteria in forming rubrics and creating assessments. In this way, students will be directly involved in creating the assessment, and will more clearly understand what they are to do. I will also involve students in the assessment process by providing clear, detailed feedback on assessments they complete. By receiving feedback rather than simply a score, students will better understand how their work compares to my standards and what they can work on to be more successful.
I will use information I gather from assessments to adjust my teaching.
The main idea behind the concept of formative assessment is that it gives the teacher information on what students do or do not understand. Effective teachers take information they have gathered from these assessments and use it to adjust their teaching (Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, & Wiliam, 2005). In my own classroom, all of my formative assessments will have a purpose. I will look at the results of formative assessments to gauge what students have learned and what they need work on. When many students struggle with the same concept, I will take this as a cue that my teaching needs to be adjusted, and will design a way to reteach the concept in a more understandable way. In this way, both student learning and my personal teaching will continue to improve.