Article Review: We are not using Assessments Correctly

There are some general misconception with the use of assessments in the United States. The

author states that there are several widely accepted notion on assessments that are misguided. These

misguided notions include, “that we must first get the actual assessment instrument right, that there is

an important distinction between formative and summative assessment, that teachers need to

understand the language of assessments, and that we should drop test on schools like precision bombs

for the purpose of measuring a student’s performance and progress.” (Hattie 2015) Decades of research

from around the world on what matters most in student learning has proved that the major purpose of

assessments are in fact to provide interpretative information to teachers and school leaders about their

impact on students. The information acquired from assessment would be better used to interoperate

the needs of students and address the necessary adaptation the teacher needs to make to insure more

effective instruction and lessons.

In education we often use assessments to gage the progress of students understanding of

content. There is no doubt that this is an important aspect of assessments however it is more important

that assessments are used to assess the teacher’s impact and effectiveness teaching content.

Assessments would be more useful if they were designed to be more informative, timely and in

alignment with what the teacher is actually teaching. “Far and away the most effective teaching

intervention found was raising the quality of feedback on the impact teachers are having on students in

the classroom.” (Hattie 2015) Effective teachers assess the visible impact they have on their students,

constantly monitor learning, and seek feedback about their teaching, and then evaluate and adjust their

teaching methods based on their findings.

Our current system of assessments and results provide schools and teachers with a wide range

of data. It is crucial for the development of students and teachers to use the data acquired from
assessment efficiently and effectively. The New Zealand school assessment system started by designing

reports rather than test. The reports were piloted to ensure that the teachers meet two criteria: “did the

teacher and school leaders interpret the report correctly, and was there a consequential action from the

reports?” (Hattie 2015) It is not until after effective reports are created that assessments are designed

and administered. This ensures that assessment results and data reports are used to enhance teaching

and learning.

Resources

Hattie, John. EdWeekly. October 27,2015. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/10/28/we-arent-

using-assessments-correctly.html