Philosophy of Assessment Some would say that teaching is the most significant part of being a teacher.

Although, I believe that the most critical part is assessing what a child has been taught. This information is uncovered through the process of assessment. Observing, recording data, and documenting the developmental behaviors of children all link together to create the process of assessment. Through this process teachers will be able to determine the actual development of the children and based on this information determine the childs strengths and weaknesses. An effective assessment of a child should provide the overall data of a childs strengths and progress of what they know and are able to understand. I believe that before even considering of assessing a child it extremely important to know the how to develop an effective assessment. For example the assessor must follow the ethical principle guidelines, such as, keeping an unbiased mind. By being ethical, the assessor must intend to use the appropriate instruments when developing an assessment. Within these instrumental assessments it is crucial that the assessor is aware that the assessment being given is appropriate for the ages and other characteristics of the child being assessed. The assessment material should be professional, so this being the case the assessor themselves needs to been trained in assessing and have experience. The material should be developmentally and educationally significant; this is so the material being collected will provide sound evidence in understanding and improving learning. The evidence that is gathered needs to be gathered from the Naturalistic assessment and the Standardized norm-referenced assessment to reflect the childs actual progress and performance. There are two ways to assess children, these being, the Naturalistic assessment and the Standardized Norm-referenced assessment. The Naturalistic and the Standardized Normreference should both be used equally when a teacher is in the process of assessing. This is because both of these assessments offer many advantages when actively observed properly and by combining these two assessments will create the ultimate assessment for a child. The Naturalistic assessment does not interrupt a childs ongoing routine, a child has multiple chances to demonstrate the skill, and this assessment can take place over time. The Naturalistic assessment can take place by observations, a childs work samples, and through the teachers checklists. The Standardized Norm-reference allows comparisons of children who are the same age, there is a better agreement across multiple teachers or observers, and there is less chance for

teacher or observer bias to affect assessment results. This assessment must takes place by using a screener, diagnostic, criterion reference, and/or by a norm-reference. Combining these assessments together offer the ultimate assessment to determine the development of a child. Both of these assessments offer multiple methods of observing and recording data, which I believe is extremely important when assessing a child. I say this because it is crucial to be unbiased when using these methods of observation and assessment, allowing the child absolute fairness when assessing what the child knows. Overall, I believe that all children should be assessed through the Naturalistic assessment as well as the Standardized Norm-referenced assessment, because by providing multiple types of assessments and methods of observation will allow the teacher to better determine the strengths and the progress of the child overtime and overall provide an more effective assessment. By determining the strengths and the progress of the child the teacher will know how well the child knows the material being taught. In my future classroom I will use both types of assessments, so that not only the children and parents are informed of what their child knows, but also so I am informed, as the teacher, of how I can make progress on teaching the children new material and information. Assessment begins the critical cycle of knowing what a child knows and adjusting to their strengths and progress.