10 questions to ask yourself before giving an assessment:

1). What's the point and purpose of the assessment?

2). Is this a preventative check-up (formative) type assessment or an autopsy (summative) type assessment?

3). Did your students have any voice and input into the assessment design and/or assessment process?

4). Are you able to assess more than one learning objective/goal with this assessment or is the assessment isolated to one specific learning objective/goal?

5). Is the assessment aligned to what you are currently teaching in a format similar to the way you've been conducting your instruction?

6). Will you provide multiple assessment formats for students to demonstrate their mastery/skills in a way of their choosing or will there be just one format? 

7). Does the assessment have a learning component to it that supplements the current learning objectives and goals?

8). Does the assessment allow for students to self-assess and track their overall understanding of the content/skills?

9). Are there a wide-range of questions at varying degrees of difficulty? What is the ratio of level 1 basic recall questions to level 4 higher order thinking questions?

10). Will you allow redos of this assessment? If not, please refer back to your answers in questions 1 and 2. Does this affect your decision not to allow redos?

BONUS: How authentic and realistic is the assessment format when compared to something a kid would experience when not in the traditional school setting?

Has 'finals week' become antiquated & redundant?

I recently posed a couple thoughts to the Twitterverse in regard to finals:

Do we really need finals to tell us what our kids know vs. don't know? Thinking that 'finals week' has become... redundant...??? #edchat
— Dr. Justin Tarte (@justintarte) December 16, 2014

Seriously... if we eliminated finals in the current structure, all that would happen is kids wouldn't be prepared for college finals, right?
— Dr. Justin Tarte (@justintarte) December 16, 2014

Here's a scenario that plays out in many secondary schools all across the globe...

The teacher explains what will be on the final. This 'final' encompasses everything that has been covered throughout the prior semester. The teacher also explains how much the final will be worth and the impact the final will have on the students' semester grades. The teacher then hands out some kind of study guide for the students to use to review and prepare for the final. All learning stops as class time becomes solely focused on preparing for the final.

The students use the study guide to guide their studying in preparation for the final but the study guide is so broad and far-reaching the students are unable to specifically identify what they should really know. The students then play out scenarios in their head about how the grade on the final will impact their final semester grades. The students then begin a sporadic process of cramming as much possible information in their heads in preparation for the final only to be forgotten soon after.

So, here are some of my thoughts...

Finals are summative assessments with no opportunity for revision; no opportunity for feedback/input; no opportunity for correction... so what's the point other than filling the gradebook?

We spend all semester and all school year working with students... do we really need a final to tell us what our students know or don't know? If so, that's a problem...

If we are doing finals just because the next level of schooling does finals, that's a pretty poor excuse to rob our students of so much time and energy at the end of each semester.

Almost all school districts have a final exemption policy... if kids can exempt, then the argument that finals prepare kids for some next level of schooling falls short. Shouldn't every kid be required to get this 'experience...?'

The typical final uses low-level questions and focuses on quantity over quality in an effort to cover as much as possible. Finals are the shotgun approach to assessing with very little ability to identify specifically what kids know vs. don't know.

Many finals are able to be scored via scantron and are built around memorization of facts, terms and dates, just to be forgotten as the kids walk out the door.


So, is it time to revisit our practice of doing finals?

Have 'summative' assessments become obsolete?

We hear the terms 'formative' and 'summative' assessments all the time in schools.

As educators, we learned about the differences while in college in our education preparation courses.

We now talk all the time about using assessments to 'drive' our instruction and provide guidance on where students are in the learning process.

I'm struggling though with how these terms are actually being implemented in classrooms with real teachers and real students...

To ensure we are all on the same page here with definitions, here is an image:

Formative assessments are a part of the learning process while summative assessments are an end to the learning process.

So, if we are formatively assessing students frequently throughout the learning process and constantly getting temperature checks on where they are in the learning process, we will eventually have students all over the place in terms of their learning.

We know students don't learn at the same rate and pace and we know students need frequent and timely feedback to assist them in the learning process.

We also know that if we are formatively assessing then we will always know where students are in terms of their learning.

So my questions are simple...

Why do we still need summative assessments to tell us what we already know? If we are frequently formatively assessing, then we already know where the students are... so what's the point of the summative assessment? What's the point of giving an assessment if we know the students aren't ready for it yet? And on the flipside, what's the point of giving an assessment when we know the students already have it mastered?

Why do we have every student do a summative assessment on the same date when we know every kid isn't at the same place in terms of their learning?

And lastly, why do we make each summative assessment exactly the same for every student when we know students need multiple platforms and multiple venues to demonstrate their learning?

I also recently read an article, 'Stop telling students to study for exams,' and it really reinforced my thinking...

So, in closing, have 'summative' assessments become obsolete? What do you think...?

Increasing rigor through formative & summative assessments

Assessing for learning...not just for grades

Assessments, formative & summative, increasing rigor, homework, grades, 
extra credit & student mastery... 

                   

~ a few things to ponder!

 

~ just a few things to consider...

**View the entire presentation from the Powerful Learning Conference below:

Points Earned PLC 2013