Assessment Literacy: Personal Reflection

Assessment to me means the evaluation of student growth. I believe that my understanding of assessment and the components that make reliable and valid areas to gauge student learning is evident in the way I like to teach my class. Classrooms have changed and evolved into something more collaborative than simply having a teacher stand at the front of the class giving instruction while students sit, listen and take notes on the lesson. Teachers should be expert observers, gathering information and keeping track of students' individual learning.

Within the classroom, I find it's important to gain an understanding of each individual student. This means understanding where they are at and what areas need to be improved or modified so they can succeed. I think part of this is learning how to see patterns within the assessments provided to each student. Seeing where students struggle, - for example, on written tests - and where they succeed - for example, in projects/oral presentations - can tell you what the student needs in order to show their learning. This is obviously not the case with every student, some struggle with the material or become disengaged from the class due to multiple different things such as environment, home life, mental state, ect... It's at that point where you need to look beyond the assessment.

Generally, to assure classroom assessments are not influenced by systematic and random error, I would provide opportunities for students to show what they know in a variety of ways. This means allowing students choice - choice of topic, choice of how to submit, etc… I would also allow students to retake the tests should they get below a certain percentage. This helps with test anxiety and provides you with more opportunities to gain reliable and valid marks as some students may come into test day having a bad mental day or having had something happen before coming to school that affects their cognitive abilities. Finally, I would grade most, if not all, projects and major assessments at one time, perhaps at the end of the unit in question. This allows for my grading to be reliable and valid as it makes sure that my expectations are not in one place one month and then adjusted the next as we go through a semester.

I also like to provide students with the premise that if they need more time to do a project, they must simply ask for that extension. We would also be able to go over due dates together as a class as it would provide opportunity for connections to be made. I think overall my assessment literacy boils down to being able to understand that students are human and life happens to all of us. This mindset allows me to not only implement the growth mindset methods seen in growing success but also create and cultivate relationships with my students as relationships are key to classroom success - especially with classroom management.