Reflection


 * Reflection**

Assessment is a vital part of education. In order for assessment to be truly meaningful, it must be authentic. Although we must participate in standardized testing, we should not place the main focus of our curriculum on these tests. We need more information than one test can give to make decisions about education. We need ongoing assessment to show the growth and development of students over time. We need multiple types of assessment to show strengths and areas to improve. It can seem overwhelming, but with careful planning authentic assessment can work smoothly.

When planning for assessment, the first stop should be the standards. We must take into account the content standards as well as the language development standards when ELLs are concerned. Language standards can be found from TESOL, WIDA and also the IL ELPS. The next step in planning assessment is the making sure the assessment matches the curriculum. Assessment, standards, and instruction are all intertwined and should always be aligned to maximize learning and validity of assessment results.

There are many forms of authentic assessment to choose from. Some examples include portfolios, holistic rubrics, analytic rubrics, hands-on experiments, problem solving, and checklists. Teachers must choose the style of assessment that best fits the needs of the students, the curriculum, and themselves. Teacher need to use multiple forms of assessment throughout the year and should always give students adequate practice with any form before using it for assessment. Students must know what is expected of them, so rubrics and checklists should always be discussed and clarified for students before any assignment or assessment.

Student self-assessment is a key ingredient in authentic assessment. There are many ways this can be accomplished including interest surveys, logs and journals, and self-assessment rubrics and checklists. Teachers must choose self-assessments that are at the level of their students and that will provide the most meaningful information for the students and the teacher. Self-assessment is very difficult for students at first and therefore teachers must spend time teaching students how to proceed. First, the whole class should practice evaluating benchmark examples of work. Using the assessment measures the class describes what is good and what could be better. Once this is mastered, the next step can be small group practice. Students can assess their own work in small groups using the methods learned in the large group. The next step after small groups is partners. Teachers can assign partners to best match students with similar or complimentary needs. Students will practice assessing their partner's work. The last step in the process is students using all they have learned to self-assess their own work.

Personally, I plan to try using portfolios to track the growth of my students over time. I will use the kindergarten report card as my guide for what to include in the portfolio. I will work with my fellow grade-level teachers to develop rubrics, checklists, and student self-assessments to assess the various elements that will be included, such as writing samples, math problems, reading comprehension information, and science and social studies projects. I know that this will mean a lot of extra work for myself, especially at first, but it will be worth it once it is set up and working. I will continue to fine tune the process until I have a portfolio that works smoothly and provides the best overall picture of my students’ work and development.