I do not remember any variety in assessment in the classrooms I was in during my elementary or high school years. We always followed the same pattern each week. We began a lesson on Monday, added more information on Tuesday, added even more about the topic on Wednesday, and reviewed the material on Thursday. We had a written test on Friday. The schedule only changed if we had a day off from school during a week. In this case, we simply received less information to keep basically the same schedule.
I have learned through our classes that assessment means much more than a written exam once a week. Assessment should be ongoing and diverse. Assessment should also happen in all situations. For example, an assessment can be performed during a class discussion, teacher observations, and verbal questioning. An assortment of assessments should be used to ensure that all students have a chance to show their knowledge in a way comparable to their own learning style.
Assessments should also take into account the interest level of a student. If a student is interested in the material, he/she is more likely to perform better on the assessment. If the students interest level is low, his/her performance on the assessment will probably be lower than a student that does show interest in the material. Educators can help with this problem to some extent by connecting the material or concept to real life situations. In other words, students are more likely to appreciate information if they can associate it with their own lives. We as adults do the same thing. We tend to take issues that directly affect us more seriously than issues that are completely foreign to us. Students are the same way. To me, this is the reason some students do poorly on state tests. They do not have a connection to these standardized tests in many cases. Relying on these scores often lead to poor decisions about a student and his/her ability. For this reason, I have a problem with the importance we place on these tests. For instance, if a child has a very high grade in a subject but fails the exit test for that subject, how can we retain that child or make them retake the class?
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Great post, Donna. I really appreciate your first paragraph--this is how I remember much of my content area learning when I was going through school early on. Material given by teachers, then Friday tests. I don't think it's much of a model for fostering an enthusiasm for learning. I liked Amanda's post and Megan's comments about why they like the idea of portfolio assessments; they provide opportunities for students to showcase their learning, to take pride in their products. John
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