|
How Do You Assess Your Students?
By Willard H.
Blaskopf, Jr.
I recently had a discussion
with some friends about assessing students in our math classes. Some
interesting thoughts and ideas came out of the conversation and I would
like to take this opportunity to share some ideas with you.
In the dictionary, assessment
has the following definitions:
To some of my friends,
assessment of students means giving tests at the end of chapters and
quizzes half way through. Their only goal is to measure what their
students do not know. Believe it or not, some of these fine teachers
still use nothing but the preprinted tests that the publishers of their
textbooks provide. They use no other tests but these. While I believe
that these friends are “good” teachers, I question whether this
definition of assessment and this method of “assessing” is appropriate.
How many people can truly say that they put the same emphasis on each
chapter and each section that the publishers printed tests do. Also, do
we put the same emphasis on each unit from year to year? I have tried
to convince these teachers to at least write their own tests, so that
their students have a test that reflects their teacher’s emphasis.
Truthfully, I have met with little success.
To me, assessment means both
measuring where a student is at any time, but also providing feedback
and direction for the future. Telling a student what they do not know
and not providing them an opportunity to strengthen themselves is doing
them a disservice. Not only do some teachers only give tests and
quizzes but they provide little or no time to review the test, much less
provide students with an opportunity to learn what they did not the
first time through.
I feel that too many teachers
define assessment as do some of my friends. Worse yet, some of these
treat each chapter as a discrete unit, to be taught and then forgotten
as the next chapter is started. They make no effort to connect the
chapters to each other or to previous chapters, much less to use a
chapter to forebode what is coming.
I feel that many of us
teachers need to revisit our definitions of assessment and our methods
of assessing our students. We need to remember that our students,
parents and administrators are assessing us. The state and federal
governments, while assessing our students, are indirectly assessing us.
I believe that the ways we assess our students directly affects how they
do on standardized exams, whether the test be statewide or federal.
How can my friends, who
believe that assessment is only the giving of tests and quizzes with no
real feedback and direction change? Not only do these teachers need to
be convinced to write their own tests, but must be encouraged to review
them in class, going over each problem that needs to be. Then they must
have valid “reteaching” materials available and must convince their
students of the need to complete this material. I admit, it is probably
more difficult to convince our students to work on materials not
learned, while still learning more, than to convince teachers to provide
these materials.
I personally believe that
assessment should provide a snapshot of a student’s current knowledge
and provide for students to have the opportunity to learn what they did
not. Particularly in mathematics, since most skills build on previous
skills, we must get our students to master each skill in a timely
manner.
How we assess in another
matter. I obviously do not believe that giving tests and quizzes is the
only method of assessment. For those that do, then at least look at the
format of your tests. Are all the questions of the same format? Do
you ask your students come up with just an answer, or do you provide
other types of questions such as open ended and even multiple choice?
Today’s standardized tests often ask our students to answer open ended
questions and worse yet explain their answer. I wonder how many of us
ever ask our students, on tests, to explain how and why they arrived at
their answers.
I am a strong advocate of
what is often referred to as “alternative forms of assessment.”
Sometimes, I wish that people would just refer to these as “additional
forms of assessment.” This distinction implies, to me, that while it
is okay to give tests and quizzes, we can and should be using
“additional” assessment forms so that we can get a broader picture of
our student’s knowledge and what it is that they still need to work on.
Math teachers can and do have
their students prepare portfolios. Math teachers can and do have their
students prepare both oral and/or written reports, both as individuals
or in small groups. Math teachers can and do have their students keep
journals, the contents of which range from directed writings to free
style and everything in between. Math teachers can and do have their
students solve and explain open ended questions. Some teachers even
have their students produce open ended questions for their classmates to
solve.
Math teachers can learn how
to have their students do any of these “additional” assessment tools as
well as how to “assess” them by stepping out of their classrooms and
attending workshops. What’s amazing, is that many teachers have
attended workshops on these “additional” forms of assessment and have
not yet tried them. If you are a teacher who has attended workshops on
assessment, please revisit your notes and consider changing your
assessment tools.
We as math teachers MUST
provide our students with assessments that we and they can use to allow
for continued growth.
|
