Assessment

It seems like an issue we are always discussing is that of assessment. I agree that standardized tests can be ridiculous at times. I do not think we should be required to teach to any test, but should have our own forms of assessment that allow the students to be creative and engaged in the classroom. After doing my action research, I do not necessarily believe that numbers lie, but I do not think they always represent the true progress of students. I had students that I thought made great strides throughout the semester in their writing, but my numbers did not always show a significant change. The number would change, but not as much as I had expected. I think that is what happens with standardized testing. Only the teacher that spends so much time with these students can really say how much they are learning or improving. Tests are not always accurate that way.

I also loved all the creative assessment ideas such as using feedback or portfolios. During my action research I assessed students' writing and tried to figure out if daily writing prompts would help student improve their writing. I also wrote feedback on each and every one of my students' papers that they handed in daily. I fixed their grammatical errors, but also wrote some words of encouragement at the bottom. The students responded to this very well and seemed to enjoy knowing that I really did take the time to read what they wrote each day. I also had the students build portfolios with these prompts. I figured the porfolios would allow the students to see how much they could accomplish in a semester and how a little bit of writing each day can add up. They were also able to see their improvements over the semester.

As far as assessment goes, I think we need to set goals for the students that are attainable and worth working for. Students do not care how they do on standardized tests unless it impacts them directly. The assessments we give need to engage the students and they need to personally affect the students in order to make them care about how well they do. However, if the assessment is creative, the students may even forget that they are being assessed in some way and actually enjoy the learning process. That would be ideal!