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Minutes with Charlie - 16
By Charlie | May 3, 2008
An important part of harvesting the benefits of a quality assessment program lies in the proper and effective use of data garnered from the assessments. In the last few Minutes we have examined the traits and development of summative assessments of assessment of learning. We will now examine the proper and effective use of data generated from the assessments of learning.
A guiding principle in our discussion will be the difference between the purposes of the data from assessment for and assessment of learning. Data from assessment for learning provide information teachers and students should use, in the course of instruction and learning, to make decision to improve instruction and learning at that point in time. Data from assessment of learning provide information for teachers and administrators, after the instruction is completed, to make decision regarding the instruction and curriculum for the next time the unit of study is taught. In simple terms, data from assessment for learning are used now, and data from assessment of learning will be used later.
Upon the completion of a unit of study, the results of a summative assessment will reveal the level of mastery that students attained over the course of study. Assuming we have a quality summative assessment, this potentially allows us to examine the quality and effectiveness of three areas in the learning progress. Each area requires a considerable amount of openness and honesty as we evaluate. We will look at each one briefly.
It seems that the results of a summative assessment can fall into three broad categories: everyone passed marvelously, everyone failed miserably, or the scores were distributed somewhere between the two extremes.
The results of a summative assessment potentially allow us to examine the quality and effectiveness of our curriculum. As we examine the results, we should ask ourselves, what information do these results give me about the content or pacing of our curriculum? We should examine our curriculum in light of our results.
Also summative assessment results allow us to examine our instruction. As we examine our results we should ask ourselves questions about how effectively our instructional methods met the learning needs of all students. Did I vary learning opportunity to meet varied learning styles? Did I effectively use the results of assessments for learning during the unit to change my instructional decisions or did I just plow along as planned? Examining instruction in light of assessment results is at once a very difficult but beneficial activity.
Finally, summative assessment results allow us to examine our formative assessments or assessment for learning. If our assessment for learning results indicated that students were progressing as they should, and our summative assessment indicated that a considerable group did not perform as expected, there most probably was a problem with the formative assessments. As we look at our formative assessments in light of our summative results, we should examine both the quality of the assessments as well as they way in which results were used to improve instruction and learning.
We must begin to look at the data from summative assessments as more than simply “a grade at the end of the unit”. They must serve as information to improve our curriculum, instruction, and assessment programs.
Personal Reflection: Am I in the habit of using summative results to examine the quality of my curriculum, assessment, and instruction? Do I do this as a member of a team of teachers?
Topics: Data, Minutes with Charlie |