Philosophy of Assessment

Jennie MacMillan

Assessment is a strong tool that can be used in the classroom to help improve
motivation, self-efficacy, and accountability in students. It is important that
assessment is used to benefit the students and not only the teachers. When many
people think of student assessment and evaluation they think of the benefits the
teachers gain through gathering information based on student learning. Assessment
however, can be much more than that. Recently, the world of education has moved
away from a one size fits all approach. Differentiating curriculum and assessment
practices that benefit each student can be seen in classrooms today. Throughout my
philosophy, I will highlight some of my beliefs about a few contentious issues in the
assessment world such as docking marks for late submissions and zeros, as well as
the proper use of formative and summative assessment in the classroom. My goal as
a teacher is to motivate students and to enrich their learning in order to promote
life long learners amongst my students. This can be seen through my assessment
practices.

Assessment Practices
Success Criteria

I believe that assessment practices should not be used to rank or group
students. The use of assessment should help mold and develop instructional
practices in order to benefit student achievement. Differentiating instruction has
taught us that not all students learn in the same way or at the same rate. Therefore,
it is important that we provide fair assessment to all our students. Providing
students with the opportunity to be part of determining success criteria that needs
to be covered, allows them to fully understand what they are required to know, as
well as understand where it fits in the larger picture. With the guidance of the
teacher, these success criteria can be established in a positive environment, which
will help to promote student learning and participation.

Pre-assessment

The use of pre-assessment is a strong tool that can be used to determine
where student understanding is before learning begins. It is extremely important
that this assessment does not administer a grade to students. Pre-assessments
should determine where all students are in the learning process so the teacher is
better able to gauge what areas in the curriculum require more work than others.
This can be done through student teacher discussion, observations, and school
record keeping, to name a few. Once this has been done, learning is now able to
begin.

Formative Assessment

I believe that formative assessment is the next step that should be taken
when assessing student understanding. Formative assessment is a strong tool that
can be used by teachers to determine student comprehension levels, as well as a tool
for students to have in understanding where their difficulties lay. Formative
assessment requires adequate, positive feedback without the use of grades. Students
can be given written or verbal feedback on homework, assignments, exit slips, and
even quizzes. The works of Alfie Kohn state that formative assessment is the most
beneficial form of assessment because it allows students to stop worrying about
being wrong and about their grades. It allows students to dive deeper into the
subject material and develop a desire for learning that is unmatched to summative
assessment. Formative assessment allows students to receive the feedback required
to improve their work, without getting discouraged by a final mark. The work is
constantly being improved which allows students to continue to progress, rather
than doing an assignment simply to get a grade. I believe that formative assessment
should always be used in the classroom throughout every unit to allow students to
continue to improve on the material they know.

Summative Assessment

I am not nearly as radical as Alfie Kohn and I do believe that summative
assessment does have its place in the classroom. We are not at a point in time where
we can completely say goodbye to grades without potentially having backlash from
students, parents and administrators. Summative assessment is a tool that can be
used to gauge student understanding through the use of unit projects, tests, papers,
or final exams. Many students can become overwhelmed with summative
assessment and it can, in turn, negatively affect their learning experience in the
classroom. That is why it is extremely important to produce fair assessment
practices that help to promote student motivation, accountability, and self-efficacy. I
believe it is important to assess students in the same environment in which they
learn because changing the environment can increase stress levels in students,
which can result in lower, inaccurate results in regards to student understanding of
material. By creating and maintaining a positive learning environment for students,
it will allow them to create, store, and recall memories with more facility than if they
have a negative experience in the classroom. As stated previously, by having success
criteria in place for students it will allow them to know what is expected of them,
and will guide them toward success in the classroom. Creating summative
assessments that are fair and accurate to measure of student understanding, will
allow students to continue to improve and strengthen their learning in the process.

Professional Learning Communities

The use of professional learning communities in schools is extremely
beneficial both for teachers and for students. Teachers benefit through
collaboration with co-workers and communicating strengthens and weakness they
are experiencing in the classroom. Not all teachers teach the same way and it is
important to use your co-workers successes to your own advantage in areas you
could or use improvement in. Working collaboratively also allows for common
forms of assessment to be used amongst same subject teachers to help to ensure all
students are receiving a similar experience in the classroom. This is beneficial for
students because it better prepares them for further. Having teachers determine
essential learnings together allows them to determine what is required to be
covered from the curriculum and then teachers are able to work with students to
focus on particular areas of the curriculum.

Contentious Topics in Education
Zeros

The following are a few of my personal opinions on contentious topics in the
world of educational assessment. Bear in mind that my opinions are based off of my
studies at university and internship experiences. My philosophy on these topics will
be constantly changing, adapting, and growing as I gain more experience in the
world of education. Zeros is a topic that I have begun to think about. I believe it is
unjust for students to have a zero recorded because it does not accurately depict the
knowledge they have on the material. If you give a student a zero you are saying that
they know absolutely nothing on the subject. If this is true, it is not the fault of the
student, but rather the fault of the teacher. If the student honestly did not learn any
thing, it was not necessarily the fault of the student. A problem with communication
or direction had to occur for students not to learn anything. Giving a student a zero
does not hold them accountable for the knowledge they were supposed to learn, it
lets them cast it off and forget about it. When this occurs, the students will never
learn the material and will continue to struggle with that same material in later
grades and courses and become discouraged.

Marks for Group Work

Assigning marks for group work is another area many teachers struggle with
determining what is best for student assessment. Many professionals believe that
group projects should not be given equal marks because one person always does
more. This is true in some cases, but it is just as important that students learn to
deal with these issues they have in group work so they do not experience them later
in life as well. It is the teachers responsibility to know their students and work with
them to succeed in all aspects of the classroom, such as respect and responsibly. One
way that teachers can address these concerns is by having peer evaluations take
place through out the course of the group work. This helps the teacher to gauge how
groups are working together and intervene when needed. Group work should
involve the teacher playing an active role when students have issues, concerns, or
questions regarding their work.

Student Choice

Finally, I believe that choice for students plays an important role in teachers
assessment practices. As we have learned from the works of Howard Gardner and
other psychologists, not all students learn best the same way. Providing choice for
students with major projects, homework, and assignments allows them to learn the
material in a way that is best suited for them. This can increase student motivation
and their desire to learn. Being able to adapt assessment practices to help students
achieve learning in a way that is best for them is essential for teachers. If we want
our students to experience success and be life long learners, we need to give them
the tools to do so, even if it means altering our own assessment strategies.

In summary, my views on assessment and evaluation in the education system
will be ever changing with current research, experiences, and policies. One thing
however, will remain the same: using assessment and evaluation practices will help
increase student motivation, accountability, and self-efficacy. Through the use of
positive and appropriate feedback I will help my students grow and engage in life
long learning practices that they will be able to use in the future. I believe that the
use of formative and summative assessment both have their place in the classroom
and I will constantly be reviewing my practices as well as the practices of other
teachers within my learning community to expand my assessment philosophy in the
best interests of my students.



References

DuFour, R. (2007). Once upon a time: A tale of excellence in assessment. In Ahead of
the Curve: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching & Learning. Douglas
Reeves (Ed.), 253-267.

Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Pumpian, I. (2011). No Penalties for Practice. Educational
Leadership. 69(3), 46-51.

Kohn, A. (2011). The Case Against Grades. Educational Leadership. . 69(3), 28-33.