Assessing Students

Last week in education psychology, we discussed assessing students. Some people may ask, "What is the purpose of assessing students?" It is a good question to think about, and I know that I have asked this question before. One of the main reasons for assessments is to promote learning. I would like to think that I would still study as much if I knew I would never be tested over the material I was learning. I would probably continue to study subjects I am passionate about, but it would be really easy and tempting to slack off knowing there would be no assessment over what I learned. So in essence, assessing students is a way to motivate studying and learning. It is also a great way to measure progress and get valuable feedback about the learning progress. Most assessments help teachers and students. It can help teachers to evaluate their teaching and to know the best ways to teach students.


Characteristics of a good assessment:
R reliability- the assessment is repeatable
S standardization- the assessment and procedure are similar for all students
V validity- the assessment measures what it intends to measure
P practicality- the assessment is doable



Here is an example of an assessment that I would give in my classroom:
Each week we would have a list of spelling words. Each Monday, I would do a pretest to evaluate what each student knows and how much the students need to work on the words. This is an example of an informal, formative assessment. I would then give them the list of words to take home and study. Halfway through the week, there would be another authentic, informal assessment. We would do a fun activity or game involving the spelling words. At the end of the week would be the actual spelling test, and this would be a formal, summative, and traditional assessment.

I believe it is important to think about each and every student when giving any type of assessment. Many students get nervous when put under that kind of pressure. As I teacher, I am going to try and take the pressure off of assessments. I want every student to feel confident and prepared.