Philosophy of Assessment

Michele Morgan
Assessment ED 335-01
Dr. Monsour
April 27, 2015

Philosophy of Assessment
When most people think about how students are doing in the
classroom, what grade they have is often the first thing to come to mind.
However, assessing students understanding is about more than just a letter
or number. What is on a students report card is simply a snapshot of what
they understand. In fact, it doesnt tell us very much at all. In order to truly
see what students are leaning, teachers need to look at more than just
students test scores. Assessment is more than just the final outcome. It is
used by teachers to make instructional decisions, identify if interventions are
needed, and for the purpose of accountability.
Education in the 21st century is about more than just making sure
students know how to read or have mastered their multiplication facts. 21st
century learning incorporates technology and aims to meet the needs of
todays students and prepares them for the world beyond the classroom.
Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are 21 st
century skills that should be a part of the learning experience. 21st century
learners are tech savvy, and this impacts what teachers do in the classroom.
The traditional method of direct instruction is being used in the classroom to
a lesser extent. Instead, students are learning through hands-on, interactive
activities, and flipped classrooms. Teachers should keep this in mind when
designing activities for the classroom.
Classrooms today often include technology such as computers, iPads,
or SMARTBoards. Assessment in the classroom should utilize these
technologies. Teachers can use iPad apps, such as Three Ring, can be used
to monitor student progress. Three Ring is a digital portfolio app for the iPad
that allows the user to add text, images, video, or audio. Teachers can use
this app to gather information on what students have learned over time and
easily share it with parents and administrators.
There are two main types of assessment, formative and summative,
that should be used in the classroom. Both types of assessment are
important in tracking where students are at in terms of their learning goals.
While summative assessments are often emphasizes as being the more
important of the two, this is untrue. Formative assessments give teachers an
idea of what students knows as they are actually learning it. Therefore,
teachers can help students with what they need and change instruction.
Examples of formative assessment include observations, question and
answer, exit slips, and worksheets. Summative assessments occur at the
end of a learning period, but may also be formative in nature. Examples of
summative assessments include tests and projects. Curriculum-based
assessments are based off of the criteria that are being taught in class.

Philosophy of Assessment

These assessments ensure that what students are being assessed on relates
directly to what they are learning and what concepts they should be
mastering.
One of the most important documents in regarding assessment that
has been published recently is the Rhode Island CAM. The R.I. CAM is a
comprehensive assessment model, which is a plan for assessing students in
the classroom. This plan uses data collected form students to inform
instructional decisions in the classroom and to help students meet their
learning goals.
Another important document concerning assessment is the Hanover
Research document on Mastery Based Report Cards. Mastery based report
cards focus on giving students more than just a number or letter grade for
their knowledge of a subject. Instead, students are assessed on standards or
topics. This gives teachers, students, and parents a better idea of what
information students actually understands. For example, instead of seeing
that a student has an A in math, parents would see that a student has
earned a grade of 4.0 for the topic of adding numbers from 1-10, etc. In
seeing this, parents can have a better idea of how students are progressing
in class and where they need more help.
RTII stands for Response to Instruction and Intervention. RTII is a three
tiered model for instruction in the classroom. Students are screened and
placed into one of three tiers, the primary tier, the secondary tier, or tertiary
tier. Most students fall into the primary tier, which makes up 80% of
students and is whole group instruction. Small group instruction is part of
the secondary tier, which comprises 15% of students. The remaining 5% of
students fall into the tertiary tier, which is one-on-one instruction. While the
tertiary tier does not necessarily mean a special education placement, this is
often the case.
Benchmark assessments are assessments that test a student towards
a goal or skills. An initial benchmark is given to determine how a student is
performing. After changes in instruction are made to further help the
student, the benchmark test is given again. This usually occurs after a six
week period. The results of being tested again, normally with the exact
same test, will show if the changes made have positively affected the
student. Benchmark assessments will be used in the classroom to monitor if
students are meeting their goals.
Diagnostic assessments are used to determine what a student knows
and where they may need more help, much like a benchmark assessment.
However, a diagnostic assessment will usually be given before the
benchmark assessment. They are most often given during preschool or
kindergarten, but can be given at other times. Diagnostic assessments will
be used in the classroom to inform instructional decisions and evaluate if
students are receiving instruction that is meeting their needs.
There are various ways to assess learning in the classroom beyond
testing. Students can also be assessed though projects or presentations.
Project-based learning is one example of this. Project-based learning is a

Philosophy of Assessment

method of teaching in which the learning is based upon one topic. Students
are then assessed on the outcome of the project thy created during the
learning unit. Technology and web 2.0 tools are other resources that are
becoming increasingly valuable for teachers. For example, the app Socrative
is an app that teachers can use to formatively assess students. Teachers can
create exit tickets or other short quizzes to give to students. Teachers can
view students answers as they submit them, which can easily be used to
inform classroom instruction.
As a part of 21st century learning, teachers need to consider the layout
of the classrooms they teach in. The days of sitting students in lined rows
are slowly moving away, being replaced with classrooms intentionally
designed to promote learning. Classrooms today can have more open floor
plans, or may sit students in groups to promote collaboration. The student is
the center of the classroom, and how teachers arrange the classroom should
reflect this. Centers may be set up around the classroom, such as a reading
area or a computer station, to focus on specific areas of learning.
Assessment in the field of special education may vary from that in the
general education classroom, but is just as important, if not more. Keeping
track of the learning that students gain in the special education classroom is
important to see how they are responding to the instructions that they are
being given. With that, we must consider that students receiving special
education services may need changes in the delivery or content that they
are being assessed on. These are referred to as accommodations and
modifications. Accommodations are changed in how the learning is received.
Modifications are changed in the level or amount of material being taught.
Modifications may only be made if a student has an IEP that states that these
changes may be made. Some accommodations in assessment include
testing students in a separate room or giving them more time on tests.
Examples of modifications may be something as simple as giving a student
fewer spelling words.
Grading practices in the classroom is an important part of assessing
students. Teachers must grade students in a way that shows student
understanding, and is not inflated by other values. Points awarded for
attendance, participation, etc. should not be used because they inflate a
students grade and do not show anything about what they have learned.
Teachers should create rubrics when grading student work, so there is a
standard set that compares all students in the same way. Tests should not
take up a large portion of the students grade. Student grades should
include multiple forms of assessment, including projects, worksheets,
presentations, homework, etc. A variety of assessments will be a better
representation student learning. This will give students a chance to show
what they have learned in multiple ways.
Assessment in the classroom is a multifaceted process, which needs to
be developed carefully to be effectively implemented in the classroom.
Teachers must consider not only which types of assessment they are using,
but also what they will do with the data collected. Teacher can use

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technology in the classroom to assess students and use multiple ways of