By Dr Paul Wood
[Note: This short blog post is part of my efforts to share my educational thinking. Nothing below should be interpreted as a comment on WA teaching since I've yet to observe that in practice].
Assessment is one of the most important tools to help a teacher maximise each individual student's learning. I continue to find it a fascinating topic, not only because of its aforementioned importance, but also for reasons such as:
- the wide range in philosophical attitudes towards it (what is its purpose?!)
- the controversies that it generates (E.g. should students be able to resubmit assessments? What if students miss a deadline?)
- the ways in which it is used to inform grade determination (most
- the anxieties that it can cause students if they (or their parents) believe their grades are not good enough.
Effective use of diagnostic, formative and summative assessments is vital but depends on a shared understanding within each class and across a faculty of how those assessment types best support the plan-teach-assess cycle (see page 18 of the WA Best Practice Handbook). Such a shared understanding helps ensure a consistency in the student experience: I have no doubt that it benefits students to hear consistent language about, and have consistent experiences of, assessment (and hence grading) and other important aspects of teaching and learning.
The simple "plan-teach-assess" cycle could be expanded to "diagnostically assess-plan-teach-formatively assess-feedback to students-plan-teach-
My own thinking about assessment has been informed by the work of many people including those listed below. Anyone who is interested in assessment might like to explore their work and opinions, but it's always important to think critically about pedagogical research, trends and "theories"!
I welcome your suggestions of other people who have worthwhile things to say about assessment.
No comments:
Post a Comment