1f: Designing Student Assessments

Good teaching requires both assessment of learning and assessment for learning. Assessments of learning ensure that teachers know that students have learned the intended outcomes. These assessments must be designed in such a manner that they provide evidence of the full range of learning outcomes; that is, the methods needed to assess reasoning skills are different from those for factual knowledge. Furthermore, such assessments may need to be adapted to the particular needs of individual students; an ESL student, for example, may need an alternative method of assessment to allow demonstration of understanding. Assessment for learning enables a teacher to incorporate assessments directly into the instructional process and to modify or adapt instruction as needed to ensure student understanding. Such assessments, although used during instruction, must be designed as part of the planning process. These formative assessment strategies are ongoing and may be used by both teachers and students to monitor progress toward understanding the learning outcomes. 

Danielson, C., 2013

Artifact 1f-1

Culture Assessment:  My Culture Pre-Assessment and Post-Assessment show my ability to design coherent student assessments that effectively shows if students have learned the intended outcomes. The post assessment not only has factual knowledge, but also contains questions where students can use their reasoning skills. Both assessments relate back to the learning outcome. Formative assessments are used each day to assess students' understanding so I can make the needed adjustments to help individual students. 

Artifact 1f-2

Single Digit Subtraction Exit Exam: In this exit ticket I effectively show my ability to design student assessments that are catered to the individual needs of my students. Danielson 1F points out that “assessments may need to be adapted to the particular needs of individual students; an ESL student, for example, may need an alternative method of assessment to allow demonstration of understanding” (Danielson, C., 2013). In this assessment I adapted to ensure student understanding by underlining key words and phrases. In this lesson I also take into account the different needs of specific students that may need extra help or are fast finishers.  I include not only a summative assessment, but also formative assessments where I can assess the students' understanding throughout the lesson. This includes whiteboard hold ups, whiteboard groups, and individual questions before doing the exit ticket.