Thinking Assessment

MTAC team was planning professional development for next year and one topic came up. That was the use of the CPS clickers. As we discussed the use and training in the use of the clickers, it dawned on me that once again, we are talking about a tool in isolation of its function. Assessment should be the topic of study. What is assessment, how can it be used to alter instruction based on the data gathered, how do we track the data and individual student progress. All these questions popped into my head. Of course, while leading the MTAC meeting was not the time to get into a lengthy discussions on the content of the instruction. Assessment has always fascinated me since I was a beginning teacher and thought assessment consisted of final or summative assessment given by way of tests. It was years before I understood that assessment it a picture constructed of many parts and pieces, one of which can be a test.
As usual, I hit the research process to see what others were doing and researching regarding assessment. I came up with a collection of site which could be a source for PD content.

• From NCREL web site (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as8lk30.htm)  I find, "Alternative assessment is any type of assessment in which students create a response to a question or task. (In traditional assessments, students choose a response from a given list, such as multiple-choice, true/false, or matching.)"
• Funderstanding has an interesting and short article on authentic assessment. ( http://www.funderstanding.com/content/authentic-assessment
• Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work has much to say regarding assessment. On page 222 they list the principles regarding good assessments. Very distilled, they say:
• assessments should be few,
• teachers should have a clear picture of student knowledge
• assessments should be balanced and authentic.
• team should use external assessments as validation of teacher made assessments
• assessment should be useful for students and teachers
• should help students clarify achievement  vs standards of learning

Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work  is well worth the read to get the entire picture of assessment and its use in student learning.

Assessment is probably the most powerful tool a teacher has. Without assessment data there is nothing to inform the instruction so teachers will teach what they think the kids need, not what they actually need.

Just some thoughts...on assessment.