Assessment
inTASC 6: The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
Introduction
Every student has a different method of demonstrating their true potential, and it is my task to ensure that every student has the opportunity to prove their mastery of the content. To accomplish this, I include a variety of diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments to gather data on and track students' academic growth. Importantly, the process is transparent and students regularly reflect on their mastery of different skills.
Data drives the work I do. My planning and instruction is based around my students’ needs, and my understanding of their needs comes from assessment. Diagnostic and summative assessments help to scope out the content that needs to be prioritized in a unit, while regular formative assessments let me know where I need to address student misunderstandings on a daily basis.
Follow the links below to learn more about how I include formative and summative assessment in my classroom as well as engage students in the process.
Conclusion
Assessment is foundational to impactful instruction and meaningful learning. Data from my students provide feedback on my teaching. Assessments highlight patterns, gaps in learning, and progress in the classroom and for each individual student. Both my students and I can use this data to consider the effectiveness of our approaches and make changes if necessary.
In my classroom, assessments are used to inform the work my students and I do each and every day. Units are planned backward from the standard-aligned summative test to ensure every student is being assessed on the material they should be mastering. Depending on the goal, different types of assessments are planned throughout the unit to provide touchpoints for feedback and reflection on the learning process.