Debbie Price and Shelley Duben, consultants from the GECDSB, joined teacher candidates at the Faculty of Education

for a presentation on Assessment & Evaluation. They applied principles from the Ontario based Growing Success Policy for Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting document. They also emphasized the importance of incorporating frequent and continuous assessment techniques to foster an environment which is intrinsically motivating for success. If students are continuously assessed their grade is more likely to be an accurate reflection of their work throughout the semester. I felt they had a fresh perspective on assessment and evaluation and were truly passionate about stand the Growing Success document makes. Additionally, they provided us with strategies to tie feedback directly to curriculum expectations. Historically assessment has been used as a punishment, but it should in fact be used for students to set goals and gain greater understanding of the content at hand. If you are already a teacher, changing your ways can be daunting. It must be understood that this change should be made to benefit the students and assist them with learning. The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students' learning; not break them down. It is important to provide small assessments, some oral and some informal, to provide yourself with a wide range of evidence to support the final grade. It is most important to find out where students are, think about where you want them to go, and how to get them there. Each curriculum document now has an achievement chart and Thinking & Inquiry, Application, Communication, and Knowledge & Understanding are built into the curriculum. Teachers no longer need to fuss about including each component. If you observe the curriculum and specific expectations, you will be able to identify which component is being identified. Moreover they provided an explanation for the difference between assessment and evaluation: evaluation occurs at the end of a significant amount of learning and assessment is ongoing and on a smaller scale. Great attention and detail was focused on professional judgment as well. As an educator, we spend the entire class watching, making many observations, listening, and we have to take what we observe as our 'body of evidence'. The three assessments outlined in the document were also identified and differentiated between. This includes assessment for, assessment of, and assessment as. Assessment for is diagnostic assessment that is done during the task, assessment of is summative assessment which is done after the task, and assessment as focuses on metacognition. For a successful experience, it is important for teachers to spend timer reflecting and plan lessons, units, and entire courses with great care and attention. Specifically, teachers should plan with the end in mind by asking themselves "What do I want EACH student to learn?". Teachers can then identify the overall and specific expectations. Additionally, teachers must consider, "How will I know EACH student has learned it?". At this point, teachers must determine assessment and evaluation strategies and tools. Thirdly, teachers must think "How will I design instruction for learning? AND how will I respond when a student isn't making progress?". Teachers must design activities and select resources to meet students' needs, interests, and preferences. It is important to always be clear and honest. As an educator, you will know you are using assessment to the best capacity if students understand what they are expected to

know and understand why, when, and how they are being assessed. Additionally, students should be provided with opportunities for practice, the chance to revise, quality feedback prior to summative assessment, and self- and peer-reflections. These facets of assessment will give students the best opportunity to display their comprehension of the topic, chapter, or unit. Most importantly, students should know why the learning is of value and how to apply their learning to the real world. Students often say "I'm never going to use this", and years down the road they think "I wish I could remember...". If teachers identify the purpose of the knowledge they're obtaining they are more likely to be interested in the lesson, chapter, or unit. The last point resonates with me the most because I feel that once you know why you are doing something, you are generally more likely to buy into it. It is easier to commit to a task when there is a useful purpose associated and identified. The bottom line is that assessment must be fair, equitable, and transparent in order to maximize learning for all students. One step to ensuring this occurs is by translating curricular expectations into learning goals for students. Personally, I felt this was very useful during my placements, and it granted students the understanding of the purpose of our lesson. I began each lesson by identifying the learning goal and outlining how we would achieve that goal. Moreover, distorting achievement is something that should be avoided. We are not to assign grades based on a student's performance compared to other students. We must compare students' performance to standards - not norms. A few "don'ts" include: give points for extra credit or bonus points, include group scores in grade, and use data from formative assessments (including homework). In the real world, we provide people with additional opportunities, we don't do things once, we must grant practice and feedback before there can be assessment of learning. If a student attempts something once, for the first time, that should not be representative of their ability and thus reflected in their grade. If students do poorly in an instance in which they were only given one chance to perform they will likely be discouraged to pursue that subject area again. Moreover, they will not learn the material because the teacher will likely move on to the next unit at that point. Allow students several attempts so they can identify where they are and whether they need additional support or if they are on track. How many times have we said something along the lines of "Oh I just missed that? Now I get it" but at this point we have moved on and away from that material and it becomes a distant memory. We have the privilege to provide students with these learning opportunities and we should take advantage of this to their best interest.