Please check out my inspirational quotes page for some new quotes inspired by my child development studies class!
26 Saturday Apr 2014
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in26 Saturday Apr 2014
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inPlease check out my inspirational quotes page for some new quotes inspired by my child development studies class!
12 Saturday Apr 2014
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Assessment Practices Reflection
As our understanding of children’s development grows and our classrooms change in order to incorporate this new knowledge, it would make sense for our assessment procedures to change as well.
Assessment, in my opinion, should be done for the pure benefit of the child and not the data collection of school boards and government bodies. Standardized multiple choice assessments are often used by governing bodies and I often question the validity of their capability to assess children’s true abilities and understandings. I also think that it is important to recognize that skills, abilities, and understandings go beyond basic literacy and numeracy outcomes that are often main focuses on these formal assessments. Assessment for learning instead of Assessment of learning is a much more effective tool in understanding the specific abilities of each child and what next steps are appropriate for that child. A variety of processes (i.e: reasoning, problem solving, making connections, drawing conclusions, managing and representing ideas) can be assessed throughout many subject areas where assessment for learning practices allow teachers and students to have a clear indication of what their purpose is, how they will be assessed, as well as student and teacher reflections to promote further growth. It also allows children to express their learning in a way that suits their learning style. For example, children can demonstrate their skills and understanding through language, art, music, or movement to name a few. I have personally found that since incorporating assessment for learning practices into my classrooms, my students are so much more aware of their skills and have become self motivated to continue further in a way that is engaging for them and appropriate to their present learning needs. Assessment for learning has a purpose in further learning where assessment of learning is just an end result.
I do understand that some formal assessments are necessary when concerns regarding a child’s development arise and as mentioned, I fully support any assessment that is for the benefit of the child. Since the results of these specialized assessments help us to better understand a child’s current level of development, they can be very useful in program planning and obtaining assistance from other professionals in the field that can support this child. Assessments in this area should be specific in its nature in order to avoid over testing and unnecessary stress for the child.
I also believe that assessments should be administered in a way that respects a child’s current level of development. In preparation for this assignment I spoke to a colleague who has administered a required basic skills test to young students for many years. The format of the exam is multiple-choice and has the children sitting for several periods of up to forty minutes each. Children cannot leave the exam, nor can they ask for help even if the content of the test is unknown to the child. She is unable to assist the children with this new vocabulary resulting in an incorrect response for many of her students. The incorrect response is not a reflection of the skill being assessed but the vocabulary that is not a part of the generation being tested. How is this effective assessment? Regardless of her positive approach and clear communication that this test is just one moment in time, she often has students crying, overwhelmed, stressed, and complaining of headaches.
Alberta students in grades three, six, and nine are required to take Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) in June of each year (The Alberta Teacher’s Association, 2014). There has been much discussion regarding the value of these pieces as a part of the assessment process. The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) understands the value of assessment when it is used for the purpose to better student learning. They do not believe that the PATs are of value to students and in fact have a negative effect such as student stress and unfair school rankings. The tests are multiple-choice, assess a limited range of skills, and results of the exams are not reported to schools until the fall of the following school year. Budget for these exams is three times the budget for curriculum planning and implementation, the more impactful means of learning for children. The ATA supports teachers in their use of assessments within the classroom that correlate with their students’ learning experiences, something these exams do not do (The Alberta Teacher’s Association, 2014).
Alberta Education is currently phasing out these assessments and replacing them with new assessments called Student Learner Assessments (SLA) (Alberta Education, 2014). These new assessments are in response to aligning assessment with the new Alberta curriculum that will focus on the development of student competencies. One major difference between these new assessment tools and the PATs is that the tests will be given in September so that teachers, students, and parents can have a picture of the students’ abilities early in the school year (Alberta Education, 2014).
As information regarding the SLAs is released, we will find out if any other changes to the format will be made and whether this type of testing remains to be a negative impact or benefit to our students.
References
The Alberta Teachers Association. (2014). Issues related to provincial achievement tests: what parents need to know. Retrieved from
Alberta Education. (2014). Student learning assessments. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/student-learning-assessments.aspx