Finneran, Bethany

EDUG 507
25 September 2016
Supporting Student Learning Through Assessment
A popular anonymous quote about assessment states, "Everyone is a genius. But if you
judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
When educators exclusively use summative, pencil and paper assessments, they are denying
many students the opportunity to show the true extent of their knowledge and understanding of
the learning goals. I can support learning of all students by providing alternative assessments,
clear objectives, as well as including students in the assessment process through self-assessment.
Offering students more than the standard paper and pencil test allows students to
showcase their learning and mastery learning objectives in more ways than simply academic
writing. Teachers can set students who have strengths outside of academic writing up for success
by offering various types of assessments. Howard Gardners (1991) Theory of Multiple
Intelligences aligns well with this concept. Gardner (1991) describes his theory as each student
possessing a basic set of seven, eight or a dozen intelligences. Thanks to evolution, each of us is
equipped with these intellectual potentials, which we can mobilize and connect according to our
own inclinations and our culture's preferences (p. 44). Gardner (1991) stresses the idea that each
persons unique blend of intelligences allows students to solve problems and create products in
unique and individualized ways. These intelligences are developed and strengthened depending
on the learning opportunities and the values in the learning environment. This means that all
students have unique academic strengths and that all students will not be able to show the full
extent of their mastery of the learning objectives through academic writing and traditional pencil

and paper teacher-made tests. When students are given options of alternative assessments, they
are able to show their learning in means that are best suited to their academic strengths.
Burden and Byrd (2013) state that alternative assessments allow educators to, measure
student learning by assessing products that students prepare reflecting their learning or by
assessing actual student performances designed to demonstrate their learning (p. 292).
Alternative assessments can take the form of product assessments or performance assessments.
Examples of product assessments include portfolios, work samples, journals, reports, models,
and multimedia projects. While a majority of product assessments are heavily dependent on
academic writing, models are useful for kinesthetic learners and multimedia projects are useful
for students with musical intelligences. Examples of performance assessments include
demonstrations, oral presentations, and interviews. Performance assessments offer helpful
options for students with spatial and linguistic intelligences. Alternative assessments align with
TPE 5.2, where educators collect and analyze assessment date from multiple measures and
sources to plan and modify instruction and document students learning over time (Commission
on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), 2016). When educators give students a wide range of
assessments, they gather a better understanding of students mastery of the learning objectives.
Involving students in the assessment process through self-assessment is another way to
support student learning. When students are involved in self-assessment, the assessment becomes
more than a test, and transforms into a teaching and learning process for students. In order to
practice effective self-assessment in the classroom, Stiggins (2007) states that educators must
share achievement targets with students, presenting those expectations in student-friendly
language accompanied by examples of exemplary student work. Then, frequent self-assessments
provide students (and teachers) with continual access to descriptive feedback m amounts they

can manage effectively without being overwhelmed (p. 22). When educators provide clear
desired outcomes, students are able to effectively monitor, evaluate, and improve their own work
as they work towards achievement goals. Giving clear expectations allows students to understand
what success looks like, and helps them determine how to achieve that standard of success. Selfassessment can be implemented in a variety of ways. One example of self-assessment is students
working together to create a rubric. If the students are going to have an assessment in the near
future where they must read a passage and identify and summarize the main events in a
paragraph, the students will identify traits of a good paragraph, as well as a paragraph that
could use improvement. This exercise is helpful because students will clearly understand what is
expected on their assessment to receive a desired score. Creating a portfolio is another helpful
way for students to see their progress over time. At the beginning of the year, students could
create a rubric for a journal entry. At the end of the year, a journal entry from each month will be
compiled into a portfolio. This allows students to compare different samples and clearly see how
far they have grown over time. The use of self-assessment in the classroom ties in to TPE 5.3,
where educators involve all students in self-assessment and reflection on their learning goals
and progress and provide students with opportunities to revise or reframe their work based on
assessment feedback (CTC, 2016). Self-assessment is beneficial for all when practiced both in
groups as well as individually, and helps students monitor their progress and strive for
improvement.
Assessments of learning should set students up for success. Both Self-assessments and
alternative assessments let students take charge of their learning, monitor their individual
progress, and encourage students to put forth their best work in means that are compatible with
each individual student.

References
Burden, P.R., & Byrd, D.M. (2013). Methods for effective teaching: Meeting the needs of all
students (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2016). Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs).
Retrieved from http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-prep/standards/CSTP-TPE.pdf.
Gardner, H. (1991). Creating the future: Intelligence in seven steps. Baltimore, MD: New
Horizons for Learning.
Stiggins, R. (2007). Assessment through the student's eyes. Educational Leadership, 64, 22-26.