Melissa Gerken 1

Philosophy of Assessment
When it comes down to it, what makes of a valuable, successful
teacher are the assessment practices that occur in their classroom. I
like to think of assessment as the vehicle to the overall success of the
students. Without assessment, learning is nonexistent. Students
would not be reviewing and putting their knowledge to action, like an
assessment does. When it comes to assessing students, there are
many fine details to take into consideration to be sure the students
learn to the best of their ability and meet the state standards.
Today in education, the main focus in on the rise of the 21st
century learners. These learners preform at their highest ability
through the use of technology and project based learning. By
integrating technology into the classroom and preparing lessons that
will use real world skills through core subjects in a safe learning
environment, these students will shine. Having students conduct a
weather report using the class iPad, instead of simply drawing a
weather map is a simple modification to transition into 21st century
learning. Hanover research states all students can learn, all in different
ways and in different environments. This then, is up to the teacher to
determine what is being taught, how it is being taught, and how the
students are going to demonstrate their learning to the best of their
ability. The most valuable action of a teacher is to know the students.
Knowing how the students learn, interact, and react is invaluable.
When there is an understanding of the child, assessing the students
will come easier and knowing what is best to do. This then gives the
teacher power to group students with similar learning capabilities and
mindsets to preform differentiated comprehensive based assessments.
Along with these projects contains the making of a rubric, outlining
exactly what is expected of the students. Holistic rubrics may be used
for more creative art projects and be set as a guideline for students.
Included in this should be a rigorous curriculum containing high
expectations of the students. Through a rigorous classroom, students
will have a better understanding of the core standards, being more
prepared for the real world. The standards are changing and becoming
more difficult. Setting the students to higher expectations will help to
better achieve these objectives. This is done through a series of small
projects and formative assessments.
The use of class observation, question and answer, exit slips,
games, presentations, quizzes, interviews, otherwise known as
formative assessments, class monitoring should be stressed. The
teacher should know who is struggling in their classroom at all times in
order to properly address the issue. Rick Wormeli stresses the uses of
formative assessments by saying students are not capable of learning
with out it. Formative assessments are an ongoing process that
provides checkpoints in the process of mastering a concept in a childs

Melissa Gerken 2
mind. To summarize what the students have learned, a summative
assessment is used, such as a Comprehensive Based Assessment, unit
test, or data notebook completion.
Through the use of formative and summative assessments, a
learning disability may be found. In order to properly assess the issue,
data must be taken and the school principal or guidance counselor
must be notified to begin the IEP process. The student may be asked
to take a diagnostic test, made by a company to pinpoint the learning
the disability the student may have. Inside the classroom, benchmark
assessments may be given as often as needed to be sure students are
retaining the information being learned. Once a diagnosis is
determined, an IEP must be written and agreed upon based on the
accommodations and modification needed for the child. In Evidence
for Education, states accommodations and modifications are in the
best interest of the child and work best with the students learning
capabilities. Accommodations and modifications can be made for any
lesson. Simply moving the seat of the child in the classroom to better
focus their attention and providing Touch Math numbers in math class
are going to better assist the childs learning. On tests, the student
may have the questions orally read to them or they may have fewer
choices on multiple-choice tests or a word bank of fill in the blanks.
A grade should be an accurate representation of the childs
knowledge. Although formative assessment is the most frequent type
of assessment done in the classroom, they are the lower stakes. The
higher stakes belong to the summative assessments. No nebulous
grades such as being organized or returning a paper on time should be
weighted into the students grade. This then will alter the data of
knowing exactly how well a student preformed in a particular subject.
Grades should only reflect what is done academically, not on the
students ability to follow directions.
Assessment is an ongoing process, constantly occurring in the
classroom everyday. It is the most valuable tool to a teacher to have
her students preform their full capability. Utilizing all the resources
available and keeping up on the trends in education can make for an
enriching learning environment setting up life long learners for the
world.