The main ideas of these modules
were about assessment and performance assessment. An assessment is the process
in which you obtain information to be used in making decisions about curricula,
students, programs, and policies. The chapter stressed the importance of
planning assessments and also gave examples of the different types. Formal
assessments are planned as opposed to informal, which are spontaneous.
Formative assessments are only to check the progress, while summative are done
at the end of the unit to assess understanding.
Performance
based assessments come in different forms, presentations, projects, and
portfolios. It is important for teachers to be clear about their expectations
and give students the know how of their grading. Evaluations are done in many
ways, such as check-lists, rating scales, and rubrics.
One
question I had was when do teachers use rating scales and check lists? I have
seen rubrics used as the most common form of evaluation in my educational
experience.
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Formative
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Summative
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Formal
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Planned and used to check understanding. A quiz over last
night’s reading
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Planned and used at end of unit. The test at the end of
the math unit.
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Informal
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Unplanned, used to check understanding. Make that quiz a
pop-quiz
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Unplanned, used at the end of the unit. A surprise in
class project on the last day of the unit to demonstrate knowledge learned
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You cannot tell whether an
assessment is formative or summative simply by looking at it because it depends
on if it is used at the end of the unit or not. A quiz can be a formative
assessment if a teacher uses it to check understanding and re-teach the parts
the students missed. This quiz can be summative if it is used to check their
understanding at the end of the unit and evaluate them on what they have
learned.
My teacher from my field experience used a checklist a few weeks ago before they had parent-teacher conferences. She paid attention to each student's behavior and participation during class and had a list of characteristics such as staying on task, participating in class discussions, staying quiet during quiet time, etc. She checked off all the characteristics that the student was doing well in so that the parents could see how their student was behaving and performing in school.
ReplyDeleteMy field experience teacher has also used checklists for various assignments. Last week, the 4th grade students were finishing up a two- to three-paragraph essay about a president they were assigned. Both the teacher and students had a copy of this checklist. The checklist contained items such as "Started essay with an attention-grabber" and "Listed the president's full name and what number president he was." After the students used the checklist to make sure they had everything in their paper that they needed, the teacher then used the list to grade their papers.
ReplyDeleteI think checklists are very useful, especially for younger students. As my field-experience teacher did, teachers can actually give students a checklist as a simple and organized way to make sure they're doing everything they need to be doing. Checklists also serve as an easy way for the teacher to grade students' work.
I think a checklist could be something that is used when it's a 'pass or fail' kind of behavior--not something that can be rated or that needs a more complex rubric.
ReplyDeleteYour last comment here--make sure you understand that an assessment is not defined as formative or summative entirely through timing. No matter when it occurs, if an assessment is used to push back on student and teacher learning, then it is formative (this could happen as a result of a final exam). If it is graded, recorded, and never used again (it is only used to determine understanding at that particular moment in time during the hour or so of the test), then that makes it very summative.
An assessment that comes at the end of a year or semester is often summative, but because there isn't time or utility in pushing back on students' learning and teacher instruction at that point. Even then, it's not timing that determines it as summative (though it happens to be at the end), it's how it's used.