Assessment of a student’s current skills, abilities, performance, and growth is an important tool for a teacher. I’ve used multiple forms of assessment, at different points of instruction, and for different purposes, over the course of my studies at CalStateTEACH.

When beginning a lesson plan, I assess students’ current knowledge and understanding of the content. I use KWL charts to introduce lessons, as a way to assess knowledge, identify areas of interest, and to uncover misconceptions that will affect a student’s progress.

In my application of constructivist learning methods, it is important to me to uncover misconceptions with the goal of guiding, not correcting, the student. As an illustration, a kindergarten student carries the misconception that the sun sets and the moon rises in the evening. As a teacher, I continue to teach that the moon revolves around the earth in its own path, without directly telling the student she is misunderstanding. One day, she sees the moon in the midday sky and has a moment of new understanding: the moon’s orbit is not in sync with the sun setting. Earth’s rotation around the sun is what causes the sun to appear to “set” and “rise.” To tell the student she is “wrong” about the moon rising in the evening short-circuits her construction of knowledge. Self-constructed knowledge is the foundation of synthesis, a higher order thinking skill.

An innovative assessment source I discovered while completing activities for my credential is called “Assessment Probes.” Page Keeley, 2008-2009 president-elect of the National Science Teachers Association, and the senior program director for science at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), developed these for science. One probe is called Mountain Age. The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about processes that affect the shape of mountains. While determining the relative age of mountains involves a variety of complex interacting factors, this probe is designed to determine if students consider weathering factors or if they intuitively believe taller mountains are older.

Formative and summative assessment, both formal and informal, have become key to my teaching philosophy. I’ve administered and scored Developmental Reading Assessments (DRAs) in kindergarten and fourth grade. I’ve used the results of these assessments to choose leveled reading material, to determine what specific area to re-teach (e.g., phonemic awareness, phonics). I’ve administered and scored the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) math assessment in third grade. I’ve also scored teacher-prepared writing assessments in third grade. I learned that formal assessments provide consistent, valid, and reliable information about student performance.

Informal assessment is an every day part of my teaching. For example, I rely on anecdotal observations to help me understand my students' interests, strengths and challenges. For example, I carry an observation record with me. It is a manila file folder with the inside divided into twenty sections, each the size of a post-it note. I put post-it notes, labeled with each student's name, on the sections. I write my impromptu observations on the post-it notes, and later, put them in the students' files. This helps me keep track of my observations, as well as shows me which students I need to observe more often.