No Need for Anxiety: the Who, What , When and Why of Evaluation and Assessment

It is the thing that we tend to despise the most, but one of the things that is most necessary in education:  assessment and evaluation. This week’s readings focused on the who, what, when and why of assessment. 

Who: 

This is a perfect representation of how we can ensure
our assessments and evaluations are reliable and relevant.
http://www.ulm.edu/assessment/

We usually think of assessment and evaluation just being about students and grades, and it is, but it also is for teachers, schools and communities.  Evaluations help keep teachers and students accountable to their schools and communities. Grades are a specific way this is reported, but none the less, it is an important accountability piece.  These assessments also help us as teachers when we plan curriculum for a unit or a course, this backward planning will ensure that objectives are linked to assessment questions.  The various types of evaluations give students an opportunity to assess themselves on a project, lab or even correct written tests to anchor and re-evaluate learning. 

What:

“Assessment is used to evaluate the strengths and needs of learners, guide instruction, and measure progress and achievement” it is also “assessing what students have learned.”  Although these are the definitions of assessment, there are various methods to assess and evaluate student learning and performance. 

• Pre-test/Needs Assessment- I am starting to realize this is essential.  If I don’t know where students are at before the next topic or unit, then I could be missing many of them.
• Written Evaluations- These should be based off of course objectives. They can be multiple-choice, short answer, true-false and/or essay
• Rubrics- Rubrics can be used in combination with many other assessment tools.  I will be using a rubric for my floriculture unit, as a project will be evaluated along with other portions of the assessment.  This is an area I look forward to exploring and trying as I student teach, but also finding ways to make it simple for grading is essential. 
•  Task-Lists & Check Lists- I can see these being a large part of all of my labs.  In agricultural mechanics classes this is one of the best ways to evaluate students.  If this is combined with an end of unit or mid/end of course rubric or project evaluation, it would make it even more reliable of an assessment tool. 
•  Self Assessments & Direct Observation- I combined these two because I like the idea of doing both.  I have seen Mr. Masser keep notes of how students are performing in lab as they go about their procedures, this is part of their grade.  Doing this, but also allowing for a short personal reflection and checklist.  This could help students see where behavior expectations

When:

One thing that stood out to me when reviewing when to assess and evaluate students was length of assessments.  The longer the test, specifically written test, the more comprehensive it is and it is typically more reliable.  Time between material and evaluation should also be taken into account.  If various forms of short quizzes are given throughout a unit, then a longer unit assessment is not necessary.  Lab and practicum evaluations should also be written so they are conscious of time that it will take to perform evaluations for each of the students.  One of the readings gave a suggestion to

Why:

Part of this is because it is required, but it is required for good reason, as long as it does what is supposed to do.  The why can be summed up in a few questions, which will help me self-check my assessment and evaluation methods.

1. Is summative or formative assessment necessary at this point?
2. Am I assessing what I want to assess? And how am I communicating that?
3. Do my assessment or evaluation techniques provide answers to essential questions and objectives previously written and taught? 
4. Can students demonstrate what they have learned?
5. Is this appropriate for students abilities and academic and educational goals- and is it transparent? 
6. Is this assessment realistic to what a student would do in a career setting? 
7. Do specific students need accommodations or modifications?