How do standards and benchmarks inform assessment?
Assessment is needed to get information to help teachers
improve instruction and the start point is understanding the standards and
preparing instruction with the end in mind.
What do you want the students to know at the end of the unit and the end
of the year? Assessment should be a part
of instruction on a daily basis, on-going.
On-going assessment helps to differentiate instruction and anecdotal
records give teachers written documentation to help assess if students are
meeting the standards and chart growth in knowledge. Benchmark assessments can inform students on
student progress in achieving an understanding and application of a standard. It can inform instruction by indicating
whether a student is on target or needing improved in certain areas in order to
meet the year end goal. Benchmarks
should be done at the beginning, middle and end of the year.
What role can students play in their assessment?
The students should be in the center of their
assessment. They should be able to set
goals for their learning (ownership).
They should have a rubric to know what their goals are for obtaining
mastery of a concept. Rubrics should be
associated with the criteria for reaching a goal, according to the video. Ideally, students should be a part of
creating a rubric for assessment. The
instructor in the video suggested an evaluation portfolio for each student. This portfolio would only contain specific examples
of mastery of a standard and can be used for a grade on a report card. The
video suggests that having students take apart in their assessment can give
them an appreciation of their growth.
How can teachers prepare for high-stakes tests?
High stakes test are not always accurate measures of student
learning, because test a student only on one day within the entire year. Many factors can contribute to student
performance on the one test, given on one specific day. In my opinion, tracking a student’s growth
over the year (beginning, middle and end of year assessment) is a better
assessment of knowledge gained. Motivate
the students to improve and have a desire to gain knowledge to prepare students
for high stakes testing. According to
research, to help students’ p ass high stakes test is to access the rich
content knowledge the students already have.
As a teacher we should help students make connections to previous
knowledge to build the bridge between old knowledge and new knowledge and
predictions for future knowledge. The
curriculum needs to provide opportunity for students to be critical thinkers
and stretch their knowledge giving the opportunities to apply what they know.
How does assessment focus instruction?
Running records help to differentiate instruction it gives
the teacher knowledge on how to specifically help each student and the
class. With small group instruction, a
teacher can use on-going records and teach students what they need to know that
may not need to be addressed as a whole group instruction.
The information taught in the video are things I already do
in my math classroom. Open communication
with students and parents regarding academic progress is vital to student
growth. The actively the student and
parents are involved in mastering the concept, the more motivated the
student. With a motivated student who
has the desire to learn, the high stakes test will just be another test which
will show the students mastery of the standards.
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