Assessment Notes

Q: Is there a difference between an assessment and a test?

A: A test is a form of assessment, but you do not need a test in order
to assess.
Q: Why do we need to assess?
A: To make sure kids are learning and to catch the mistakes and
correct them.
- Assessment is a part of the instructional process
- It tests learning goals
- Assessment positively affects grades, placement, advancement,
instructional needs, and curriculum.
Types of assessments:
- Quiz, written test, verbal test, homework, worksheets, projects
and any other assignments really
Assessment for learning (for teacher):
Ongoing (never stops), change instructors path
Examples: facial expression, questions, results
Assessment of learning (for student):
Mastery, did they get it?
Example: vocab test
Assessment as learning:
Personalized, initiated by students
Self-assessment
Example: internships
 Types of Assessments
Summative:
-at the end, teacher doesnt re-teach, EOC
Formative:
-monitor student learning, chapter tests, quizzes
Diagnostic:
-seeing what they know, pre-test
Standardized:
-same test for every student, same grading, ACT, MAP
Formal:
-To know what students know, measures knowledge, standardized,
essay, referenced
Informal:
-Evaluate student growth without consequence, behavior
Criterion based:
-multiple choice
Normed referenced:
-compared to other peers, GPA, ACT score, MAP score
Performance based:
-students are active participants, math problems, labs in science
Guest Speaker Reflection:
This is one of the more interesting and engaging guest speaker experiences
that we have had. The speaker had many activities for us to do, starting off with a
quiz. The quiz was over the things he was presenting to us, it was sort of a pre-
test and he used it as an example later on. So we all took the quiz, and then he
started his presentation. He showed us a map, and it was of all the yachts in a
contest, and their paths from one location to another. All of their paths were
different. This is what he used as his analogy to compare the different pathways
to students learning needs and changes. It was very useful actually to see how
students take their own paths to learning just like the yachts take different paths
to the same location. That was another thing that was highlighted in his
presentation, they are all going to the same place (but their own way). Then later
in the presentation he discussed our answers about the pre-test that we took,
and he taught us about the different types of assessments. The two that he
focused on strongly were summative and formative. Formative is when you
assess the students in the middle of the unit or lesson to make sure they are on
track for their learning. It is nice because the more you give formative
assessments, the more you can patch up any mistakes and redirect any confusion
about the lesson. And summative he said is sort of like a sum of the lesson, it is
at the very end and you wont go over the material again. It is more for the
teacher to see how their students have been learning and understanding. Then to
end off the presentation he gave us a little sheet with a triangle, square and circle.
With the triangle we list three things we learned, the square was one thing that
squared off to us and then for the circle something that is still going around in our
mind. A very creative way to go over something