EDUC 303 Assessment Module 1 Blog 1

 Well, this is very exciting! I am blogging! Here we go (:

1.      In your experience, how does assessment determine what a student learns and doesn't learn?  

Assessment measures what is being and has been learned. It is an educator’s measuring stick of learning progress. Assessment is how we know if we are being effective in our efforts. Students who have learned a piece of information are able to do things (verbs) like describe, identify, list, reproduce, and create.

2.      How does assessment relate to what is valued and what is not valued?

We assess what we value. We do this by measuring learning through the use of various instruments. Tests, essays, and presentations are some examples of assessment instruments. Ideally our values are directly informed by and correlate to learning standards.

3.      In your classroom, what do you imagine is worth assessing and not worth assessing?

Whatever is in alignment to the learning goals and targets is worth assessing. Anything else may be great but is supplementary. I will do this by identifying and deconstructing individual standards and then creating and implementing lesson plans specific to these standards. All the while we will be assessing and using this data to revisit teaching and learning strategies. The standards themselves are developed on the federal and state level as well as within a specific school district.