Assessment Considerations

One of the most important things I have learned in this assessment class is how important it is to clearly state what you are assessing. The intention and purpose of the assessment should be clear to the assessor as well as the students. For instance, if a teacher gives his/her students an assessment that asks a student to write down a description retelling a story, is it fair to take off points for missed spelled words or incorrect grammar and punctuation? It is vital that what we are assessing matches what students know and can do. One way in which this can be done is by clearly stating the expectations of the students before an assessment is given. Therefore, a student will know whether or not, for instance, grammar is weighted more than content. After coming to this realization of intentional assessment, I plan to create assessments more purposefully in my future classroom.

Another important concept regarding assessments is the feedback that is given to the student. Feedback is crucial to any type of assessment. I believe that feedback can be more helpful for students than receiving an actually letter grade. There are two different types of feedback - verification or elaboration. Verification simply states if a certain work is correct or incorrect, whereas elaboration asks the questions of why a certain item is correct or incorrect or how one can improve. It is my belief that feedback that is elaborative is more useful for students. In my own experience, the assignments that I have learned the most in are those in which I was given quality feedback and an opportunity to revise my work. In addition, the best feedback I have been given includes both positive comments and constructive criticism. It is always uplifting to read what a professor enjoyed about my writing for instance. The positive comments allow the receiver to be more open to and accepting of any constructive or critical feedback. Furthermore, the amount of feedback given is also critical to the receptivity of the student. If a paper or assignment is covered in comments, a student may be overwhelmed and not even read the feedback. On the other hand, if there is little to no comments, a student may feel like their piece of work does not matter. Essentially, feedback is a crucial part of assessment that must carefully be taken into consideration while executing.

Too Much Testing

Testing is a fact of every student's academic life. However, at schools labeled as needs improvement or failing, testing seems to be done excessively. At my clinic placement, my third graders have been practicing for the CMTs by taking practice tests every Wednesday. In the beginning the students did not think much of it, but now that it has become a regular part of their weekly routine, they dread the thought of it. As a result, the students mark down anything just to say they are done with the test and some students become so frustrated that they do not do anything.
So my issue is that I do not understand how the school district justifies preparing for a state test by making students take frequent practice tests. I think this is an ineffective way to prepare for an assessment. I also think the results received from the practice tests are invalid measures of the students' actual performance, since many of the students either refused to do the test or marked any answer. I understand that they want to use the practice tests as a means to inform instruction before the real test occurs, but if the test results are not reliable then the instruction created will not be the most useful.
Rather, I think a better way to prepare for the test would be to teach the particular skills and objectives assessed on the test and then follow it up by giving students the opportunity to see practice that portion of the standardized test. By doing it this way, the practice test is done with a clear purpose in the students' and teachers' minds, the students are not overwhelmed by the test, the results are more valid and will help better inform instruction.

Different Types of Assessment

When I was in elementary school, I had a very difficult time with the traditional pencil and paper quiz and worksheet routine. I didn't dislike school, I just never felt connected to these types of assessment. So, when I was browsing around, looking for different types of assessment approaches, I noticed one that caught my eye. Many of my professors even use this type of assessment approach. The use of a journal can be very beneficial in a plethora of different ways.

Many of our students will be good at traditional tests. But, many of them will be like me, and crave outlets to expose our knowledge. A journal is a way for students to be creative. A journal might be the only place some of our students will be able to elaborate on feelings they have. It gives them a chance to feel comfortable, and talk without being criticized. i feel journals have a lot to offer, and they are very easy for teachers to go through and assess.

A journal is quiet simple; or you could make it much more complex. Some teachers literally just have students write in them. The fact that they consistently write gives them full credit. Other teachers are more thorough. in some cases, they are graded based on a type of writing, or a certain topic. In other cases, they are graded based on length or effectiveness. In any case, it allows students to use their writing instead of close-ended questions to show their intelligence, creativeness and style. In my opinion, having a class full of creative students is far greater than a class full of good answers.

Assessment News from Around the Country

Made famous by the Save Our Schools march and protests from famous individuals such as Matt Damon, an assessment-related topic that has made headlines for months is students' test scores effecting teacher evaluation. The Obama Administration created Race to the Top, a competition that challenged school and assessment reform and awarded funding to those who created the best ideas. As a result, many states adopted new large-scale assessment programs and revamped their teacher evaluation programs. These teacher evaluation systems incorporated a focus on students' test scores as grounds for assessment, spurring a wave of protest from teachers and policy makers. Opposers protest that using student test scores as an evaluation method have no scientific backing to support use of such tactics. They also argue that test-based evaluations had led to a multitude of negative consequences, including narrowing curriculum, a rise in cheating, and a drop in teacher engagement. Many argue that No Child Left Behind and other test-based evaluation systems forced a teaching to the test approach or else schools fall behind in funding and are labeled inadequate. The Obama Administration remains confident that student test scores are an important factor to consider when evaluating teachers but should not be the only important factor, such as principal evaluation, peer-teacher observations, tests of pedagogical knowledge, review of teaching portfolios, and even parent or student ratings. These, coupled with student test scores, should create a thorough teacher evaluation and assessment program that more closely resembles the effectiveness of teachers.

As previously mentioned in this blog, the SMARTER balanced assessment was a product of the Race to the Top initiative created by the Obama Administration and the US Department of Education. It aligns itself with the Common Core Standards of Education, a multi-state collection of standards that focuses on preparing American students for college and careers (corestandards.org). A total of 29 states (including Connecticut) have adopted this system of assessment because they believe the question types, various items, and the way the test is taken will more closely reflect what is happening in schools. Since 29 states have signed on to administer this test, states will become directly comparable and adjustments can be made to reflect the needs of those students.

Another multi-state form of assessment created as a result of the Race to the Top initiative is the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC). Like the SMARTER balanced system, PARCC aligns itself with the Common Core Standards, as can be distinguished by the "Readiness for College and Career" portion of it's name. Currently 24 states have signed on to adopt this system of assessment. The vision of the PARCC system is that it provides deep and meaningful assessments that accurately prepare and assessment students' readiness for college and careers (parcconline.org). Interim assessments allow teachers to directly tie their teaching in the classroom to the goals of the PARCC assessment program throughout the school year. Technology is also an important component of this system as well and allow students to complete the assessments via computer.

Each of the two newly developed assessment programs aims to create a more reliable and demonstrative indicator of student success, which will in turn become more reliable when rating teacher effectiveness in relation to student test scores. These topics are and will continue to remain in the news across the country, especially with a presidential election coming up that has the power to once again adjust how we conduct assessments and teacher evaluations.

Alternate Assessment

As pre-service teachers and former students, we are all used to the typical “pencil and paper” assessment techniques, especially when it comes to mathematics. Although these assessments provide us with a number grade to show the student’s knowledge, we should not be relying so heavily on these and more importantly, solely on these. In my opinion, it is very important to assess and see where are students are at, so we as teachers can adjust and/or assist anyone who needs extra help or an alternate way of seeing something. In order to fairly assess our students, we should be providing them with various different types of assessments and then seeing from there how our students are doing.

When I went to research information on alternate assessment, I came across a quote that I feel holds very true. "Tests are important quantitative assessment tools, but in and of themselves do not constitute the totality of assessment" (Webb, 1992, p. 663). As I mentioned before, tests are a great way to see numerically how a student is scoring, but what if some students are horrible test-takers? What if they get nervous and score so much higher on take-home tests? We have to keep in mind that each and every student works differently, and by using only one type of assessment technique, we may be inaccurately assessing him or her.

Some alternate assessments I believe we should focus on more include: portfolios, sketches and records, constructions, written descriptions, records, journals, self-assessment, etc. These may not be traditional, but they definitely provide insight to the teacher as how the student is performing. Also, observation is key. We may not even think of observing our students in the classroom as an assessment technique, but this in my opinion, is one of the most important tools we can use. This does not mean that we observe every student all the time; we can even designate a certain day to one student and take notes on how he or she is throughout the day. With this, though, we have to keep in mind that we may be observing a student on a good or bad day; one daily observation is not enough. It is obvious that a bunch of other assessment techniques exist besides tests. I feel as if teachers should be taking more advantage of these alternate forms in order to fairly assess their students.

SMARTER Balanced Assessment

As a preservice teacher in Connecticut, I grew up with the CMTs and the notion that when I graduated, my students would take the CMTs. Little did I know, a new national assessment would be coming. Currently, the NAPE is the only nation-wide assessment that is only given to a sample of students. One controversial idea is the possibility of state by state comparison, in addition to the typical town by town ranking. Will this be a reality? We will not know until all states are a part of this consortium and the assessment is used in all states. 


The SMARTER Balanced is based on the Common Core Standards and is geared for grades 3-8 and 11. The idea is to determine where students fall on a continuum of career and college preparedness. English/Language Arts and Math will be included, as those are two main subjects in the Common Core. There will also be optional formative assessments included. There will be fewer questions than the CMT that need to be answered because this computer based test will change the level of each question to be specific to each student. The question levels will change with each question answered correctly/incorrectly. The test is said to have more than just multiple choice questions like many standardized tests. There will be multiple choice, extended constructed response, and performance tasks. In addition, there will be technology enhanced questions to make the most of the computer based aspect of the assessment.


Taking in this information, many questions arise. Will the computer based aspect of the test may leave some students from low-socioeconomic communities at a disadvantage? Do the performance tasks involved in the SMARTER Balanced Assessment attend to the science principles of inquiry and investigative thinking, like the Embedded Tasks that are currently used in CT? Many of these questions cannot be answered currently as this idea spreads across the nation. For now, I think concluding that many changes to the educational field are ahead of us, at both a state and national level.  

Assessment Techniques

There are many ways to assess students' understanding and learning.  Different types are used at different times in the learning process.  Pre-assessment happens before the teacher begins teaching a concept to see what students already know and if some students may have already mastered the material and need an alternative plan. Teachers can use this to design their lessons according to student needs.  This is an essential step that many teachers do not value as much as other types of assessments.  Teachers can use traditional tests as well as student surveys or students questions or comments about a given topic.  They could also look at previous scores that will indicate how they performed in that subject or area in the past.

The second type of assessment that occurs during teaching and learning is formative assessment.  While the teacher is teaching a unit they should design activities and monitor student work and projects to make sure students are understanding what they are teaching.  Teachers can then adjust their lessons and review information as needed.  There are a variety of ways to assess including observation, worksheets, quizzes, and response to questions.

The last type of assessment is summative and happens after instruction.  This documents what students have learned and understand.  Achievement tests, projects, essays, and debates are a few examples of summative assessments.  These are usually sorted into various assessment methods:  selected-response, constructed-response, teacher observation, student self-assessment.  Each method assess a different level of understanding.  Some types may assess declarative knowledge such as selected-response where students choose a response.  Constructed-response may require procedural knowledge because students may need to create something using their knowledge.  It could also assess deep understanding.  Examples of constructed-response assessments include short answer questions, essays, performance tasks such as a speech or presentation.  Teacher observation is another way students may be assessed and could include oral questions and observation of students working in groups.  This could assess declarative, procedural, or deep understanding depending on what the teacher observes.  Another type is student self-assessment where students evaluate themselves in the form of a reflection or survey or portfolio.  Again, this could require any of the three types of knowledge depending on the complexity of the task.