I am going to start by evaluating the various assessment
methods that are used in the classroom. Then, I will talk about my opinions
regarding standardized tests and the academic standards.
Authentic assessment is an extremely important element of
the elementary literacy classroom. Students need to be assessed on their
reading progress in order to drive instruction. The best way to do this is by
having multiple different types of assessments that show what a student knows.
Since reading is a complex skill, it makes sense that it would take a lot of
different types off assessments to track progress in the many literacy skills
that must be learned. Out of the types of assessment in the chapter, I have
determined that I am most interested in audio recordings, video, conferences,
running records, and informal inventories. While all of the assessments
suggested could work in the classroom, I think the ones I listed above could
lead to the deepest insight on a child’s reading skills. Recordings and video
could expose issues and strengths that could have been overlooked during the
assessment. Why just write down a few notes for each student when you could
have an archive of entire assessments that you can pick apart and look up at
any time? With these things I could write down initial notes, and then take
more notes when I watch or listen to the recording. I could also use these
recordings to help explain things to students, parents, and principals. Conferences are a useful tool because you can
get to know students, and start to develop a working relationship and a plan
for improvement. I wish my teachers met with me individually more often. I
think both parties learn a lot, and children in particular get to know their
teacher cares about them and their success. I think running records are a great
way to find out what the reading levels are for students, and informal
inventories seem like a great way to track student comprehension levels. I
especially like the documentation that each of these methods provide.
I believe that academic standards are completely necessary
tools in classrooms. They hold teachers and students to expectations, and they
give a timeline for mastery. The school system needs standards that each
individual grade works towards. It provides uniformity in the system, it allows
students and teachers to move from place to place with standards being similar
across schools, and most importantly it ensures every school is giving students
a quality education.
I think it would be great to have standardized tests if the
tests themselves did a better job of measuring what a child knows about a given
subject. A lot of research has been done, and it shows that the current testing
system discriminates and doesn’t provide a complete accurate measure of student
progress. This is unacceptable. If we are going to use these tests as the
backbone of measuring the quality of schools and teacher, they should be done
differently. Politicians want to hold schools accountable for their success and
failures, so why can’t they test schools in more appropriate and research based
ways?
Thanks for your post! You put a lot of different things in this post! I really liked some of the points that you made. I think the point you made, Out of the types of assessment in the chapter, I have determined that I am most interested in audio recordings, video, conferences, running records, and informal inventories." was a very helpful statement. I really couldn't agree more especially for younger students! We do need to get our students ready for standardized testing, because if we like it or not our students will be doing it. I agree with the other things you said though! There are much better ways of testing students. Most things in school don't really transfer to the outside world, so I think that we need to prepare our students in better ways. We have already seen that these standardized tests aren't a good enough indicator of how our students are doing so we need to do better.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there needs to be many different types of assessments. Language arts is not only reading and writing, but also, listening and speaking. You can't evaluate all of these one simple. Plus assessing students in different ways can give us more feedback to understand the students better. I also really like the recording idea since you can go back and review the whole interaction instead of just notes you wrote on a paper. The only concern I had was about the students being aware of it being recording. If they are, it could possible make a student more nervous and not do his or her best.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your thoughts on academic standards and standardized testing. We definitely need standards. What else would we base what we taught on? Everyone could be teaching completely different things and the teachers in the next grade will have no consistency in what his or her students know. Also, the testing does need to be revised in some way. We have the research on what works best when assessing students. We just need to apply this knowledge!
I agree there needs to be many types of assessments for reading. Reading is such a large part in everyday life, and is very important to learn. We are told to teach in different ways to reach every student, so why not give assessments that vary for each type of student.
ReplyDeleteI also agree standards are an important part of school. Without them no one would have an idea on what to teach. You could have one student come into your class knowing multiplication, and another one only knowing addition. It makes everything for us so much easier.
I agree with the fact that since every student is different, we as teachers should develop different types of assessments, for reading as well as other subjects across the board. What potential problems do you think could arise by using so many different types of assessment?
ReplyDeleteGoing off of the different types of assessment, how do you feel about standardized testing? You mentioned that they could be great as long as we change them from what they are now to make them more useful. What can we do about standardized testing to make it a more effective tool? And if changes aren't made, should they be kept as one of the modes of student assessment, or should they be done away with completely?
I tend to think the more assessment the better. The more data you collect the more accurate the assessments can be. Just as if you were doing a science experiment. When you administer an evaluation there are outside variables that can alter the results. A student may have test anxiety, they may not feel good on the day of assessment, they could have had a rough morning at home. I would say the only problem that may arise is too much time taken on assessment.
DeleteBecause I believe the more data the better, I don't mind the idea of standardized testing. However, the standardized tests used today are not the best indicators of a student's knowledge. I think more proven types of assessments should be used, or multiple types of assessments should be utilized. If changes aren't made I don't necessarily want to use them as a mode for student assessment, but we don't have a choice in the matter. We have to do what administration tells us to do to improve instruction based on what standardized tests indicate as strengths and weaknesses in the classroom.
Cooper, your post was really interesting. I liked your insight on the idea of standardized testing, but I have to disagree with the idea that they could ever be a good way to assess children. I think they are idealistic, but definitely not realistic. The point of a standardized test is that it is the same for every child, but no two children will ever be exactly the same. Because of this, I don't think that standardized tests could ever measure what any two students know about a subject. Additionally, it's not fair that there is automatically comparison of the students with standardized testing. It is unavoidable. I agree that politicians need to look at a multitude of assessment strategies in order to evaluate schools.
ReplyDeleteI agree that politicians and administrators should be looking at a multitude of assessment strategies. Standardized tests that we are using today may be idealistic, but if they were changed I think they could help teachers and schools know what they need to do to improve. Teacher's already use data from the tests to help guide instruction, but the problem is that the tests are not the best indicators of what students actually know. So why don't politicians decide to take advantage of the many types of assessment? Hold schools and teachers accountable by examining and tracking all the assessments that teachers use in their classrooms. Or, structure the standardized tests to be more like the assessments that are proven to help teachers teach and students grow.
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