Balanced Assessment Practices
Balanced Assessment Practices
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TQS: 3. Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge. A teacher applies a current and comprehensive repertiore of effective planning, instruction, and assessment practices to meet the learning needs of every student. Achievement of this competency is demonstrated by indicators such as:
applying student assessment and evaluation practices that:
accurately reflect the learner outcomes within the programs of study;
generate evidence of student learning to inform teaching practice through a balance of formative and summative assessment experiences;
provide a variety of methods through which students can demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes;
provide accurate, constructive and timely feedback on student learning; and
support the use of reasoned judgment about the evidence used to determine and report the level of student learning.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How will we know learning has occurred?
How will we collect and provide evidence of learning according to outcomes?
How will students demonstrate their learning?
How will students receive ongoing formative feedback?
How will students receive summative feedback?
- The only way for the teacher to know if students are learning is through regular assessment. This may be formal or informal but it must reflect the outcomes from the program of studies.
- Assessment must be used to adjust future teaching as it provides the teacher knowledge to tailor the learning environment to meet individual needs. Assessment must first be used for informing the instructional process (as a diagnostic or formative process) rather than as a means of score keeping.
- The types of assessments must match the instructional outcomes (a variety of methods are required based on the intent of the outcomes, for example: observations, learning logs, performance tasks, projects, tests, written / oral / visual communication of learning).
- The teacher engages students in the learning process by encouraging students to self-assess and think about their learning (Government of Alberta, 2011a).
- If the outcome has been adapted or modified for a student, then the assessment used to measure the achievement of the outcome must be adapted or modified as well.
- Criteria (in the form of scoring scales, rubrics) must be determined and created / shared with students prior to engaging in the learning process. This allows students to self-assess and encourages clear communication to students about the criteria expectations.
- Exemplars are used for reference and to guide and celebrate great student work (Curtis, 2011).
- The teacher provides meaningful, respectful, explicit and timely feedback to learners and parents and has a variety of strategies to invite family support for learning (Government of Alberta, 2011a).
- Feedback should be quick and specific for maximum effectiveness (comments, verbally and in written form).
- The most critical use of feedback is for the teacher to adjust instruction accordingly to meet the needs of individual students.
- Many successful "at bats" - students have ample, successful opportunities for learning so that they get to practice the outcome or goal independently. The teacher moves around the classroom constantly during independent practice to assess mastery and provide individual help (Curtis, 2011).
- Grades (summative assessment, report cards) must reflect a student's demonstrated mastery of identified outcomes from the program of studies (Teaching Effectiveness Framework).
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