Philosophy+of+Assessment


 * __Philosophy of Assessment __**

 Proper assessment practices are pertinent to effective teaching and the delivery of course material. There is a strong connection between delivery of instruction, engaging the students in learning, and assessing their work in a constructive and positive manner. If there is a disconnection between these levels the process of engaged learning for the students and teacher will fail. Assessment is a vital tool that allows the teacher and students to gauge whether the course is effective in terms of learning. However, before any instruction can begin to take place the teacher must know how they will assess the students by looking at course outcomes, objectives, and the goals for each unit.

 There are three central aspects of assessment that needs to be planned out before any planning for instruction or lesson plans are created, which is diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment. Diagnostic assessment gauges what level students are at and divulges prior knowledge that is pertinent to the curriculum content. It also allows the teacher to decide whether a student may need additional help, or if a student may need to be challenged more than most students. Formative assessment should be frequent and timely providing feedback in order to indicate what the student is doing well and what the student needs to needs to improve on. However, formative assessment is not the only learning tool for the students, it is also a learning tool for the teacher that allows them to reflect upon and evaluate their teaching strategies, and whether they are working effectively. If they are not the teacher must adjust their strategy in order to meet the needs of the student. The last form of assessment is summative which summarizes the student’s knowledge after a unit or as a year end test to assess what the students have learned and took away from the course.

 The most important factor concerning assessment is that it should not discourage student’s, or be perceived by them as an activity that is designed to assess what they do not know. As a former elementary student I felt this way about exams. Tests always seemed to be activities that displayed your weakness instead of exposing your strengths, or a way to grow as a student. The reasoning behind assessment should be to teach students about what they know and encourage them to want to learn and know more. To make assessment meaningful and constructive it is important to provide students with timely feedback in order for them to reflect upon what they did well on and what they need to improve on. Feedback must also focus on positively on students work, coupled with what the student needs to improve and work on. In essence non positive and unconstructive kills the student’s self confidence and internal motivation to want to improve. The end of education is to provide individuals with the skills and knowledge to become responsible and actively engaged citizens ready to contribute to society in a positive and constructive fashion. Therefore the purpose of assessment must keep in line with engaging students in the curriculum, while allowing them to improve upon their areas of weakness.