The purpose of assessment is to acquire tangible student understanding using several diverse methods. Assessment should be used to improve student learning. Assessments provide teachers with the necessary feedback to acquire whether content needs to be adjusted, re-designed, or re-visited. Effective teachers are constantly assessing student needs.
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessments are more of an informal method to check and ensure that (1) class instruction and (2) student learning are acting as reinforcers or remediates. Formative Assessments are constant, of low point value, and the main objective is to improve, guide, and monitor student progress and understanding. This assessment often takes place during the learning process.
- A quick formal assessment to ensure students are understanding concepts of magnetism.
Summative Assessments
Summative Assessments are used to evaluate student achievement and understanding. Summative deals with the product of the lesson and whether mastery over the learning concepts was achieved. Summative’s main objective is to seek whether that student met his/her goal. This assessment will often take place after a lesson has been administered, following the learning process.
Reading Assessments
Developmental Spelling Analysis
The Derivational Spelling Analysis is formulated spelling assessment that identifies (with scrutiny) a student’s strength and weaknesses in specific areas of orthographic features. The DSA is constructed by three key elements: Screening List, Feature List, and Scoring List. The Screening Inventory is designed to show what developmental spelling stage the student may fall within. The Screening Inventory uses a process of deduction, where a 20-word vocabulary list is used to predict which feature inventory should be administered to the student. During the Feature Inventory Test, each of the 25 words given will focus on five different spelling features (grouped by 5’s) that fall within that category. Based upon the child’s results on his or her instructional list, the teacher will score his or her target features, determine the student’s strengths and weaknesses, and from there predict his or her stage of development. Once each stage is assessed successfully, the teacher can identify where to start instruction and reveal the next stage of development for the student.
Timed Repeated Readings
Timed Repeated Readings, in all its simplicity, is a great and effective tool designed to decode text routinely, freeing the child’s attention to welcome comprehension. Timed Repeated Readings analyze word per minute (WPM) and word recognition errors (WRE) using fluency techniques. A child reads the same passage over for 3 (or other satisfactory) repeated periods, where the speed and word recognition errors are strategically noted.The purpose of this task is to build confidence and fluency; sometimes overemphasizing accuracy in students reading can hinder his or her fluency rate. Ironically, working on a child’s fluency rate can improve their accuracy, comprehension, and reading rate over time.
Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI)
The Qualitative Reading Inventory measures reading and comprehension proficiency. Using individually administered testing, a student is evaluated for accuracy, phrasing, retelling, and rate. The accuracy portion is measured through the student’s ability to read the appropriate words in a passage specific to that reader. The number of words in a given passage are listed and itemized to easily prepare the administrator to record possible miscues. The phrasing portion is assessed through a student’s ability to group the words in a sentence together. Retelling consists of a student’s ability to simply retell a story, hitting important areas in background, plot, and resolution. The rate is measured to by a student’s ability to read and complete the passage. The student is evaluated using word per minute and other diagnostic tools.
For more of my thoughts , please see my Professional Performance Standard Paper on Assessment of and for Student Learning.