Middle-Level Approach to Assessments

 

“How does your understanding of young adolescent development, middle-level philosophy, UbD, and integrative curriculum affect your understanding of assessment?”

“But whatever the project or problem, well-crafted performance assessments share a common purpose: to give students the chance to show what they know and can do and to provide teachers with the tools to assess these abilities.” (Furger, 2002)

I chose the above quote to start out my final journal entry of EDUC 3495 because I thought it summarized what the ultimate goal of assessments should really be and one that I wish more students, and maybe some educators, understood. When I interviewed a rising sixth grade student for my YAAP project earlier this summer, one thing she said to me was “I wish there were other ways to prove what you know other than tests – I will not do as well as I understand on a test.” I thought that was a very insightful comment for an eleven-year-old. And knowing the highly rated school district that this young adolescent attends, I can’t imagine that the only way she is being assessed is through traditional tests; however, it does mean that her teachers have an opportunity to help her better understand all the ways that she is getting to demonstrate her level of understanding. That in turn may reduce some of the anxiety she feels around more traditional exams and help her build a most positive outlook on school.

I really responded to the Edutopia article written by Roberta Furger, “Take a Deeper Look at Assessment for Understanding”, on the various approaches to assessments. The number of real classroom examples that were used showed that there is a creative and student lead approach that both engages students and is highly effective. This approach could help to alleviate some of those nerves that students have about assessments, like the student above. I also feel that the follow quote from the article is a philosophy that students should understand about the assessment process, “…the most effective assessment doesn't happen at the end of a unit. It's woven throughout lessons and projects, often so seamlessly as to be indistinguishable from everyday teaching and learning.”(Furger, 2002)

One ah-ha moment that I had when reading this article is that backwards design is not just for lesson planning… it can be used effectively by students as well. I had never thought about it in this way until reading about the geometry project in Eeva Reeder’s class at Mountlake Terrace High School. It is specially called out that the project begins with giving each student a clearly outlined rubric. If students start with the understanding of the desired outcome and goals of the project, which all good rubrics should provide, they are then able to begin outlining the process to use to complete the project!

I’ll end this journal entry with one of my favorite quotes of the semester: “Effective assessment is more like a scrapbook of mementos and pictures than a single snapshot.” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) I’ll make it my goal to help students feel like they are continuously adding to their scrapbook, rather than having to take the perfect picture on the last day of class.

 

 

References

Furger, R. (2002, January 21). Take a deeper look at assessment for understanding. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/performance-assessment-math

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design {expanded 2nd ed.}. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.