Standardized Testing / Classroom Assessments

The focus of this week's readings is standardized testing / classroom assessments, in particular they make a point of the importance of having different forms of assessment and that what should be our goal is understanding how well students are doing. Like what most of our readings have pointed out at this point is that students have various backgrounds and identities that influence the way they think and learn content. This implies that we cannot get a grasp of their understanding through just one type of assessment but instead need a variety and should take into consideration of student involvement. 

In Classroom assessment of literacy growth and content learning, abbreviating to CALGCL, one of the chapters sections mention how it is important to have multiple and overlapping sources so that planning for instruction is appropriate. This reminds me of our Text-Set assignment and although I did find it to be a lot, it was also very helpful in giving me ideas of what I can include and how to think like a student. Although I will never be able to have the exact same interests as students, having multiple sources of texts that connects to their interests would be a good idea to have in mind as I and other teachers go onto making lesson plans. In fact, the location I am doing my fieldwork in has shown me that having pictures and labeling pictures when it comes to make is one of the best methods most students like to learn geometry.

Having student involvement is another idea that CALGCL brings up in one of it's sections as often times assessment are interpreted as an activity that teachers "do to students". This bothers me the most and I am glad is addressed in the reading because in order for any assessment to be effective I believe students should also be involved. Now when students are involved in assessments I mainly agree with point (a), (c) and (d) of the section Effective Assessment Involves Students and a bit iffy with point (b) assist in the creation of rubrics and checklists. Although this would be a good way to understand what are the standards that students have for themselves as they learn it could also be a way in which students suggest to make the rubrics simpler. I guess what I am trying to say is that they could make suggestions such as 'oh if they got the answer in the end then it's full points' and not ' oh if they got the answer right and if most of their work is showing that they have a good understanding that they get full points'. It's a whole thing that I would be glad to hear anyone else's opinion on this.

*Also sorry for the late blog post, I thought I had published this on Saturday😞

Comments

  1. AnnikaNovember 11, 2024 at 4:06 PM

    I wonder what more examples of "involving students" in the assessment process looks like. In writing I understand the theory, but i dont understand it as well in practice.

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  2. Wilson Caraballo IIINovember 11, 2024 at 4:17 PM

    I do agree that we need to ensure we have a variety of assessments. There is the old adage that if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. We should be assessing in many different ways to ensure we are gauging all students abilities.

    I will agree that I think the push to have student voice in everything is a bit overblown. I don't think we have to worry about students making the rubric "easier" that's why we are in the room, we can guide them to have high standards. However, I think it takes entirely too long to have everyone's voice in on these things. Too many cooks in the kitchen! It takes forever for us as adults to agree on the language in a rubric, I can't imagine doing it with 25+ teenagers. Don't even get me started on the kids who don't want to engage with this work. I would definitely advise going over the rubric with students though. It is important for them to understand what we are looking for specifically, without us there to guide them rubrics are a mystifying thing in education.

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  3. Sam Strain-GarciaNovember 11, 2024 at 4:57 PM

    You say that you would rather have suggestions that say to give full points if they got the question correct rather than full points if they show all their work and get the question right. I think that being able to put your thoughts on paper and being able to show that you know how to find the correct awnser is important because we as educators should be teaching how to solve problems rather than showing how to find awnsers.

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  4. Julian FaustoNovember 11, 2024 at 5:07 PM

    Using different assessment methods is important to understand student learning because they come from various backgrounds and bring their own unique individual perspectives. Relying only on standardized testing doesn’t give a full picture of what students know. Classroom Assessment of Literacy Growth and Content Learning (CALGCL) emphasizes using multiple types of assessments to better align with student needs and interests. The text set assignment showed me that using different sources, even those I don’t personally connect with, helps me consider the students interests in planning. In mathematics, for example, I've seen how students learned geometry better with visual aids like labeled pictures, which shows how assessments should match students’ learning styles. CALGCL also encourages involving students in assessments, which I think is important because it helps them understand what is expected of them. I think we should involve students in assessments in a way that keeps standards high but clear.

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