Final Reflection

Assessment can be used in many ways in a classroom.  It does not only inform the teachers, but can be used as a tool to inform students and parents as well.  Assessment for learning is conducted to determine where a student is at in their learning.  This is then used to structure future learning and determine what that student needs.  Assessment of learning occurs when the teacher wants to know what a student knows already.  It can be used to determine standards that they have already mastered or ones that need more attention or remediation.  Both are equally important in a successful assessment plan. 

In my classroom, I used both formative and summative assessments to remain informed about my students and their learning.  The information gained through these assessments allow me to better meet the individual needs of each student.  Formative assessments occur throughout the course of the learning and can inform me on what my students understand already and to know when they are able to move on to something new or more challenging.  Summative assessments occur at the end of a learning unit to determine what students have learned over an extended amount of time.  An examples of a summative assessment could be a final project where students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of a particular content.  Teaching through inquiry and the International Baccalaureate program already allows me to use formative assessments throughout a unit.  However, one thing I would like to change in my own classroom would be to use even more formative assessments.  I understand now that there are so many other options that I have not thought of that I would like to try with my students.  The formative assessments that I do use already seem to work well for assessing my students.  They allow me to monitor their progress as we move through the content.  They are able to show what they know in a variety of ways, so I feel more confident that I can meet their needs.  I know when students are struggling and when they need more of a challenge.  I can tell the students that have a deep understanding of the information as well as the others that are only scratching the surface.

Sound design ensures that the way a teacher is assessing students matches their set learning targets.  It is important to know specifically what students should know at the end.  During learning, assessment should match these learning targets.  Another factor in sound design is controlling bias.  There are four main categories where the different types of assessments may fall.  They are as follows: selected response, written response, performance assessments, and personal communication.  Different assessments like true/false questions or short answer questions would fall into these main categories.  In a classroom, it is important to vary the types of assessments use and choose ways to assess from these different categories.  Not every student will show what they know in the same way.  Some will excel on a short answer response question while others will struggle with writing their ideas out on paper.  However, that struggling student might show that they have mastered the content when given a performance task.  This is something that I hope to improve in my classroom.  I would like to add in some different types of assessments to give my students more ways to show what they know.  I have started using more performance tasks with my students and they have responded well to this. 

Performance assessments can include something like a demonstration or an artifact made to show understanding.  When a student completes a performance assessment task, the teacher is able to observe the student and determine their level of understanding.  A rubric is used to evaluate the task.  When thinking about performance assessments, it is easy only to think about the child actually doing something like acting out a play or singing.  However, performance assessment tasks go beyond this.  A student can create a product like a piece of art that shows understanding as well.  In my classroom, I hope to make some changes to the way I use performance assessment.  I tend to think of performance assessment as things like role playing or singing a song.  I want to introduce my students to performance assessment tasks that focus more of creating a product or artifact.  I can think of several students in my class right now that would benefit from this, especially creating artwork to show understanding of a topic.  I plan to review the content that we teach and find ways to add in more performance assessments.

First, organizing the record book is something that I feel I am good at, but there is definitely room for improvement there.  I would rate myself as developing and after reading the criteria I would say I score at proficient.  I have to share my data with parents, so I need a straightforward and organized way of doing this.  I have a great team of teachers that I work with, so I will give them the credit for why my records are so organized.

I would rate myself as proficient on keeping achievement data separate from other factors.  Looking over the rubric, I scored as proficient.  In kindergarten, this is easy to do.  We don’t give extra credit and we don’t give grades for turning in work late or on time.  Our report cards are standards based, so that is what the report card is based on. 

Because of the standards based report cards, I am always using the most recent information.  I update the data before giving out the next progress report or report card.  I would rate as proficient in this regard.  The standards based report cards are only effective if parents are able to see the progress made towards the standards.  We have needs improvement, in progress, and mastered.  If a student stays at needs improvement all year that should be a red flag.  However, it is my job to inform parents that their student is making progress towards mastering the standard if that is the case.

Summarizing information was a hard one for me to self-rate.  It was also hard to give myself a rating using the rubric because it didn’t seem to apply to me.  It was about converting to a common scale before reporting, but because we don’t give numerical grades in kindergarten, all of our data is represented in a common way in terms of the standards based report card.

Next, determining the grade I would say I score at developing.  Looking over the rubric, I would score as developing as well.  One thing that stuck out to me on this one was that there could be insufficient information available for the translation of data onto the report card.  Sometimes this is hard with only giving out symbols to determine progress.

I scored myself as developing for verifying assessment quality and I would agree with the rubric.  This is an area that I have already identified as room for improvement for myself.  I would like to review the assessments that I use for accuracy and make sure that they are quality.  There was also mention of making assessments accurate for students that have an IEP and this is another area in which I could improve.  I work with a great special education team, so they do a great job of helping us in this area.  I would like to continue this improvement and make sure that we are meeting the needs of all students in the ways that we assess their learning.

Finally, I believe I would be developing in involving students as well.  I do involve my students in their assessments and I don’t believe that they come as a surprise in the end.  However, I have thought of ways that I could involve my students more in their assessments.  Giving them other ways to show what they know is one of those ways that I plan to begin implementing.

I use my assessment data to inform my teaching.  After assessing, I can identify students that are still struggling or need remediation.  I am also informed of the students that are more advanced or are showing that they understand the material.  This helps guide how we move forward.  I use the data to form groups of students that can help one another and learn from one another.  It also helps me differentiate the types of work that they are completing throughout the week. 

My assessment data does not just inform me.  It is a great way to keep parents informed as well.  We have a mid-year and end of year conference with parents where we share data with them.  They are able to see progress made by their child.  They are able to identify strengths and weaknesses of their child which is something that I think is very important.  This assessment data is a great motivator to target where a student needs the most help.  The data can also be used to inform the student of their progress.  Because sight words are so big in kindergarten, I will use assessment data related to sight words in order to show my students their progress.  It’s hard for them to keep up with how many sight words they know, but when we break it down with the data, they have a better understanding.  It’s a great motivator for them.

At my school, we are fortunate enough to have an assessment tool called ESGI.  It’s a database online that keeps up with assessment data for our students.  It creates pie charts to show progress made by a student.  This is something that has served our parents very well in understanding their child’s progress.  It has given us a very easy way to explain to parents the data that comes from our assessments.  We can show assessment data from all content areas using this tool which is another reason we love having it so much.  It has really given us a wonderful way to showcase the data that we collect throughout the year. 

Another way that I use assessment data is through keeping a portfolio on each of my students.  This gives them an opportunity to reflect on their work.  It gives us a chance to have one on one conversations about their progress and how hard they are working.  It has been a great way for me to push students if I see that they understand the content.  It is also beneficial for struggling students because we can break down our next steps for them to move on and be successful.  They aren’t left feeling lost.  Their portfolio is based on their work and their work alone, so they don’t feel compared to their classmates which I think my students have enjoyed as well.

One thing I have learned in this course is how to reflect on my own assessment practices in the classroom.  I have learned so many ways to improve my assessment and why it is important to make these changes.  I am excited to have some new tools to take into my classroom and use for my students.  I know that these changes will benefit my students and the overall success of my class.  I have already started looking at some of the different assessments that I’ve used this year and how I can make those even better.  As I said before, I really hope to introduce different ways of assessing in my classroom.  I use some performance assessments, but I hope to add more as a way of allowing all students to express their understanding.  This year I have some very artistic students.  This is something that I would like to capitalize on and allow them to show what they’ve learned through different artistic ways.  Creating their own artwork is something that I’m hoping to use very soon and I can’t wait to see the excitement from my students.  I think assessment is thought of as a very drab topic, but it is so critical in education.  This course has given me some ways to make assessment more exciting and engaging for my students.

Continuing on with this idea, information in chapter 4 is actually something that I have taken back to my team and that we have started looking over to improve our assessments.  We teach several IB units throughout the school year and we assess our students in so many different ways during these units.  However, the assessment development cycle was something that I wanted us to review together as we add in new and different assessments.  It is important for these assessments to be quality material and not just something that we thought would be a good idea.  Learning more about learning targets has also benefited me as a teacher.  I feel that I am designing my assessments in a way that makes sense and that I can be confident them as I use them with my students.