Hard to believe this is my 9th blog and that I am halfway done with Education 250! Dr.Clark told us that things will slow down from here and we will have more time to perfect assignments such as our philosophy of Education and wok on lesson plans and make them as detailed as possible. Today in class, we had a walking classroom that was focused on assessment. In groups and individually, we will be diving into how assessments work, the best ways to approach them, and laws about governing them. In the state of North Carolina, there are many standards and guidelines concerning assessment. On the DPI website it says,
"The mission of the Test Development Section is to oversee the design, development, and implementation of a high-quality technically-sound student assessment system that assists stakeholders in making informed educational decisions." All of the North Carolina Core Standards for Teachers stress that the student as well as the teacher must be at a full understanding of the content area. Assessment can come in many forms and should be reviewed and reflected on by the teacher and then the children should be able to give feedback. I have learned through studying this topic that "tests" are not the only type of assessment. There are three types of assessment: diagnostic, formative, and summative. implementing a new activity in class, you can, through observation and/or surveying the students, determine whether or not the activity should be used again (or modified).
"The mission of the Test Development Section is to oversee the design, development, and implementation of a high-quality technically-sound student assessment system that assists stakeholders in making informed educational decisions." All of the North Carolina Core Standards for Teachers stress that the student as well as the teacher must be at a full understanding of the content area. Assessment can come in many forms and should be reviewed and reflected on by the teacher and then the children should be able to give feedback. I have learned through studying this topic that "tests" are not the only type of assessment. There are three types of assessment: diagnostic, formative, and summative. implementing a new activity in class, you can, through observation and/or surveying the students, determine whether or not the activity should be used again (or modified).
A study from the University of Illinois says that assessment is the process of gathering data. It said that assessment is a way that instructors gather information about their instruction. This article helped me put a real life model about assessment into play in my mind and it helped me understand a lot better!
http://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/assessment/formative%20and_summative_assessment.pdf
I did not realize that assessment involved so much more than testing before our education 250 class began to talk about this tool. With the new information I have learned about assessment, I realized that testing should only be used for assessment when the teacher is very confident in the students' ability to preform well and move on. Once a grade is given to a student, all learning stops. Therefore, testing should not be used when a teacher plans to continue growth in the same topic area.
ReplyDeleteCarol!!
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your saying that a test is not the only way to assess the class. I think this is really important to remember as we continue our journey to becoming an elementary school teacher, because the learning stops when a grade is written on the test. I also really like your research connected to our learning!
Hey Carol,
ReplyDeleteI think in the last weeks we have all learned a lot about assessment and that there is more to it than just testing. I look forward to putting this in to play in our 6-point lesson plan.
Carol,
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am proud of the progress you have already made in developing your own understanding of assessment. This is great! Remember to make an intentional connection to the NCTCS in all of your blogs.