Sarah McGhehey

EDUC 639
Advanced Methods of Performance Assessment
Course Reflection

Advanced Methods of Performance Assessment provided me with great awareness into

the assessment world. Throughout my undergraduate degree, I learned the basics of writing and
administering assessments. This course helped me understand all the underlying issues with
assessment and how to combat these as an educational leader. The in-depth study of assessment
in this course is essential for an educational leader, as well as extremely beneficial for the
everyday teacher.

By definition, the purpose of educational assessment is to help educational leaders

make inferences about a students knowledge, skills, or affective status. I found it crucial
to understand this definition, as many times teachers lose the purpose of assessments. I
have created my own tests since my first year of teaching, and prior to this course, considered it
necessary but somewhat simple. After this course, I realized that there are a variety of different
elements that I never considered when writing my own tests. The main element that must be
considered is the purposes behind the assessment: an indicator for educational effectiveness and
improving instruction. We as educators must keep these two purposes in mind while developing
and administering classroom and standardized assessments.

Whether administering standard-based assessments or performance-based assessments,

the interpretation of the results is vital to determining if an assessment is useful. The two
methods are norm-referenced interpretations that compare scores among students, and criterion-
referenced interpretations that are based on the students knowledge. For classroom purposes,
using criterion-referenced interpretations based on particular curricular aims allows the teacher
to improve instruction. Assessment results should help shape the classroom course work,
activities, instructional methods, and the curricular aims.

This course, along with others, developed my knowledge of the different measurements
and statistical data imperative to educational assessments. This includes validity, reliability, bias
(or absence of), and comparative data. Validity enables educators to ensure assessment
interpretations are correct based on the students score and the alignment with curricular aims.
Reliability measures the consistency of the results of assessments and having an absence of bias
means no student is at a disadvantage due to gender, race, ethnic background, etc. These are
crucial parts to the interpretation of assessments and allow educational leaders to judge students
and teachers appropriately.

Learning the different assessment tools and the correct way to measure and evaluate
assessments enables an educational leader to make informed decisions about assessments and use
the results appropriately. Determining what tests to purchase, create, and administer is based on
many factors that an educational leader must consider. This includes price, scoring process,
purpose, directions, and many more.

This course allows me to build upon my leadership in the district in regards to the
development and implementation of appropriate and accurate assessment practices. I will be able
to analyze assessments and how interpretations are used within my classroom. I have and will
continue to improve in developing valid, reliable, and fair classroom assessments.