EDAT 6115 Reflection Blog #8, Chapter 13
Assessing Student Learning
Description
Assessing student learning is a key feature of being an intentional and successful teacher. In order to know if the students are learning the required material, standards must be followed, objectives written, and formative and summative assessments performed.
Analysis
Before an assessment can be made, instruction needs to be planned. The state has standards for the content area to be taught. Teachers need to take the time to make a master plan of instruction - a general plan for the year to pace out the standards to be taught. The standards then need to be formed into instructional objectives which is a statement of the specific skills and concepts that the students should learn by the end of a period of instruction. Backward planning is a way to write broad course objectives, unit objectives, and then specific behavioral objectives.
Objectives should be formed using the process of task analysis. This includes identifying prerequisite skills, component skills, and how they will assemble into the final skill.
Once written and broadly planned, the objectives should be used to prepare test questions for the summative assessment. The teaching objectives can then be used to form the specific learning objectives in the form of test questions. When writing test questions, it is important to refer to Bloom’s taxonomy in order to measure different levels of skills and understanding. One way to do this is to create a behavior content matrix.
Evaluations, both formative and summative are important because they supply feedback for students, teachers, and parents. They can be used to gather information for selection, certification and accountability. They can also be used as incentives to increase student effort.
Evaluations used as feedback are usually in the form of formative assessments. Classroom quizzes, short writing assignments, asking questions and observing students are all ways for teachers to measure the effectiveness of their instruction. When teachers give students timely feedback, this also helps the students to know the results of their effort and feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.
Summative evaluations in the forms of tests and report cards provide information on student progress. When shared with parents, they can be informed of their child’s schoolwork and use that information to further incentivize and support their student at home.
When creating an evaluation, specifically a test, there are many factors to keep in mind. What is the purpose or goal of the evaluation? Is it to provide an incentive and feedback? Is it to compare the student with others? How will the test be constructed? The learning objectives should be aligned with the instructional objectives and measure a representative sample of the learning tasks. They should be interpreted with caution and improve learning. Using a table of specifications to align test items, objectives, and the different levels of understanding can help make a well designed evaluation. There are many different types test items that can be used on an evaluation. The teacher needs to carefully construct each one, not only to meet the objectives, but also to make sure that they are fair to all students of different backgrounds, clearly written, and not biased.
In addition to tests, other types of assessments should be considered, such as portfolios and performance assessments. A well-written rubric is essential in grading these types of assessments with less subjectivity.
Finally, the end of term grades. These are usually derived from several types of common assessments. Consideration should be given to the ideas of re-taking tests policies, and how to treat missing assignments, because zeros can be so detrimental. The students’ grades should never be a surprise to them or their parents. Communication about how grades are computed and feedback throughout the term is essential. Grades are private. Many grades are computed with software, but it is imperative to “avoid letting the program make decisions that you should make yourself.” (Slavin, 2018, p 379).
Reflection
As a high school social studies teacher, I use discussion, debate, computer games/learning sites, writing, quizzes as formative assessments. Tests are used as the primary means of summative assessments.
Discussion is used every single day. My class operates as a constant conversation. I don't like to lecture to a semi-comatose room of students. Instead, as I teach I actively ask questions, ask for examples, ask for opinions, and answer their questions too. This conversation helps me gauge the students' attentiveness, understanding, and helps me pace the information - whether to speed up or slow down and explain it again.
At the end of unit sub-sections, I will often review the material using a computer quiz program such as Kahoot!, Plickers, Quizlet, or GimKit. These formative assessments help the students gauge how well they are understanding the material and remembering the information. If the students are struggling with the quiz games, then I know that more review is necessary over specific concepts. If they fly through the games - then both the students and I know that they are ready for the summative assessment.
Finally, the summative assessments primarily consist of tests. Most of the questions on the test are multiple choice. These questions have been co-written with my content area team members. We check to make sure that the questions and answer choices are written clearly and in such a way that there is only one correct answer but the distractors seem plausible. I use printed "scantron" forms from ZipGrade. When the students complete their tests, I will immediately scan their test with my form and give them their grade. If the student fails the test, they can talk to me after class. I will meet with them for tutoring and remediation and they will have the opportunity to re-take the test. The students are told that they may only have 2 re-takes per semester in order to make sure that they study for the initial test, but provide for the occasion that they were unable to prepare or do their best.
Grading is done through a program called Infinite Campus. Parents and students can receive notifications and check their child's grades on an app. This is a great way for them to keep an eye on their grades throughout the semester and for parents to provide incentives for their child's grades.
I really appreciate Slavin stating, "avoid letting the program make decisions that you should make for yourself." (Slavin, 2018, p 379) I don't input the students' grades and walk away. I watch their progress, notice when they fall behind or have a bad day on a test. Parents are contacted and conversations about turning in assignments, studying for test, and failing grades are had before the student gets too far behind. At the end of the semester, I consider each grade, sometimes adjust it, before the report cards go home.
References
Slavin, R.E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education
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