RUNNING HEAD: Philosophy of Assessment

Measurement and Evaluation Philosophy of Assessment

Marcus Dolliver

St. Thomas University

February 24th, 2017
Mr. Buggie
Formative Assessment
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My beliefs on assessment lean heavily towards a formative method because of its

capabilities to see improvements, areas of weakness, strengths, and opportunities
for the future. Formative assessment is the regular assessment of students before,
during, and after their work is completed. Being aware of what students have done
previously allows teachers to make meaningful lesson plans which fall in each
students zone of proximal development. This zone keeps students learning at an
optimal level because the activities are challenging, however not discouraging from
being overly difficult.
Assessing students as they are working is the most valuable piece of formative
assessment because it provides immediate information on how the students are
interacting with the activities provided. This information allows teachers to
manipulate the current and future lessons to further enhance their learning. The
ability to acknowledge and adapt lessons for students specific interests will provide
them with further motivation to engage in their learning, and develop skills which
are specific to them as an individual. This type of assessment is informal and done
through observation and recording notes on the behaviour of students with the work
provided, strong points, weak points, confusions, etc. The importance of recording
all this is to make sure that my lessons are clear and specific, as well as providing
valuable information on their development for goal setting and report cards.
The assessment after completing a task is valuable to see whether or not students
are grasping the concept being addressed. These types of assessments may vary
depending on topics, however, they all have an overall purpose of seeing what
students know, and plan for the future. Final products will provide me with
opportunities to see connections students are making with their work, allowing
opportunity to enhance these connections in the future. Using triangulation, I am
able to provide accurate feedback and opportunities to each student.
Summative Assessment
The final assessment of the students work on a report card is required to be
recorded through a number which highlights that students academic level for their
grade, based on different subjects. Through the use of formative assessment, I am
constantly aware of where my students are at with their work and the
improvements they have been making. I believe that it is important to make
parents and guardians aware that number grades are not the most important aspect
of a students achievements. Although they provide valid information towards a
students academic level, it provides no information on the improvements they have
been making and the steps which have been made to make these improvements.
Therefore, the comments and concrete evidence of development through their work
is the most important aspect of summative assessment. Providing parents with
examples of work from early in the year and later in the year will allow them to see
their childs development over time and their understanding of concepts and
relationships. I believe that maintaining portfolios of students work will greatly
assist with the ability to show improvements and develop future goals. My use of
summative assessment in elementary is not to provide a grade to students, rather
to take the information of a final product, analyze it, and look for things which need
to be further developed.
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Self Assessment
Since students are constantly working to improve their knowledge and skills, it is
important to provide them with opportunity to personally evaluate their work. In
doing so, they can recognize areas which they have improved upon and weaknesses
that may require further consideration.
Allowing students to self assess their work is valuable to a teacher and parental
figures as well because of the ability to recognize the students beliefs on their
achievements. It allows me to see where students believe they belong on a grade
scale and compare this to where they are on a grade scale. The information
provided gives me the opportunity to provide feedback to their grading and
comments for improvement on their self evaluation. Implementing a variety of
teacher and self feedback provides recognition and ownership towards developing
realistic goals for that student. Self assessment can be done through conversation,
using rubrics, using checklists, or short forms which would be depicted by the work
being assessed.
Standardized Testing
Provincially, there are requirements for standardized testing to be done in schools in
certain subjects at designated grade levels. These tests allow the government to
recognize areas of strengths and weaknesses different areas may have. I believe
that these tests are necessary, however, teachers should heavily monitor students
when giving the test. Since teachers are very familiar with their students they
would be able to recognize where some may have issues with the questions asked
on standardized tests. Since the government develops these tests, there is little
differentiation in their questions for students, which may cause confusion with
wording and understanding them. Additionally, we are a generation which is slowly
moving away from lengthy testing periods and moving into the development of
creativity through fun, relatable work. This may skew the data provided from these
tests, therefore we must be flexible with our students while they are writing them.
With standardized testing, there is also pressure on teachers because the outcome
of the tests can be used as an indicator of how well material is being taught. This is
something which I will not conform to because high standardized test scores are
more of a reflection of the way things are being taught, rather than how things are
learned. If a teacher is willing to adapt their lessons to prepare their students to do
well on standardized tests, they take away the fun, creative factor of learning and
only teach strict question answering skills. Although these are important skills to
have, a lack of interest may be hindering their learning due to a lack of ability of
understanding this type of teaching. I look to find a balance in my teaching which
will allow students to be creative and engage in lessons which will provide them
opportunity to do well on these tests.
Conclusion
My philosophy of assessment is based off my previous experiences throughout my
schooling, teaching, education, and my research done to enhance students learning.
Formative assessment will be my focus when assessing students because of its
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valuable information through recording on a daily basis. Using formative

assessment through summative materials has been useful for developing effective
lesson plans which provides all students with interactive and engaging lessons. I
look forward to implementing my assessment methods in the future, and look
forward to gaining further knowledge and experience with assessment by
implementing my beliefs.

Chaiklin, S. (2003). The zone of proximal development in Vygotskys analysis of

learning and instruction. Vygotskys educational theory in cultural context. (pp. 39-
64). UK: Cambridge University Press.
Davies, A. (2011). Making classroom assessment work (3rd ed.). Courtenay, BC:
Connections Publishing
Herbst, S., Davies, A. (2016). Grading, reporting and professional judgement in
elementary classrooms. Courtenay, BC: Connections Publishing.
Klein, M., Zevenbergen, A., Brown, N. (2006). Managing standardized testing in
todays schools. The journal of educational thought, 40(2), (pp. 145-157).