Planning to Assess progress
It is interesting to see how so many people want to assess studnts in so many ways. Today as we are driven by NCLB and the state SOL exams, many teachers believe that we are heading into the wrong direction by not allowing for creative thinking and problem based learning. Boudet examines the use of short term, medium term and long term assessments.Let’s examine each. Boudet (2008)
Short term is dealing with internal information. Usually we look at classworkand homework, observations of student classroom participation or we might inquire with the students as to what they are learning. I see this as good feedback with the exception that many students do not take it as serious as they should.
Medium term deals with internal and external information. In house assessments or benchmarks are used in our county. The benchmark measures their progress for a 9 week period or semester period. These seem to hold a little more consequence for those who strive hard for a letter achievement.
Long term, would be established by the SOL themselves. Do they measure true understanding and knowledge or are we learning how to teach an information assessment. The students do take them more serious as the consquence for faiure is not to graduate.
Since I teach anon Sol course we use projects and oral assessments in our studies. I see advancement in the student giving a presentation, or sitting for an interview. I see the imput and preparation that is needed. It seems to me that a legitimate blending of these assessments might be best. we still measure short mediukm and long term data just in different ways.
Boudett, K., City, E., Murnane, R., (2008). Datawise: A step- by- step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning. Harvard Education Press. Cambridge Massachusetts.