Relationship of assessment to teaching and learning?

Assessment is the interrelated, cyclical process of collecting and interpreting evidence to

evaluate student learning, connecting the link between learning outcomes, content teaching,
and learning activities. In a classroom context, assessment allows for teachers to provide
students with appropriate learning opportunities, to provide feedback of current
understanding for future learning, to develop partnerships with students, and to modify
teaching to better suit and equip students (Victoria State Government, 2016). For assessment
to be effective, it has multiple purposes: assessments for learning, assessments as learning,
and assessments of learning. Assessment for learning, a formative style of assessing, occurs
when the teacher relies on inferences and observations as to student progress to modify their
teaching. Assessment as learning, another formative style of assessing, occurs when students
reflect on their own progress against learning outcomes to inform the teacher and modify
their own future learning goals. Finally, assessment of learning, a summative style of
assessing, occurs generally at the end of a unit of work whereby teachers collect evidence of
student learning to evaluate students learning achievements against learning outcomes and
criteria. It also allows teachers to reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching methods and
strategies, and how to improve future approaches to teaching. Different units of learning will
require assessment to be incorporated in a variety of methods and as argued by Lorna Earl
(2003), it is necessary to balance the purposes of the different types of assessment. Earl
further argues that there needs to be a stronger shift towards the first two purposes for
continuous assessments provides more beneficial effects on the learning process. An isolated
summative assessment at the end of a unit of work, has little significance on a students
learning process or the teaching methods because feedback given to students and evaluation
of teaching strategies are achieved too late. Integrated approach to teaching, learning, and
assessment (Griffin, McGaw & Care, 2012).
What kind of a teacher am I becoming; what is my identity?
This unit thus far is allowing me to develop into a teacher who is extremely wary of how to
create units of teaching that focus on big ideas that allow for deep understanding that
integrates assessment into my teaching, eliminating the separation between the two. The
two units that preceded this one allowed me to understand that assessment was important
and that it was necessary to incorporate it in creative methods that suited children. However,
this unit has specifically taught me how and why assessment Is necessary, and why it is crucial
to incorporate this into my teaching appropriately. My biggest aim as a pre-service teacher is
to develop into a critically engaging and effective teacher. I believe that developing the
attributes of being engaging and effective encompasses thorough understanding of the
learning content and outcomes students have to achieve, creating authentic and interactive
teaching and learning activities, and integrating assessment into the classroom in a manner
that students are comfortable and receptive towards, accurately and successfully evaluating
student learning and progress against the outcomes. Ideally, the identity I would like to
develop is as a teacher who is able to plan and create units of learning based on learning
outcomes that are to be achieved by my students by the end of that learning period,
incorporating assessments that have been integrated into the learning process in a nonobtrusive manner, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding of learning
effectively and without pressure. Assessment has the ability to allow both myself, as the
teacher, and the students to pause and reflect on our approaches and progress towards our
goals, whether it be to be an effective teacher or to fully understand and apply learning

outcomes. I wouldnt necessarily say that my teaching identity revolves around assessment,
but I would confidently say that it is heavily influenced by the idea of being assessment
literate, and creating healthy attitudes towards assessment for both myself, and my future
students.
What goals am I trying to achieve in my approach to assessment and evaluation?
The goals I am trying to achieve in my approach to assessment and evaluation has been
developed through my analysis and understanding of AITSL Standard 5, regarding my
professional practice. This strand includes assessment of student learning (5.1), providing
feedback to students (5.2), making consistent and comparable judgments (5.3), interpreting
student data (5,4), and reporting on student achievement (5.5). Standard five underpins all
that is required for me to be competent in my teaching and creation of assessments.
(Australian Institute of Teaching and Student Leadership, 2014) My personal experiences with
assessment have been predominantly negative. Despite understanding the reason for
assessments, I felt as though the manner in which they were conducted, especially in high
school, were not suitable to the type of learner I was. Students tend to develop negative
connotations with the term assessment very early on in their schooling experience.
Therefore, using AITSL Standard 5 as a basis, my primary goal in terms of assessment and
evaluation in the classroom is to develop an assessment literate classroom environment,
entailing positive attitudes towards assessments, for me personally, and amongst my
students. The basis of this goal is for me to personally believe that the fundamental reason
for the existence of assessment is to improve student learning, as well as my teaching
strategies and approaches to suit those of student needs. Teachers who are assessment
literate seek and use assessments that communicate clear, specific, and rich definitons of the
achievement that is valued. (Stiggins, 2005, p.535) Personally, being assessment literate will
provide me the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to devise authentic and integrated
assessments that appropriately evaluates student learning and allows me to collect evidence
to support student learning. In a student perspective, being assessment literate will equip
with them the understanding as to why assessment is necessary and will set them up for
success for both learning activities and demonstration of their learning. (Readman & Allen,
2013)
What principles do I try to follow in order to achieve these goals? (110 words)
With my primary goal in an assessment context being to progress my effectiveness of teaching
and educate and improve student learning and performance, my main principle would be to
try and understand how students learn most efficiently, and to create assessments that
reflect those observations. Creating assessments that provide educative benefits, that
eliminates the separation between instruction and assessment, and therefore, creating an
integrated approach to teaching and assessing is my ultimate goal in terms of assessment.
(Wiggins, 1998) For this to be successful, assessments should be an integral and defining
aspect in the planning of the unit of learning, rather than a summative assessment to include
at the end of planning. Through this approach, my planning will follow the backwards
mapping principle to establish the required learning outcomes that should be achieved and
creating authentic assessments that appropriately evaluate student learning and allows for
the collection of evidence that support learning of these outcomes, and finally, devising
teaching and learning activities that allows for this to be accomplished. (Herczog, 2003)
Subsequently, in following the backwards mapping principle, I must also aspire to follow the

principle of intended learning outcomes. Through this, all units of learning s hould be revolve
around learning outcomes that a student at a certain year level should be able to accomplish
by the end of the period of study. Furthermore, my teaching should further include the feed
forward principle whereby students are provided information as to the learning outcomes,
expected learning progress, and assessments to be undertaken from the beginning of the
learning process to ensure students are aware and fully prepared for the learning process
they are about to undertake. (Readman & Allen, 2013) For all the above to occur, my aim is
to incorporate as many formative forms of assessments into my teaching, rather than
summative assessments. I have also included an example of a formative assessment from my
last practicum. (Appendix 1)