Assessments

Assessments! That area teachers always feel like they are forced to administer but aren’t really sure why or what purpose it serves! There is always this gray area of what should assessments look like and how we should take the data from assessments to improve student learning. In addition, there is always this notion of how assessments are derived and who is behind them. For example, in my district, teachers number one complaint about assessments is that no one ever includes the teachers in the assessments. Rather we get an email dictating to us the following assessments are to be given, at this time and once completed you are to meet with your grade level and analyze the data. While this may seem fine to some, we have no idea why we are administering such assessment, what we are supposed to do with the data we analyze and so forth. This becomes very frustrating for teachers. We are never given background information and it becomes difficult when the students inquire why they are taking said test, and realistically we do not know either!

I found the video to be rather interesting in that I liked their model of the teachers were going to do most of the work rather than them doing it. I agree with the preparation of the assessment and how including the teachers, support teachers, administration, just to name a few is a huge component to developing successful assessments. I also loved the component of gathering all the educators and making it clear what the purpose of the review is! There are areas our district lacks significantly!

As a Reading Specialist in order to make sure students are learning what we are teaching them requires a few components. One of the main components is to ensure that the teacher truly understands why they are administering such assessment and what they will get out of it. In order for students to learn what we are teaching them, we as educators need to know why we are teaching them what it is we are teaching. Strengths and weaknesses should be identified within the classroom, school and district and such assessments can be derived. No good comes out of giving assessments for the sake of giving them, although some districts do do this!

In order to provide effective and meaningful assessments to improve student achievement, the student’s interests must be taken into account. A variety of texts should be offered and instruction should be differentiated to accommodate the various needs of your students. It is also critical to analyze throughout the school year and make changes as needed.

The district I work in utilizes the following district wide assessments:

PARCC

Dibels (grades k-2)

Standard Based Assessments (new this year)

SGO Assessment

Marking Period Assessments (has been replaced by Standard Based)

Of these assessments, SBA, SGO, MPA were not created with a group of teachers, professionals, cst, etc. They were all created by either literacy coaches or the ELA supervisor. While it seems these assessments are helpful, many of them contain errors that make analyzing the data very difficult. In addition to these assessments, teachers are encouraged to create their own assessments and can even create them using the LinkIt program so they can take them via chromebooks.

Overall, assessments are only as good as the information being taught. If data is being properly analyzed, assessments are created in the right way and used for the right purposes districts can see the benefits.

References:

Jetton, T. L., & Alexander, P. A. (2001). Interest Assessment and the Content 

Area Literacy Environment: Challenges for Research and Practice. Educational Psychology Review, 13(3), 303-318.

Wisconsin DPI. (2015, January 16). Leading A Balanced Literacy Assessment System: Conducting A    
             Literacy Assessment Review. Retrieved April 14, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?  
             v=uruFu6f-kg0