Q: What is the purpose of assessment?
A: Good assessment is multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted. It should be designed to address four major concerns of every teacher. One, it should provide meaningful feedback; that is to say, are students learning what I’m teaching? Two, it should be used to effectively measure instruction; in other words, is the instruction tailored to the individual needs of students. Three, assessment is used to assess and evaluate progress – are students progressing in a satisfactory manner. And, four, assessment must inform instruction. That is to say, it must be used to help develop appropriate activities that will ensure student success throughout a course or topic. In adhering to these four basic concepts of assessment, I use tools such as projects, demonstrations, portfolios, rubrics, and writing samples to help me effectively gauge each student’s progress and performance in a lesson.
Count on it! You will be asked a question about assessment and its value in a lesson or unit. Prepare yourself well for this query because it will come up in one form or another. Review those notes you took a few semesters ago or get a copy of that old textbook on assessment and evaluation. Know that this is a critical question and one that every good teacher – both elementary and secondary - should be prepared to answer. Count on it!
