9. Student Assessments:
Description:
Assessments have a variety of uses, one of which is to determine if students have learned from the curriculum and instruction. The word Assessments refers to the broad process of collecting data from a variety of sources about what individuals have learned. Assessments assist with accountability in the classroom. Assessments can be done through measurement -usually standardized testing, evaluation which include both norm-referenced evaluation and criterion-referenced evaluation and lastly, classroom letter grades. Assessment results provide information that teachers and educators can use to change their instructional practices so that higher levels of learner motivation and achievement can occur (Armstrong, Henson & Savage, 2009).
Illustration: Shows the assessment timeline in classrooms following the new Common Core standards (Assess, 2014)
Practical Example:
A practical example of a assessment is that student's in the fourth grade learned twenty new vocabulary words last week and today, they are having a spelling test on those twenty words. The teacher says each word aloud, reads it in a sentence and waits for the students to write down the word on their paper before moving on. When the teacher is done with all twenty words, he has all the students switch papers and go around the classroom and say and spell the words aloud. After they are done, he has the students mark the number wrong on top of the page and give it back to the owner. Then he collects the papers and looks over them later to get a measurement of how well the students are doing with that particular assignment.
Integral Components:
Integral components of assessments are, as explained previously, measurement, evaluation and grades. But assessments are evaluated in two different ways - norm-referenced approach or a criterion-referenced approach. A norm-referenced approach is comparing the scores of individual learners against those of a group with similar characteristics (i.e. a school that has five fifth grade classes take the same test and comparing the results between the classrooms). A criterion-referenced approach is comparing the scores of an individual learner against a standard or set of criteria (i.e. students that take Advanced Placement tests). Assessment activities also are an integral component of the instructional process of assessments, they include placement, formative and summative assessments. Traditional classroom assessments usually contain selected-response measures such as two response test (i.e. true or false) or multiple choice test. Traditional classroom assessments can also contain free-response measures which can be essays, short answers or fill in the blank. All are integral components of assessments in the classroom.
How the student assessments relates to me and my future classroom:
Student assessment relate to me and my future classroom because they will be an integral part of it. Accountability and holding districts, schools, teachers and students to certain standards in the classroom are important part of the education system. Assessment factors might change throughout my years as a teacher, currently we are getting away from fact based testing to skill based testing but assessments will still be exist because we need to measure our students and teachers to see if we are improving, worsening or staying the same when it comes to achievement in the classroom.
Scripture:
" You shall not be partial in judgement. You shall hear the small and the great alike.You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgement is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it" - Deuteronomy 1:17. I chose this Scripture verse because it tells that no one shall be partial in judgement. Rather they, in this case and for our purposes teachers, shall treat everyone with fairness and respect when it comes to assessment tests.