Assessments

Assessment for learning is a formative assessment that is used to gather and interpret what level of understanding students have on a topic or unit. Formative assessments help teachers pinpoint what subject areas students’ understand and what areas students’ need more time and help on. Assessment for learning also gives feedback on where students need improvement and how they can achieve that. Sometimes students think they understand something until they are assessed and realize they do not understand as much as they thought they did. Examples of assessment for learning could be giving students a question that will require them to reflect on what they have learned and apply it or connect it to show in-depth understanding. Think-Pair-share is another formative assessment that requires the students to first come up with an answer to a question individually and then pair up with someone to share their responses and then come together as a class to discuss the answer. The teacher can move about the room and engage in conversations in order to assess where the class is at in their understanding.

Assessment of learning is different than assessment for learning. Assessment of learning is summative, which means teachers evaluate students’ understanding and learning at the end of a unit or class by typically comparing it to a standard. Assessment of learning is not to reveal where students and teachers need to focus their attention on like assessment for learning; rather, summative typically involves students getting a grade.  Examples of summative learning are a midterm exam, final project or a final essay.   Assessment of learning should not be used without assessment for learning, as teachers should be knowledgeable where his or her students are at and whether the class is ready for summative evaluation.  Assessment of learning should also be differentiated in terms of format and style as not every student is going to reflect their understanding on a standardized exam.

Assessment as learning is when students make their own assessment, which subsequently develops a student’s metacognition and self-evaluation. Students are given the responsibility to monitor their own understanding and discern what areas or strategies they need to implement in order to better understand the unit or topic. Examples of assessment as learning is discussing outcomes with the students, creating a rubric with the students, getting students to set goals and allow time throughout the course for students to evaluate where they are at in terms of meeting their goals.

All three of these assessments are necessary in a classroom as assessment for learning communicates to teachers and students what subject area needs more attention and the means to achieve that before students are assessed by summative. While summative assessment is important for teachers to evaluate students understanding to the curriculum’s outcomes, assessment as learning gives students more involvement and responsibility in their learning.

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