Reflections on Assignment 2

I think the authentic task of developing an assessment rubric and an assessment tool were relevant and helpful in solidifying what I learned in EDS 113 and applying it for a practical purpose. However, the project could have been much more successful and efficient if the group members had been working side-by-side in the same physical place. The asynchronous online discussion made this project more challenging than I anticipated and I sometimes found myself frustrated waiting to hear from my teammates. For me personally, I would have been happy doing more work independently, but I realize that a huge component of the assignment was cooperation, interacting, discussing, and making value-based decisions with peers.

Overall, I believe all or most of the intended goals were met in the online workspace and I think this was a good assignment for integrating learning, review, and application as we worked through problems, negotiated compromises and solutions, discussed key concepts and ideas, gave and responded to feedback, and were able to put theory to practice. I also appreciated that the rubric and peer and self-assessment held my teammates and myself accountable.

I will remember this experience in the future because I was required to be actively engaged in higher cognitive levels and work creatively. It certainly gave the FIC, T. Malou, a wealth of information about how well my teammates and I understood, applied, synthesized, and evaluated the information in relevant ways. I will use a similar group project assignment in the future because it is beneficial to the student in terms of learning and the teacher in terms of assessing progress.

Scores… What are they good for?

*See here to appreciate the hilarity of that title 😉

There is only one test I can tell you exactly what score I got, and that was a standardized college readiness assessment called the ACT. I generally performed well in my classes but the scores have had little impact on my memories and knowledge retention. If I received a high score, my confidence and sense of self-worth would be improved but it didn’t affect the way I interpreted my learning success. A score was just a number to prove to myself and to my parents that I was awesome (joke!).  But really, test scores didn’t change the way I thought about how and what I learned. Tests were immutable and my success as a student in general (not on a specific subject) was supported or refuted depending on score.

I think teachers can generally agree that a test score is a pretty poor substitute for a mix of qualitative and quantitative data summarizing student learning. A test score of 85% cannot be universally interpreted. What does it mean to score 85%? For some subjects, tests, teachers, or courses, 85% might be a wonderful score. Scores are certainly valuable as snapshot evidence of student learning and teacher success.   Administration, teachers, parents, and students all eagerly await scores to serve as the basis of various decisions.

However, scores shed a very narrow beam of light on an individual student’s ever-evolving learning path. One score cannot tell the story behind all of the possible factors influencing test outcomes. Was the test poorly designed? Was the student well prepared? Was the assessment aligned with teaching activities? A score is never enough to give insight into student learning and teacher effectiveness. For this reason, a mix of assessment approaches is ideal. Varying formative and summative, authentic and traditional, and informal and formal assessment types give a fuller picture to what’s happening inside a classroom.

The Influence of Assessment Styles on Learning

My impression of formative assessment is that its nature is much less disruptive than summative assessment. Late-night cramming and intense review would be unnecessary as the skills/knowledge would have already been learned or applied in daily lessons, activities, and homework. But these intense review sessions were essential in preparing for the summative, formal, traditional assessments that characterized much of my schooling.

In my education, tests and exams always meant several days of reviewing and memorizing months’ worth of lecture notes containing principles, theories, and facts. All other activities and commitments would fall by the wayside to devote any spare moment to soak up last-minute knowledge. The assessment itself was usually an hour-long and I was never exactly sure what would be asked. Teachers would say that anything from the semester was fair game for the exam, meaning I needed to be prepared to recall as much information as possible to prove my competence in the subject area. And after the exam, I can’t really say how much the information endured. What skills, principles, and knowledge do I remember from my art history class in university? Not much that could serve me now.

Formative, informal, and alternative assessments are much preferable for both teacher and student with the exception that it doesn’t provide an objective numerical value or grade. The information gathered from formative, informal, and alternative assessments can better gauge the quality of student learning and serve as a rudder to direct further teaching. These types of assessments require some careful planning on behalf of the teacher, but students should be prepared simply through being engaged in daily lessons, actives, and homework. The test prep should be relatively stress-free if a student has applied a reasonable amount of effort in class. Creativity is encouraged and students can express their knowledge and skills in a way that is meaningful to them, which can tell a teacher a lot about what he/she has achieved as a learner.

My preference both as an assessment administrator and a learner is for formative, indirect, alternative assessments. I think it is important to change the way we’re assessing students so that it reflects are teaching goals. As a teacher, do you really want your legacy to be educating youngsters on how to be amazingly proficient test takers? Personally, I’d prefer to be remembered as inspiring students to use new skills and knowledge in useful ways that are applicable outside the classroom. Better to be help students become dynamic members of society and contribute to a stronger, brighter community than teaching them how to pass a test.

Needs and Wants of Assessment, Assessment Cycles

How do you feel about being assessed?  Do you believe that you need to be assessed; do you want to be assessed?   Is there a misalignment between your “needs” and “wants” about being assessed?  

            Assessment is stressful for me as a learner. I do believe I need to be assessed, and I want that opportunity to share (prove?) what I have learned. However I’ve had a handful of testing experiences in which I felt prepared but performed poorly on an exam. This could be due to poor test validity or misaligned learning outcomes and assessment methods. However, having these negative experiences continues to contribute to the anxiety and sense of urgency I often feel when taking a test. I mostly feel that assessments in the later part of my educational career have been assessments of learning used to determine if I will pass a course or not.

As a student, I would like to have more assessment as learning and for learning.   These types of assessments are less stressful and the emphasis is on improving and enriching the learning process for myself and to track growth in understanding and readiness for more complicated material, rather than for the teacher’s grade book. Learning is more enjoyable when assessment is formative and incorporated into the lesson. When you are focused, hardworking, and thoughtful, you would hope that your assessment results would reflect the same.

I was so relieved to see that the quiz for modules 1 and 2 in this course allowed multiple attempts. I felt more relaxed about having opportunities to review my answers and consider new perspectives for incorrect responses. I was able to focus on the questions instead of worrying about what my score would be. I was surprised that the correct answer was given in the feedback, as I expected to be scrambling to figure out which questions were incorrect and why. This was clearly a learning experience for me in that I was able to spend time with the material and actually enjoyed combing through the questions to see where I erred.

How do you perceive the way teachers commonly practice assessment–cyclical or linear-terminal?  Why do you say so?

I think most teachers commonly practice cyclical assessment, providing they teach similar ages and subjects year after year. It’s natural for any good teacher to want to improve her job performance, help the flow of classes to run more smoothly, engage more effectively with her students, and feel more organized and efficient. These are symptoms of cyclical assessment. A teacher’s curriculum is streamlined as she learns from past mistakes or futility.

What makes a good teacher better is using this logic to consciously, thoughtfully plan desired outcomes, experiment with and revise teaching activities, review student work and performance, then make informed decisions to take the necessary steps to improve the content and strategies for the next class. Cyclical assessment is about being metacognitive and self-aware of your own teaching. The behind-the-scenes assessment work makes all the difference for future teaching.

Assessments in My Own Education (Module 1)

Recalling my elementary (grade) school days doesn’t bring a lot of formal testing to mind.  Instead I remember receiving quarterly progress reports with check-marks in the corresponding columns: Excellent, Good, Fair, Developing.  I lived for Excellent marks.  Excellent and Good marks meant my parents would treat me to a special dinner at a restaurant of my choice.  I feel lucky that I wasn’t put through rigorous, formal testing as a child.  Assessments at my elementary school must have been predominantly informal, observation-based, and focused on classroom performance.  I can see the value was placed on the learning process, as my check-marks usually started in Fair and Good and improved to Good and Excellent toward the middle and end of the year. The qualitative nature of assessment took the focus off of numeric grades and onto thoughtful learning.

My school district did have standardized, state-wide achievement tests every couple of years.  The exams were stressful for teachers who were asked to ‘teach to the test’ so that we would all pass and that the school would continue to get funding.  For weeks leading up to the math portion of the tests, we would practice similarly worded problems and how to answer them according to grading guidelines.  What’s funny about these tests is that all regular learning was suspended in order to jump us through the bureaucratic hurdles of the American education system.

My high school classes involved significantly more testing and performance-based assessments.  Most evaluations were essay prompts that allowed students to demonstrate knowledge more fully than a multiple choice or true-false test.  Numerous projects and presentations were also required.  This formative approach to assessment was useful in keeping tabs on student learning and effort.  I’m sure it was easy to spot students who weren’t performing at the same level as their peers.  It would have been easier to get those students the support and guidance they needed to get back on track.

I think assessment activities say much more about the educational institution than they do about the teachers.  I say this because I have worked at a school whose primary focus was preparing students for international university exams.  The school aimed to groom students for testing.  As a teacher I found it hard to adjust to the strict testing environment and the frequency of evaluations.  There seemed to be far too many tests, leaving far too little time for learning experiences.