Philosophy of Assessment Jason King St.

Thomas University

EDUC 5913E Prof. James Clowater February 27, 2013

The reason that schools and teachers exist is for student learning. I do not believe that evaluation and assessment should deviate from this mission. The reason we should be assessing our students should be to inform teachers about the effectiveness of their instruction while telling students how far they have come and where they are going next in terms of their education (formative assessment) and to determine if students have met the intended standards (essential learnings) by a specified deadline (summative assessment). I also believe that we must ensure that student marks are an accurate reflection of their achievement. Not all students learn or interact in the same ways and therefore it is important that our evaluation of those students reflect that. Assessment must be differentiated to ensure that diverse learning styles and multiple intelligences are considered and engaged. Additionally, we should strive to ensure that our formative assessments, diagnostic or otherwise, are administered in a way that is emotionally meaningful and engaging to students, just as the rest of their learning experience is. Finally, I believe that common formative assessment is a very useful tool that schools should be using.

Traditionally, testing was infrequent and tested a lot of material. They are assessments of learning; what the students have learned. The fact that these tests are infrequent and are end of process measurements, means that they are not very effective for providing timely feedback that can guide student learning and teachers current practices (Stiggins & Dufour, 2009). Formative assessments, or assessments for learning, are part of an ongoing process to monitor student learning and teacher processes on a continuous basis. They measure a few things at a time but are frequently used, many times per day, to inform learning and instruction. A formative assessment is like an autopsy, it can give useful information and but comes too late to do anything about it; a formative assessment is more like a checkup as it gives timely information and can help prescribe the required antidote in the form of scaffolding or other means of intervention (Dufour, 2010).

One of the most fundamental aspects of assessment, in my opinion, is that it is an accurate reflection of student achievement. Unless broken out into separate sections from the curriculum subjects on student reports, grades should not reflect things like behaviour, social

interaction, attendance, punctuality, and completion of homework, as these things have nothing to do with student learning. In elementary school report cards these items are separated from the students academic subject marks, so that these characteristics can be evaluated. It is crucial that subject marks reflect student achievement with regards to attainment of essential learnings. It is for this same reason that I do not believe in giving zeros, and am cautious about marks for group work, and deductions for late submissions. None of these factors accurately reflect student achievement and therefore do not provide useful feedback.

Students all learn and interact with the world in different ways. As student learning is our mandate, we need to ensure that we are engaging multiple intelligences and learning styles in our lessons and also in our assessment. Besides being varied, our formative assessments need to be frequent. Teachers should be recording data about student progress several times a day. If assessment is not frequent, then by the time problems are identified the solution can be a lot more complex to fix. Finally assessment should be reliable. Assessments must assess what has been taught, and what has been taught needs to reflect the essential learnings. If this is not the case than the assessment becomes meaningless and does not provide accurate feedback. Imaginative and emotionally meaningful lessons are important for engaging students. I believe that if we work at it, we can make assessments that achieve these same goals. Students are more likely to learn the material and relate to assessments if students can identify with them. Choice work can also help make assessment more engaging. Common formative assessment is a hot topic these days. Many people are either strongly for or against it. If we want all students to learn and we want to inform our instruction than common formative assessment is a very important component of this process. If we want to implement effective Professional Learning Communities, then we need to focus on learning for all and look at best practices and current reality as well as being results oriented. Common formative assessment helps us achieve these goals. Assessment is a crucial component of learning as it informs instruction and provides feedback. In order to do this I feel that we need to use diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments. Valid and reliable assessments will mean that student learning will be maximized.

References
DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN, USA: Solution Tree Press. (Original work published 2006) Stiggins, R., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., Chappuis, S. (2006). Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right using it well. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service

Stiggins, R., & DuFour, R. (2009). Mazimizing the power of formative assessments. Phi Delta Kappan