Description
The
focus of reading and discussion in EDAT 6615 this week was on assessing student
learning. Teachers learned how to identify good instructional objectives and
explain how they are used and decide what type of evaluations to use based on
their purpose for proving if students completed the objective. Teachers learned
how to create fair test using a variety of test items and how to use that data
to influence intentional teaching. Teachers also learned how to evaluate
student work using authentic, portfolio, and performance assessment.
Analysis
An
instructional objective or behavioral objective is a statement of skill or concepts
that students are expected to know by the end of some period of instruction. According
to research done by Slavin (2012, p. 340), objectives should consist of a performance,
condition, and criteria. Performance is
what they learner will do; condition is under which the performance is to occur,
and criterion is what will be acceptable for the performance. When planning a
lesson, the objectives should be specific to the skill being taught, should be
clear in meaning, and should consider all the skills need to perform the task. When
breaking down objective into simpler components, teacher will perform a task
analysis where they identify prerequisites to completing the objective and
components skills and how they will be assembled into the final skill. Objective
should be closely aligned with the assessment that is going to be used to
measure if they students meet the requirements for completing that objective.
Slavin (2012,
p.346) state that in writing objectives and assessments, one should consider different
skills and different levels of understanding. A taxonomy, or system of
classification can help teachers categorize instructional activities. Bloom
Taxonomy created by Benjamin Bloom and fellow researchers categorized
objectives from simple to complex or from factual to conceptual. It considers
elements such as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
and evaluation. The use of this systems is to remind teachers to require
students to use different types of skills to display learning as they will need
these skills. To make sure that objectives cover many levels is to write a
behavior content matrix. A behavior content matrix shows how a content of skill
will be taught and assessed on different cognitive levels. It is also important
to consider the affective objective that relate to attitude and value of the
lesson being taught. So why do we need instructional objects? Writing
instructional objectives help with organizing planning, guide evaluation and may
improve student achievement.
Evaluations, or assessments are used to formally measure
student performance. Teachers use test and grades to communicate student
learning. These items let everyone involved in a student’s education know how
they are doing. They also let them know what students need to continue to work
on to become more proficient in a skill or content. According to Slavin (2012,
p. 348) student evaluations served the following purposes:
1.
Feedback to students
2.
Feedback to teachers
3.
Information to parents
4.
Information for selection and certification
5.
Information for accountability
6.
Incentives to increase student effort.
Evaluations for the purpose of
feedback let teachers and students know as soon as possible whether what they
put into an activity is paying off in success of learning. For student, feedback
should be specific so that students can see where to make changes and where to
find growth. For teachers, feedback let us know how effective the instruction is
and the strengths and weaknesses so that we can make changes accordingly.
Evaluations
as information to parents keep them informed about how their children as
performing in school. If parents can see where their students may be having
issues in a skill, they can help their child get back on track. Evaluation for
information also helps schools decide how to categorize students for special
programs.
Evaluation as incentives motivate
students to do their absolute best every time.
Student learning is evaluated using
formative and summative evaluations. Formative evaluations are designed to tell
teachers whether additional instruction is needed and to tell students whether
additional learning is needed. These assessments can be planned or made on the
fly depending on how they teacher see fit to use them. They can be given oral or
written assessments. Summative evaluations are test of student knowledge at
they end of an instructional unit. These do not occur as frequents as formative
assessments, but they must be reliable and should allow for comparison among
students. They should be tied to formative assessments and course objectives.
Other forms of evaluations include
norm-referenced and criterion-referenced evaluations. Norm reference focus on
comparisons of student’s scores with those of other students. Criterion-referenced
focus on assessing students’ mastery of specific skills, regardless of how
other students did on the same skills. Criterion-referenced evaluations should
be tried to the objectives or a specific curriculum.
Before giving a test, teachers
should make sure that the test will reflect what students have achieved. This means
that test should correspond to course objectives and with the instruction that
was provided. Test do not have to cover every skills or fact but should represent
all learning objectives. Test should not include trick questions or questions
that are obscure. They should include test items that most appropriate for
measuring learning outcomes and should fit the use that will be made from the
results of a test. Test should be reliable in the since that they have many
items and focus on learning objectives and should reflect students’ true
knowledge. The final thing an achievement test should do is improve learning.
Teachers should use the results to guide instruction.
Slavin (2012, p. 367) states that implementing
an alternative assessment system will help avoid problems raised by typical
multiple-choice test like whether a student truly knows the information or did
they guess. These assessments allow student to show how what they learned applies
to the real-world. Students may be asked to keep a portfolio, create a model,
or design something to show mastery or certain skills. This is known as an authentic
assessment or performance assessment. A portfolio assessment is a collection and
evaluation of student samples of work over an extended period. It can take the
form of projects, journals or other items depending on the subject. They should
have rubrics and can be used to communicate the group of a student over time. Performance
assessments require students to demonstrate learning. Students can do or presentations
or use technology to create an experiment to help show what they have learned.
Reflection
Since I
stated teaching, I have always used some form of assessment to check for
student learning. I have learned over the years how to use a variety of
assessment tools and have even found ways to make assessments less stressful
for my students by using games, skits, and fun projects. One of my biggest
challenges in the beginning of my teaching career was figuring out how to use
the data to improve my lessons. While I have learned how to improve my lessons
with the data over the past few years, I learned from reading and discussion
this week how my data collected can be used to keep parents, students and the
school informed on student progress in my class. One thing that I have always
been afraid to do is create test. I can honestly say that I have never created
a test from scratch because I am afraid of not making a good assessment. What I
normally do is use websites that have test question generators and I go through
and pick the questions that match the objectives and am assessing. I know what
a good question should contain, I just do not want to be responsible for coming
up with it.
At the
beginning of the school year, I always inform students and parents what their
student’s grades will consist of. Before giving a test, I try to give students
a study guide that will reflect how many points they will receive for each type
of question they will see on the test. When giving projects or presentations, I
am also certain to include a rubric so that students and parents know how
points will be distributed. My rubrics are incredibly detailed and have clear
distinction from one score to the next. I also make sure I explain the rubric
to students so that they are clear on the expectations for each possible grade.
Sometimes I even give students a check list to use while creating their project
or presentation so that they can check off whether the complete the work with
all components to receive the highest grade.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and
practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
