"While assessment has the potential to improve learning for all students, historically it has acted as a barrier rather than a bridge to educational opportunity. Assessments have been used to label students and put them in dead end tracks."
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Before you read my take on the shoulds and should nots of academic assessment, I would like to take some time to note that this blog post is a work in progress. As I continue to research and learn about academic assessment best practices and as new research is published, I expect to come back to this post and update it with new information I have learned.
To view my thoughts on academic assessments, check out the infographic below. Then, read a more in-depth post to my approach on assessments following the infographic.
Assessments should be equitable and accessible for all students. Assessments should be an opportunity for all students to showcase their knowledge. This means that regardless of student identities, teachers should provide assessments that are tailored to individual student needs. This could mean providing read-aloud passages or translators for multilingual learners, reducing the number of questions for a student, or providing students with alternative testing settings to decrease distractions.
Assessments should not be created without the presence of accommodations for individual students. This not only means that accommodations should be implemented for multilingual learners and special education students, but should also be implemented for students with other learning needs. Assessments should not include barriers that keep students from being able to be successful.
Assessments should be used to form future instruction and as a reflection of the teacher's pedagogical practices. As Lorrie A. Shepard (2000) suggested, "Classroom assessment should also be used to examine and improve teaching practices" (p.12). Shepard (2000) also argued that if we want to create classrooms in which students consistently seek feedback, teachers should model this in the context of their own role as an educator in the classroom. Along with this, one of the main purposes of a classroom assessment should be to form future instruction, whether that be by identifying misconceptions and reteaching, identifying gaps in learning, or by identifying what comes next.
Assessments should not be given only at the end of a unit and should not create a "teach-to-the-test" attitude within teachers. Assessments should be used frequently throughout a lesson as a jumping point for future instruction. Educators should not form assessments that encourage them to "teach-to-the-test", meaning that the focus of instruction is heavily on preparing students for the questions on an assessment. The "teach-to-the-test" mindset encourages teachers to rely on memorization of facts instead of the application of a concept.
Assessments should be used to provide feedback to students and continue the process of learning. Assessments present opportunities for educators, peers, and individual students to provide feedback to themselves and others. Feedback allows for learners to self-correct and improve in a given subject matter (Shepard, 2000). Feedback should be timely, clear, and specific to facilitate further learning opportunities. Feedback should also provide students with tangible ideas of how to grow from where they currently are at.
Assessments should not be used for the sole purpose of providing a grade in a class. Although assessments can be a measurement of learning accomplished, modern assessment practices asks us to do more than just administer assessments for the purpose of a grade. Assessments should be used as an opportunity for feedback and continued learning.
Assessments should be relevant and meaningful for students and enable students to apply their knowledge to various contexts. Not only should students be able to see themselves in the assessments and be able to relate to a given context, but they should also be given opportunities to be able to transfer knowledge and use it in new situations (Shepard, 2000). As educators, we should not be simply "teaching-to-the-test", but instead be asking students about past understandings in new ways or applications and asking students to draw new connections within their learning (Shepard, 2000).
Assessments should not operate with hidden or explicit bias and should not be created without connections to cultural relevancy. Although it is known that we all hold biases, it is important that we factor this idea into the creation of our assessments to decrease bias in assessment. You can read more about my thoughts on combating academic assessment bias here. Assessments should also be used as a stepping stone for culturally relevant education so that our students see themselves and others in their assessments.
Assessments should be an opportunity for mistake-making and self-reflection within our students. As Shepard suggested, self-assessment "promises to increase students' responsibility for their own learning" and encourages collaborative relationships between students and teachers (Shepard, 2000, p.12). Assessment's sole purpose should not be to receive a good grade, but instead should prioritize student's mistake-making and self-critiquing skills. Shepard also argued that creating a classroom culture that envisions assessments as a "source of insight and help" rather than an "occasion for meting out rewards and punishments" is essential (Shepard, 2000, p.10).
Assessments should not be viewed as an end-all-be-all to learning. Assessments should not be seen in the classroom as a wrap up, or an end, to learning. As noted earlier in this post, it is important that we create a classroom culture in which assessment provides opportunities for self-reflection and mistake-making. Assessments should not be seen as the means to providing a grade at the end of a lesson or unit. Instead, they should be used as a stepping stone for students and educators to identify what is next.
Assessments should provide opportunities for student choice to increase motivation, equity, and student ownership. Allowing students to showcase their knowledge in a way that is at their discretion allows students to feel accountable for their own learning in ways that standard assessments do not. In my classroom, student choice in assessment looks like providing multiple means of assessing for one subject matter. For example, when conducting a research project and working on collecting information from multiple sources, students could show their information in a Google Slide presentation, on a poster, or by giving a speech.
Assessments should not be created with a "one-size-fits-all" approach. As educators, we know that our students are wildly different and hold different views on education. As such, our assessments should provide individualized learning opportunities for students to showcase their knowledge. Assessments should not always be the same for every student, and they should instead allow students to be creative in their own ways.
References
Shepard, L. A. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture.
Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14.
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