This article talks about the various ways,we as teachers, can asses our students to see what their capabilities are and to indicate us, based on their results, on how we should modify our curriculum. The article mentioned one of the most common assessments teachers use today, which is formative assessment.
By definition, formative assessment means, "assessments given to obtain information useful for guiding instruction." If this is the case, then in my opinion, we shouldn't penalize our students for doing poorly on such test. We should reiterate to them that the results are used to indicate us what their problem areas are. The article mentions the three crucial times students should be assessed to monitor their progress and identify their struggles: begging, throughout, and end of the school year. I think this a great way for teachers to check progress, but in my opinion the scores shouldn't be used as grades.
As great as formative assessments sound, it is my experience that teachers generally do not use their student's test results as a way to shape their curriculum. From the times that I've observed, being in a high school classroom, teachers don't care too much about the scores their students get as a way to form their next lesson plan. The most that I've seen teachers do is a test review, and then they move on to the next lesson. Teachers will suggest that students seek tutors and study on their own time, but I've never actually seen a teacher alter their curriculum based on assessment scores. A lot of teachers have their curriculum planned from the begging of the school year and most of them are set in their ways.
In my opinion, that s not the way to go because when a student is struggling in an area that is essential to their learning and it doesn't get the attention that it requires, the student will then have gaps in their learning. As the class get harder and harder the students who did poorly on the assements test will most likely fall behind because they cant advance to more difficult skills without fixing what they previously missed. If student don't know or learn the basics, how can they be expected to master the rigors of advanced material? How do they go from A to Z, when they're having a hard time getting from A to B?
I think this is where students get frustrated the most, because as the class advances, and the assignments get harder and harder, they're going to struggle to keep up. It is here where we see students give up, or have lack of motivation. That's why, I do agree with formative assessments, but I know that a lot of teachers don't practice it.
Cindy, I really agree with you on the fact that many teachers do not practice formative assessment the way it was meant to be taught, especially in the high schools. The only school that I have seen that does practice formative assessment correctly is the school I am observing at, Benito Juarez. At Benito Juarez, the school's grading scale is based mostly on participation and attendance in class on a daily basis, and less on exams and quizzes. Although many people may look at this as a bad thing, the results are surprisingly positive. When the teachers give formative assessments, they do grade them- but they mostly use them to see how much the class learned and what their students didn't understand so that they can go over it before moving on to the next lesson. I have also noticed that students get less nervous when taking formative assessments, which I found was really interesting, and that the students seem to enjoy classes more by understanding their mistakes and not having any gaps in their learning.
ReplyDeleteCindy, from my own personal experience, I can honestly say that I've never had a teacher that used exams to steer the class towards completely understanding the material. Like you said, teachers already have their yearly curriculum scheduled and they wouldn't want to alter it based on how poorly some students are doing in the classroom. At the high school where I t.a. at, the class I'm assigned to consistently suffers from low scores, even on open note quizzes. This is an accelerated class, mind you. Because the teacher is at a loss for time, she tells me that she must rush towards the next historic topic, even if it means some students don't completely comprehend the previous one. I do commend her though because after returning tests and quizzes she does take the time to clear up any misconceptions the students had but nevertheless she is not assessing the students enough, at least in my opinion. Again we see that expectations are high on teachers but are given very little time to actually gauge the strengths and weaknesses of students.
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