Chapter 12: Assessment

Assessment is a critical part of the instructional process.  Assessment is the tool that educator's use to guide instruction.  There are lots of ways I use assessment in my classroom.  I use informal assessments like observation, discussion, and questioning in the classroom.  You often can find out who is getting the material and who is struggling when you ask questions throughout your lesson.  During math, I often watch my students work out a problem and through this observation you can find where they make mistakes and guide them to make corrections.  I use teacher made tests and quizzes to grade my students.  I use tests and quizzes to pull groups for instruction.  For example, I may pull a group of students who missed the two-digit multiplication problems on a test or quiz.  MAP testing and benchmark testing can be used to monitor student progress and identify standards that individuals need work on.  PASS testing is given to my third graders, but the testing information comes when my students go to fourth grade, so fourth grade teachers can use that data to make instructional decisions.

One area where I definitely need improvement is using pre-tests.  For every new unit, I need to give my students a pre-test to see what they already know and help me focus my instruction.  I usually give pre-tests at the beginning of the year to see where my class is, but often stop by the second nine weeks.  By giving pre-tests, I can better spend my time focusing the instruction on the skills they need instead of spending time on the skills they have already mastered.  I also would love to do more project based learning.  We usually do a project or two every nine weeks, but I feel like many students who typically don't do well on testing can really shine with a project.

Using more pre-tests will help me better determine what skills my students need.  I will now make it my goal to use a pre-assessment before starting every unit.  I don't necessarily need to use a quiz/test format, but I could pre-assess by doing quick writes or completing a K-W-L chart.  I also want to use different ways for my students to show what they have learned.  By doing more project based learning, students can use creative ways to demonstrate their understanding, especially if they struggle with test-taking.