HilaryMacMaster

MeasurementandEvaluation
AssessmentPhilosophyStatement

AssessmentPhilosophy

Asaneducator,wehavearesponsibilityfortheoverallsuccessofourstudents.
Intodaysclassroom,studentsofalldifferentlearninglevelsshouldhavethechanceto
excelbymeansofdifferentiatedassessment.Iplantoincorporatevariousassessment
stylesintomyclassroominordertohelpmystudentsbecomesuccessfulandfeel
accomplishedwithwhattheyhavedone.Inorderformystudentstoreachtheirhighest
levelofachievement,Ibelieveinincorporatingassessmentpracticesthatare
personalizedandfairforeachstudent.Inmyclassroom,Iwantstudentstoseetheir
progressandimprovementeachdaystrayingawayfromtraditionalassessment
methodswheregradesareseenasthemostimportantoutcomeofschooling.Ibelieve
thatbypractisingthesebeliefsinmyclassroom,Iwillcreateawarm,welcoming
environmentforeachstudentandtheirspecificlearningneeds.

UsingpreassessmentisastrategyIplanonusinginmyclassroomasamethod
todiscoverwhatstudentsknowpriortoanewlesson.Thisisawayformetoseewhat
studentsalreadymayunderstandandcomprehendaboutatopic,iftheyhaveany
misconceptionsaboutthetopic,andwhatIamgoingtobeabletoteachbasedonthe
leveloftheclass.Usingpreassessmentwillallowmetomakeinstructionaldecisionsif
Inoticestudentshaveanystrengthsorspecialneeds.Usingpreassessmentmethods
likeentranceslips,journalprompts,andsimplygeneralobservationoftheclass,will
allowmetohaveabetterunderstandingofeverystudentandwhattheyneedfromme.
Byimplementingthisstrategy,Iwillbeabletoeffectivelyplanlessonsandactivitiesthat
addressthevariouslevelsofreadinessinmyclassroom.

Aswellaspreassessment,formativeassessmentisanapproachthatIwillalso
beusinginmyclassroom.Ibelievethatusingformativeassessmentisanother
extremelyusefulwaytounderstandthelearningprogressofstudents.Formative
assessmentallowsforimportantfeedbackthroughoutthestagesoflearning.Iam
certainthatbyusingformativeassessment,learningwillbeenhanced,because
studentsareabletohearfeedbackontheirprogress,product,andprocess.Using
formativeassessmentwhetherinformallyorformally,willallowstudentstohavean
understandingofwheretheyareintheirownlearningandwhattheyneedtocontinue
workingoninordertoreachtheirfullpotential.Formativeassessmentshouldbeused
consistentlyforstudentstohavetheopportunitytolearnandprogressfromiteffectively

(Chappuis2007).Involvingstudentsintheformativeassessmentprocessisimportant
andIwillinvolvestudentsinthisprocessasoftenasIcaninmyclassroom.Ibelieve
thatbyinvolvingstudentsinthelearningprocessofformativeassessment,theyare
abletodeveloptheirownselfassessmentstrategies,contributingtotheirown
metacognition.Iwillalsohavestudentspeerassessingeachotherswork.Peer
assessmentcanbeaveryeffectiveformofassessmenttouseintheclassroomasit
allowsthestudentstotakeresponsibilityfortheirownlearningandsharewhatthey
knowwiththeirpeers.Teachingmystudentstopeerassessworkwillteachthemthe
importanceofmakingeducatedandinformedjudgment,somethingtheywilluse
throughouttherestoftheirlives,aswellasunderstandinghowtogiveconstructive
feedback(Garrison).

AnotherwaythatIwillbeassessingmystudentsisthroughsummative
assessment.Summativeassessmentisawaytoassessthestudentsunderstandingof
thingsattheendofaunitortopic.Summativeassessmentisimportantandusefulin
measuringtheunderstandingandproficiencythathasbeenobtainedbythestudents
(Garrison).Ibelievethatusingsummativeassessmentisimportant,butneedstobe
usedalongwiththeothertypesofassessmentandshouldneverbeusedastheonly
formofassessmentused.Summativeassessmentusuallyprovidestheteacherwitha
markorgradeattheendofaunit,andthismarkshouldbecomparedtotheresultsof
assessmentthatyouhaveusedpreviouslyfromformativeandpreassessment
(Chappuis2007).Thetraditionalwayofsummativeassessingstudentswouldbegiven
intheformofatestoranexam,howeverthismethoddoesnotworkforallstudentsand
summativeassessmentmethodsshouldbemodifiedsothateachstudenthastheirbest
chanceofsucceeding.Studentswhosufferfromtestanxietyandstressshouldnotfeel
thattheyneedtosucceedontestsinordertoreceiveagoodgrade.Iwilldomybestas
aneducatortotakethepressuresoftraditionalsummativeassessmentawayanduse
innovativeandcreativewaystotestformystudentsoverallunderstanding.

Usingthesethreetypesofassessmentinmyclassroomwillhelpstudentsreachtheir
truelevelofsuccessandfeelaccomplished.Ibelievethatinvolvingstudentsinthe
learningprocesswillincreasetheresponsibilityofstudentsandtheirwork.Byusing
innovativeandcreativewaystoassessstudentsinmyclassroom,Iwillbeabletohelp
allstudentslearnwithalloftheirindividualneeds.Iwilldomybesttoreducethe
amountofstressandanxietythatcomeswithsummativeassessment,andtomake
assessmentfun,extremelyusefulandmeaningful.Iwillpurposelyandthoroughlyplan
foreachtypeofassessmenttoensurestudentsandIcancontinuetogrowand
progress.


References

Chappuis,Stephen,andJanChappuis."TheBestValueinFormative
Assessment."
Educational
Leadership
65.4(2007):1419.Print.

Garrison,Catherine,andMichaelEringhaus."FormativeandSummativeAssessmentsinthe
Classroom."AssociationForMiddleLevelEducation.Web.