Assessment Philosophies Fall 2006

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Philosophy of Assessment

Educational assessment is an important task that teachers must think carefully about. The point of assessment is to find out what students have learned. John Dewey referred to assessment as being a process that develops, “habits of mind.” These habits include the processes of assessing, comparing, analyzing, sorting, organizing, exploring, and experimenting. Therefore, it is important that students not just learn information, but rather that they integrate this knowledge with their worldview.

Experience based assessment is an excellent way in which to assess students. By actively performing in the task at hand, students are better able to show teachers what they have learned. In keeping with Dewey’s philosophy of experience learning, I would provide students a varied assessment including, multiple choice, short answer, performance assessment, and oral assessments. This formula can be used as both a summative and formative assessment in my secondary social studies classroom. Accommodation for students learning styles is part of what it means to provide an equitable education.

I believe assessment must be a tool to help students. In following with this belief, all assessments should be aligned with both curricular and state standards in that subject area. If we, as teachers, want students to show their mastery of knowledge on state exams, then our assessments must match those directives. I am not proposing that you merely teach to the test, rather you should have curricular goals in mind when creating assessments. By giving students a multi-method assessment that is aligned to the standards of the content, students are more likely to benefit from your assessments.

During class, I would assess students by observations and recitations. By observing the class, it becomes clear who is paying attention and who is not. By questioning students about content, you may also see how they are coming along in a lesson.

Assessment is not merely a tool used for grade distribution; rather it is a way to flex students’ intellect toward higher-level learning. If an assessment taps into students higher-cognition, students begin to understand the concept of education itself. Learning never ends. As Plato rebukes Euthyphro in The Republic, he is making the point that you should never take any one answer for granted. There is always room for debate. Therefore, I believe that educational assessments should certainly test the content, but just as importantly teach the skills to gain an accurate portrayal of that content. By balancing these two concepts, content and skills, an authentic education may take place.

Last, but not least, it is important for teachers to reflect upon their own progress. By analyzing tests, performance assessments, and any other students’ assessment material, a teacher may see where they need to improve their teaching. This might be the most important lesson learned in assessment. If all of my students missed something important, I missed the boat as well. A good teacher is one who is always improving.

Philosophy of Assessment

If knowledge is all that needs to be evaluated, then the teacher is willing to use paper and pencil tests and selected response items. But if the teacher wants to look at skill and higher order thinking processes, then they put together either an assessment of constructed response items or a performance assessment. They know what they’re looking for and how to get it. They know that assessment tells them just as much about how they’re doing teaching the students as how much the students are learning. They also know to use generalized test-taking preparation and varied-format preparation when preparing their students for standardized tests because they’re the only ethical means of doing it. The teacher also uses pre-instruction and post-instruction assessments to see how effective their instruction really is for the students.

This teacher wants what’s best for their students always. They keep up to date with research and are constantly reflecting and changing their praxis as they find new theories, ideas, and strategies to better educate their students and improve their instruction. The teacher knows that assessment is about improving their instruction and seeing how the student is progressing and how much of the content domain they know. The teacher knows assessment will not tell them how smart the student is or if they’re a good or bad teacher.

The teacher is always moving throughout the classroom, always seeing which students are flying through the material, those that have to work a little harder, and those who are totally lost. They know how much progress the students are making and are always there to offer extra help if it’s needed.

If this teacher was going to execute a performance assessment task, here’s how I see it happening. I see a 7^th grade Spanish classroom. The desks are arranged in miniature circles, so no one is excluded. The students are excited, interested, and engaged in the class. They’re creating lyrics in Spanish to their favorite songs to help them memorize the various parts of the body in Spanish. It’s the performance assessment task that’s going to end the unit. They have access to a CD player, an mp3 player, dozens of CD’s in Spanish and English, and they can also bring in their own. If they want to create an entirely original song of their own, they can do that also. There are musical instruments available for them to use to do this. The teacher wants to be able to test knowledge, synthesis, and higher-order thinking skills with this task, but at the same time, the students are having fun with it. They’re able to do the task in a group so they can rely on each other’s knowledge of vocabulary or music if one falls. This way, they don’t have to be nervous about their unit project, but they’re still completing the task and showing how much of the content domain they know. The teacher is standing back, simply observing, but as soon as the students ask for help, the teacher comes forward to assist them in whatever they need.

This particular task was planned out last quarter, before the teacher ever started the unit, when they saw the idea on a website where a teacher was talking about how wonderfully it had worked for their class. This teacher looks for new ideas for performance tasks and assessment all the time, knowing how quickly new ideas are created, knowing they can help the students in their classroom. The teacher makes sure to include lessons that cater to the multiple intelligences and different learning styles to help the students learn and stay engaged.

The students have access to videotapes, DVD’s, computers, and software to help them learn the language at their own speed. They have access to the Internet and often communicate with students from a Spanish-speaking country by e-mail. This helps them put using the language into a real world context.

Philosophy of Assessment

December 7, 2006

There are many factors that go into good assessment. As teachers we also need to keep many things in mind. I feel all of this is necessary for assessment to be beneficial for the students and the teacher.

Teachers need to keep in mind that they are responsible for expressing the standards and giving the criteria that they are looking for in a successful performance. Also assessment must be carefully observed and judged on the standards and criteria that are expressed. There is also the issue of accountability. The teachers are held responsible for how well their students do on certain assessments. So the teacher needs to be able to back up the scores and show exactly why a student received the score that they did.

The factors that need to be present for effective assessment include standards that represent generic abilities and not specific tasks. Assessment must also examine the process, not just the finished product. In order for the assessment to be very beneficial for the students there should be feedback on what was good and bad. This way the students will know exactly what their strengths and weaknesses are. Assessment should be both formative and summative.

Because learning is a developmental process, assessment should be cumulative and able to expand upon. The teacher can learn from the assessment also. The scores can be interpreted to show where the teacher may need to go back over some information that was previously covered.

Philosophy of Assessment

“Through the Looking Glass”

In a perfect education world a principal could peer into any teacher’s classroom and observe the following activities:

As the principal looks in to the science classroom, the first thing she notices is the unique arrangement of the classroom. Most of the desks are clustered into groups of four and contain students actively working on an assignment. Some desks are in isolated locations with partitions to block out the extra stimuli. These desks “house” students that need minimal distractions and appreciate having a quiet place to work. Along the back counter are centers with enrichment activities for students to complete after school or if they finish classroom assignments early.

In a corner sits the classroom set of laptops. These laptops were a result of a technology grant from Dell computers. This grant allowed the typically low-funded school to purchase a set of ten laptops for each classroom in the school. On several occasions the principal has observed Miss Tuck using the laptops for enrichment activities, parent communication, online formative assessments and as an incentive for students.

For this particular instructional unit, the students appear to be working on a portfolio. This portfolio includes many different assessments, one of which is a journal. This journal contains daily journal entries in which students address what they have learned, what they are still confused about, questions for the teacher, etc. At the end of the unit the students must go back through the unit’s entries and write a wrap-up that includes the major concepts from the unit, unanswered questions and their current attitudes towards science class. In addition to the informal journal entries, the portfolio also includes the pre-test, the post-test and at least two lab reports. The lab reports are a major point of emphasis for the portfolios. From start to finish, the labs are in the hands of the students. The teacher will present a problem to the students that should be addressed in the lab. Quite often, the problem directly connects to the students’ lives (ex. air quality in the schools and the impact on asthma & other respiratory illnesses). Miss Tuck has found that when the problem relates to the students’ lives they are more likely to take an active role in their learning. Throughout the instructional unit student-teacher conferences take place that allow both parties to get questions answered and to revise lab procedures and reports. Miss Tuck views herself as more of a mediator than a lecturer/dictator. Unlike some of her colleagues, she is willing to relinquish some of the control and occasionally hand the reins over to the students.

Daily, students are evaluated on their participation, effort and cooperation via a rubric established by the students. The students successfully meet these expectations because they were involved in developing the criteria at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, the students are evaluated based on the portfolios, quizzes and unit exams. Miss Tuck also uses a variety of formative assessments in her classroom. After several lessons on a particular topic the students are given a “doorpass”. The students must complete the questions and hand it to Miss Tuck before leaving the classroom. This formative assessment is not for a student grade, but to indirectly give the teacher a grade. Miss Tuck uses the results of the doorpass to determine the effectiveness of the previous days’ lessons and to identify significant student weaknesses. These results are then used to plan future lessons and perhaps prepare individual lessons for the few students that might be struggling. Other informal assessments include pausing during lessons to have students reflect on the material or answer an important question with a partner. The summative assessments consist of “tried and true” formats that Miss Tuck has found to reliably assess student learning. After major assessments she gives the students an opportunity to evaluate the format of the test, identifying strengths and weaknesses. Miss Tuck completes these evaluations each year in order to assure that she is accommodating the current students’ needs (not the needs of the students ten years ago!).

After making these careful observations of Miss Tuck’s wonderful teaching methods and assessment strategies, the principal wanted to get the students’ perspectives. She called down several students and asked them “what makes Miss Tuck an exemplary teacher?” By far, many of the students appreciated the fact that Miss Tuck values and respects student input into the daily running of the classroom. They commented that not very many teachers allow the students to evaluate the format of the tests and make suggests for the improving the tests. Additionally, the students were grateful for Miss Tuck’s treatment of assessments. These students realized that Miss Tuck actually used the results of the test to provide better instructional units for the students. Instead of saying “oh well, you didn’t get it right on the test”, she would individualize lessons and help each student feel successful in her classroom. The students’ success rate in science class has changed their opinions about science and many of the students now declare science as their favorite class! Finally, the students also appreciated that Miss Tuck had very high expectations of all of her students (not just the so called 3s and 4s). She requires all of the students to actively participate and be responsible for their learning. Since this is not a message all of the students get at home, they appreciated having a positive role model in school.

Philosophy of Assessment

        My philosophy of assessment is based primarily upon providing my instrument music students k-12 with performance based activities, paper & pencil activities, and incorporating technology into the learning process.  I feel the most important part of any assessment must be the student. It is important to provide a range of different assessment formats so student strengths and weaknesses can be seen in a fair and positive manner. 

        Will students learn the material they need to know to be successful? 

        Will students be able to apply cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills to the performance of a band instrument as they develop from beginning, intermediate, and advanced musicians? 

Because of the importance of these two questions, I have based my philosophy of assessment surrounding goals to develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills to produce music students who will practice the "Art of Excellence" in their musical studies. 

         Cognitively, students will be assessed in their knowledge of various musical concepts, such as scales, musical terminology, and playing principles through various assignments and activities. My instruction concept uses modeling by teacher and by student peers, who are proficient in the material, which is being studied and performed. I believe that in an instrumental or band activity students should be playing a majority of the time, which they are in class. I believe that through modeling and guided practice students are better equipped to take concepts, skills and knowledge into use in their own practice sessions. Some examples of terminology which is used on a consistent basis are what note values are being used, the letter names of notes, the proper fingering of specific notes on individual instruments, and how to read the road map of music to play a phrase, section or whole musical composition. 

          In the assessment of psychomotor skills students will be assessed in the evaluation of posture, correct playing positions, embouchure, and various other assignments as they occur. I feel again that teacher modeling is very important in the psychomotor skills of any music student. Constant positive reinforcement is a very effective tool to use with students. When the learning process can be made silly and fun this also improves the ability of students to retain skills and apply them in the future. For example, when I teach a brass player to form an embouchure I ask students, "Have you ever smelled a skunk?" Students will answer, yes or no. I then ask students what they words they use to describe the smell of the skunk. I tell the students, I use the word Peu and this is the same word to use when they form their embouchure. I have them say the word. I ask them if they know how to speak French. Usually most of my students have told me, "No." Then I tell them they just spoke in French, when they said peu. It is more fun when you have me in real life teaching students how to develop a proper embouchure. 

    Affectively students will be assessed in their written concert evaluations, self-assessment insights, and various other assignments as they occur. As students develop from beginning to advance musicians they will become aware of the development of emotion throughout music. They will develop skills to be able to perform songs with expression. Just as a poem, essay, short story, play, or novel meaning in the text, students will develop vocabulary, schema, and capabilities to express meaning in written and musical formats through concert critiques, self evaluations, and music performances. 

The teacher or situation I picture when I think about excellent assessment practices is my student teaching teacher. I student taught in Third grade during the Landforms unit in Science. The science curriculum was unique because unlike all the other subjects, the school did not set forth strict guidelines for the textbook or unit test. The landforms unit was based loosely on a textbook that had a corresponding workbook, the rest was up to my cooperating teacher to devise. She mentioned that they were looking at a new textbook to buy and so for right now, this is what she had to work with.

The cooperating teacher read the text book and decided what she thought was important to assess the students on. She created the final paper and pencil assessment using her own criteria, mixed with some of the questions and ideas from the test in the textbook. Then she started to create the lessons for the 8-day unit. She had written on post it notes which diagrams and demonstrations she did and did not think worked from the previous years. She had extra notes and even an article about a mesa in Arizona stuck in the pages of her teacher edition textbook. This showed me that she is always thinking and reflecting on her own work.

Each day the teacher introduced the topic with a diagram, a demonstration, or a question to engage the students. Then they would complete some reading, either whole group, the teacher reading aloud, silent reading, or partner reading. After they had been introduced and read about the material, they started to interact with it by leading a demonstration, speaking in a class discussion, drawing, or answering questions. The whole experience was completely interactive because students are naturally curious about science. They asked her all sorts of questions, especially after the demonstrations.

Technology was introduced in two ways, sometimes she used the overhead projector to show different pictures, and they also watched a movie about landforms in the desert. Even during the movie they had to fill out a checklist of things that they were seeing. The technology piece is really important to the unit because students need to see science in different ways. The demonstrations using rocks and dirt right in front of them is great, but they also need to see more foreign things like desert landforms, and the erosion that wind and water can create with pictures on the overhead. Seeing things like this helps them apply the information into other situations.

Throughout the unit the teacher was monitoring the students very closely. Whenever partner work was assigned she was asking questions and observing their interactions. She had a participation checklist that she filled out every day. She explained to the students how she decides who is participating and showed them her checklist and I couldn’t believe how much they had to say! They knew that she wanted to hear their ideas and it made such a difference. She would give little quizzes in the beginning of class that was very well written. They would ask a simple question but the student had to draw the answer and I think the drawing aspect took away some of the anxiety for the students (they also had to label).

I had many discussions with the teacher about her feelings on assessment (mostly the ELA test) and she told me that she thinks the most important thing is to teach the background and make the subject real for the students and they will learn it and be able to retrieve the information for the test. I think that she is right because when we moved on to the next unit, weather, the students were using so much prior knowledge it was amazing. The actual paper and pencil test had lots of different types of questions, including short answer and I remember the students did well on it. However, like the teacher said, we could tell that they would do well because they were really interested in the material and they had been proving that they knew the information all along!

Philosophy of Assessment

Assessment and teaching are two things that go hand in hand. In order to be a great teacher one must master the skill of proper assessment. Looking through a magic looking glass at a 7^th grade teacher’s classroom will give a good idea of what my own philosophy of assessment are. There are many different aspects to a total assessment plan and in order to help students to the maximum degree all must be in place to insure success of students.

When planning for lessons this educator always makes sure to meet vital requirements. One that is obvious are the state standards, however, in order to be a good educator it is important to know your students and modify your lessons and planning depending on them. Paying attention to they way they learn best and making sure all of the lessons that are taught keep in mind multiple theories of intelligence. To assess the student while teaching the teacher often makes informal assessments by questing the students on the material to know what they understand and what they don’t.

The overall evaluation of students in this class is done in multiple ways both formal and informal. The teacher always makes sure to pretest students before a new unit, not for a grade but to see what students know and don’t know. This is crucial in planning the upcoming lessons. Secondly the teacher pays specific attention when creating any sort of formal test. The teacher uses multiple different types of test questions and styles from essay to multiple choice. Along with formal tests there are also projects, which are assessed. These projects are done in such a way that they both interest the student and relate to real world situations. Students are given rubrics on how the project will be graded before hand so they will know what to expect. There are no pop quizzes in this class. The students know what they should be learning before the teacher even gets to the material. The purpose of assessment is not to trick students but to learn what then know in order to teach them better.

This teacher is fully engaged in using the most modern technologies to grade the students. All of the grades are kept using a school wide grading program which is linked up online. Students are given account numbers and can look up their grades at any time. The use of technology helps support the learning environment because students know exactly how they are doing and so do their parents. If something happens and a student grades start to slip everyone knows right away and changes can be made to help the student out. The classroom is arranged in such a way that the teacher can walk around the room easily and continually assess how students are doing. This us done by creating different groups or zones.

This teacher is an exemplarily educator because of the fair and resourceful methods that are applied both in and out of the classroom. A lot of time is spent in figuring out the how students will be assessed over the year and the students know exactly what to expect from the beginning. The teacher connects the material directly with the standards and then directly with the assessment, there are not trick here. Students are given material that they don’t know yet because of the pre assessment and the teacher can easily tell by looking at the online grade book as to how the students are doing.

EDU 510 Educational Assessment

Monday December 4, 2006

Philosophy of Assessment

Sound educational assessment is based on teachers providing students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do before, during and after instruction has taken place. Too often classrooms are places where knowledge, skill and process domains are already determined without question in regard to preexisting student ability or even student interest. With time being one of the more valuable resources in education, educators can actually spend more focused efforts on teaching by assessing students prior to learning endeavors. This pre-assessment forms a basis for the focus and delivery of instruction. Such focused instruction allows for more beneficial instructional content and provides additional time for students to explore new concepts more in depth thanks to the efficient use of assessment and planning on the part of the teacher.

Part of this sound assessment process builds formative assessments that allow students to demonstrate that they either have mastered or need more assistance in mastering the assessment domain. These assessments should match back to instructional objectives and learning standards and scaffold new learning for students to insure that students are given multiple opportunities to learn and demonstrate what they can do with the curriculum in action.

In assessing student learning, teachers ought to think of ways to weave in several disciplines into the assessment process. Students should be asked to apply what they have learned across the content areas. The thoughtful teacher can employ several methods to integrate learning and student interest by providing students with opportunities to create artistic expressions of what they have learned. In other words, students should not only be able to regurgitate new learning on a test, but they should be asked to do something with this learning in a way that shows that their new learning is connected to a larger continuum.

Technology ought to be the teacher’s best friend in assessment. Teachers ought to plan for students to use the technology available to them to demonstrate what they know. Possibilities for this use of technology would be to have students use presentation software, gather information for a research report, or build something to demonstrate their understanding of a concept.

The teacher’s role in this ideal classroom is to work as a facilitator of student learning. This means that the teacher has to step back and think creatively as to how they can best assist students in demonstrating what they know. This means that a variety of materials have to available such as books from all content areas, materials for the visual and musical arts, and technology resources.

The ideal teacher looks not to just prepare students to be aptly prepared for paper and pencil assessments, but also looks to see how students can apply what they have learned to the world outside of the classroom walls.

I believe it is essential for teachers to incorporate varied methods of assessment in the classroom. Differentiated assessment measures keep students engaged, better prepare them for state test, and reduce assessment bias. They also present a more complete picture of student progress upon which teachers can base instructional decisions and make evaluations. A combination of performance assessment tasks and paper and pencil tests as well as formative assessment measures can greatly enhance the learning environment.

I view performance assessments as being a vital part of educating our children. Paper and pencil tests alone are not sufficient; they only appeal to a single type of learner. Many students are poor test takers. Not offering them alternate means of demonstrating their knowledge will result in teachers making inaccurate inferences about their mastery over a subject. The absence of varied assessment practices also create bias by not giving all students a chance to be assessed in a way that appeals to their strengths. Research has taught us that differentiated instruction is critical in order to reach all students, but the benefits of differentiating our instruction methods are undercut if we do not also differentiate our assessments.

Teachers must be aware that students can develop coping mechanisms which allow them to pass paper and pencil tests without being able to apply that knowledge. The reverse is also true; students can get by in a performance assessment without really understanding the material. Though it takes more time and effort, employing both types of assessment is the only real way to make sure students have a full grasp of the material.

Introducing a wide range of assessment tasks also helps to better prepare students for state tests. State assessments do not merely require students to operate on the knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, they also challenge students at higher levels of cognitive process with application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation items. By differentiating our assessment methods, we can build our students’ skills in these higher-level areas.

I agree with the notion of accountability that the No Child Left Behind tests stand for. It's in the best interest of our children and communities to be continually evaluating our schools in order to see where improvement is needed. Teachers and schools are civil servants that need to be held responsible for doing their jobs properly. We place our money and our trust in our school systems and it is not unreasonable to monitor them.

I believe that teachers can embed test preparation into their normal day-to-day lessons. For example, when giving students questions to answer about a short story or a novel, the teacher can use question stems found on the test. Games and activities that are similar to the test question formats, yet are relevant to the subject being studied, can be used to teach the lesson while familiarizing students with the test in a non-threatening way.

Test preparation can be very effective when it is made fun for the students. I believe keeping students’ interest high is critical; if they are bored, they aren’t engaged and aren’t learning as much as they could be. I especially love games like Jeopardy in the classroom, which are very engaging and flexible, allowing for many questions to be answered in one lesson. I would never use dry test preparation in my classroom; I think students would get bored and it would be a waste of valuable instruction time.

Having voiced my opinion about creative test preparation, I must admit it is also important to throw a couple dry sample questions at students from time to time. It's important for them to know what to expect. I don't agree with putting students through a series of practice exams; by the time the actual test comes around, they are burnt out. I believe students perform better on high stakes test if they don't overkill on practice exams. In this instance there is such a thing as over preparation.

With a little effort and creativity, teachers can prepare students just as effectively, and probably more so, using interesting and valuable content than if they use formal test preparation exercises, which I feel neglect the responsibilities of being a content teacher. Though the pressure to “teach to the test items” is high, there is no reason to compromise the content curriculum.

Finally, I believe formative assessment is as vital a part of the learning environment as summative assessment. Formative assessment allows classroom teachers to assess the needs of their students, and then modify instruction to meet those needs. Teachers should not wait until their students fail a summative test to discover there was a problem; and they should not waste time teaching material that the students have already mastered. Formative assessment prevents both scenarios. It is also highly beneficial to the students. By creating a pattern of success through small formative assessments, student confidence, and in turn motivation, increases. Self-formative assessment is another excellent way to foster a sense of ownership over the learning process in students. It is motivating and instills such values as accountability, responsibility, pride, and reflection.