Assessment

I believe that assessment is THE most important aspect of teaching, and one of the most ignored. The truth is that assessment permeates everything we do, and should be taking place constantly in the classroom, at times formally and at other times informally. It should act as the roadmap for the teacher and as the motivation for the student. ZMS teachers know that assessment is much more than a grade – they realize that they are assessing not only students’ understanding, but also their own performance! Formative assessment should dictate instruction throughout each lesson. Is the boy in the corner confused? Do all of the students already know the material? Are they able to apply what they know? The answer to these questions will determine if a lesson needs modified as it’s being presented. It is the formative assessment, not the calendar or the plan book, that tells the classroom teacher when students are ready for summative assessments. Many educators – and I must admit to have belonged in this camp for a long time – refer to formative assessment as “informal” and summative assessment as “formal.” It’s easy to see why this association could occur, especially since many forms of formative assessment seem less involved on the surface, and because they, by definition, are ungraded. However, it seems to me that the term “informal” suggests a subordinate importance, a haphazard use, or a less planned implementation. Similarly, the term “informal” seems to imply that the instructional course is unlikely to change as a result of an “informal” assessment, in that it is not a “formal” part of the process. Formative assessment is the key to meaningful learning. What does the pre-assessment tell us about each individual’s baseline knowledge? About the entire class’s baseline? What type of differentiation will be necessary as a result? What does the exit ticket tell us about what students learned during a particular lesson? What does the homework assignment tell us about student progress? How should the teacher change instruction and/or future student activities as a result? All of these are questions that must be answered repeatedly in order for instruction to be most effective. Outstanding teachers plan formative assessment into their instruction, and, more importantly, plan on what they will do for students with various results once those the assessments reveal what students have learned. Summative assessment is what most educators think of when they hear the term “assessment.” The assessments are as varied as they are important. Tests, quizzes, homework, essays/papers, projects, presentations, class participation, skits, portfolios, movies, and powerpoint documents are all methods that teachers use to assess their students. Choosing the type of assessment is key in determining the way that students will learn the material. Whether grades should act as a student’s motivator can be debated, however there is no doubt that they do. Students will determine how much they learn by first determining how much they are required to know. They frequently ask what type of questions will be asked, how long an essay must be, and whether the “test will be hard.” Why do they do this? It’s simple really. They want to know how much to invest to get the return from their investment that they can live with. Teachers can meticulously plan a four-week unit, include an academic nugget per minute over the length of the unit, yet students will learn and retain ONLY what the teachers require of them in the end. If students are only required to learn information vs. learning how to apply what is learned, then only the former will be attained. In other words, no matter how engaging and well conceived each individual lesson is, students may not invest enough to retain or even initially learn the material unless they are required to exhibit this knowledge through some type of summative assessment. **Textbooks/Teacher Materials:** The textbooks that we use at ZMS are chosen after our teachers develop our curriculum. Those that best match our curriculum are chosen, but it must be noted that they are not written for the purpose of matching what we are teaching. With that understanding, it is obvious that textbooks should not influence how our teachers teach. They are certainly a tool that our teachers and students use nearly every day, but they do not form a sequence or outline that should be followed by our teachers. ZMS teachers are hired because they are the best at what they do, and it is they who should make instructional decisions, // not textbook publishers //. **This is especially true** **when it comes time to assess our students.** Textbook companies continue to develop extra materials for teachers, and those materials often include tests and quizzes. Unfortunately, those “canned” materials do not match the quality of those conceived by our talented staff. Rarely do the questions require answers for which students must utilize higher order thinking skills. They do not always draw from themes covered throughout the year or focus on the “small picture” without requiring students to understand the “big picture.” Bluntly stated, textbook generated materials mostly consist of fill in the blank, multiple choice, true false questions that only require surface level understanding of material. If ZMS teachers expect students to have a deep understanding and the ability to apply what is learned, then these assessments are not good enough. Assessments should determine whether students have met the standards, and rote activities cannot begin to do so. In short, teachers should begin their planning with the end in mind. Assessments should be first established, and then the plan to get students to that point should be created. **Homework:** Once the desired end is planned, the path toward that end must be created. Inevitably, homework and other activities will occur along the way. ZMS teachers know that every assignment must have purpose. It is the means to an end, not a time filler or “excuse” for a daily grade. ZMS teachers are never bothered by the question “Why are we doing this?” because there is always a good answer – and they are excited when students proffer such a fundamentally important query! **Evaluation/Grading:** Of course, all of these assessments eventually turn into a grade. Whenever possible, the focus in the classroom should be on the material and activities, not on the grade. That said, we would be kidding ourselves to say that the grade isn’t important – it is. Just as the assessments themselves change the way a student learns, so too does the way it is evaluated. Homework assignments are generally practice opportunities, and great teachers understand and evaluate homework accordingly; yet care must be given to make certain that students complete assignments with accuracy in mind. Ultimately, **grades should reflect what a student knows and is able to do with that knowledge**. While this notion sounds simple and self-evident, it is easy to allow grades to show other factors more so than mastery. Too often homework grades are inflated because students receive complete credit for simply turning homework in. Conversely, the student who fundamentally understands the material but does not turn in homework assignments may end up receiving a failing grade. In either of these cases, the grade does not accurately represent what it should. Interestingly, many educators believe that their homework assignments are part of their formative assessments, but at the same time, they grade the homework and penalize students who make errors or do not understand. The opportunity to practice (and fail) without consequence is important, and it should only “count” once it has been determined that students are ready. Another trap into which educators fall is offering extra credit. Extra credit is a foreign notion to me because it does not reflect what it purports to represent. If a grammar teacher does a unit on prepositions and a student does not grasp the concepts (for example, the student can’t identify a preposition, the object of a preposition, use the correct pronoun for the object of a preposition, etc.), yet the student turns in a thorough and well-written report on the life of Shakespeare for extra credit, the student may receive a good grade for the grading period. While we want our students to achieve well and make good grades, we want them to excel in the curriculum as it is written. Unfortunately, the student described above may have written a great piece on Shakespeare, but she doesn’t know a bit about prepositions – and that is what she was supposed to learn! Most importantly, evaluation of student work should never be a mystery. Students should always be aware how their work will be evaluated, and what is expected of them. ZMS teachers use rubrics whenever possible. Their review sheets and study guides are thorough and do not leave to chance what students will be required to exhibit in their assessment. ZMS teachers realize that they are on the same side as the students. To return to our sports metaphor, teachers are much like the coach who wants her athletes to be prepared to play well and/or win. Great coaches don’t keep the game plan a secret from their players, and great teachers make their students aware of exactly what they should be able to do with the material learned in class.
 * Assessment**