| The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner. |
Fall 2007
Since assessment is the method in which we measure student learning it is pertinent that assessments be as accurate as possible. My understanding of "the characteristics, uses, advantages, and limitations of different types of assessments...for evaluating how students learn, what they know and are able to do, and what kinds of experiences will support their further growth and development" (Standard 8 Knowledge 1). There are many forms of assessment, none of which is necessarily less accurate than the other. Similar to instructional strategies, assessment strategies vary and work better with some concepts than others. In other words, assessment strategies should be selected based upon the content in which they are assessing.
Assessment stretches beyond the content as "the teacher solicits and uses information about students' experiences, learning behavior, needs, and progress from parents, other colleagues, and the students themselves" (Standard 8 Performance 2). Accurate assessment recognizes students’ strengths and weaknesses. It also includes sharing strategies among colleagues and other professionals. Parents can provide useful feedback and suggestions for assessment strategies that may be tailored to their child. Even as I continually analyze assessment strategies, I should monitor my "own teaching strategies and behavior in relation to student success, modifying plans and instructional approaches accordingly" (Standard 8 Performance 5).
Fall 2004
Assessment is one of the most important factors in education. Without assessments we have no way to measure how much students have learned. However, the question about how best to assess students is raised. Maybe there is only one way or maybe there are several ways that are equally correct. As a teacher, I need to understand "the characteristics, uses, advantages, and limitations of different types of assessments...for evaluating how students learn, what they know and are able to do, and what kinds of experiences will support their further growth and development" (Standard 8 Knowledge 1). When I understand assessment I can better understand how to use assessment to best guage how to assess students' learning.
"The teacher solicits and uses information about students' experiences, learning behavior, needs, and progress from parents, other colleagues, and the students themselves" (Standard 8 Performance 2). By doing this, I am allowing for not only students to recognize their strenghts and weaknesses but also sharing ideas for assessments with other professionals. Sharing these ideas may allow another professional or even a parent to offer a suggestion to the current assessments that may improve the assessment for a more accurate representation of the students' progress and capabilities. It is also important for me to monitor my "own teaching strategies and behavior in relation to student success, modifying plans and instructional approaches accordingly" (Standard 8 Performance 5). In other words, I need to assess myself as a teacher and modify my teaching accordingly to foster a better learning experience for my students.
I am unsure of whether this will be a strength or weakness for me. I think that it may be weakness. However, I have not had any substantial amount of training on proper assessment techniques. I am unsure of how to necessarily assess student progress and learning.
The most common form of assessment is paper testing. I favor other forms of assessment. As a teacher I will tend to use assessment in the form of the students showing me what they can do. I don't want to hand them a multiple choice test every time to guage their learning. There are cases when that particular type of testing is necessary. Many of my teachers in the past have used multiple choice or true-false test methods repeatedly as the only source of assessment of my progress and learning. Other teachers have used paper testing as a minor assessment of my progress and learning. I am unaware many times when teachers are assessing me without using paper tests. Part of the reason for this is because I do not generally associate assessment with anything other than paper-based testing.