ASSESMENT IN EDUCATION 1

Assessment In Education

Alexis Wach

Salt Lake Community College

7/21/19
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There are 3 main phases of effective teaching; planning for instruction, implementing for

instruction and assessing student learning. Assessment is the last step and is very important to

help teacher find out about students progress and learning. An effective teacher will frequently

use a variety of formal and informal assessments to gauge student knowledge.

In my opinion assessment can be a great tool for learning, it provides feedback to both

teachers and students and gives teachers and schools tangible data to see what areas need

improvement or extra support. There are 2 major types of assessment, informal and formal,

Formal assessments requires more planning and should be included in a teachers curriculum

planning. Formal assessment is most commonly paper & pencil quizzes but has grown to include

online & technology based tests, it is most often used at the end of a specific unit or objective. It

is important that the assessment aligns with the material that has been covered in class, this is the

only way to know what students have learned. When instruction, activities and homework does

not align with assessments, it can be both confusing and discouraging to students and is an

inaccurate source of information on how much the students has learned. Assessment is a major

way schools hold teachers accountable for teaching and for teachers to hold students accountable

for their learning, it is crucial it aligns with what they have been learning and it is frequent.

Formal assessment is a clear way teachers can evaluate where students need more instruction or

concepts they struggle more than others. For example if the 3rd grade class last year scored

pretty low on fractions and had to be re-taught, the teacher can change adjust teaching methods

for fractions this year and dedicate more time than initially planned to teach it. The 2nd method is

informal assessment , this can look very differently every time because it happens during the

course of learning activities. This is a great way to frequently test for student understanding and
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adjust their instruction during lessons, it can also help to keep students engaged in learning

because they are always prepared for the teacher to question their knowledge.

I think assessment is a very important part of being an effective teacher, assessment can

also help students get prepared for the unavoidable standardized testing they will experience. It is

essential to plan carefully on formal assessments, making sure they are aligned with instruction

and clearly understandable to students. In my classroom I plan to use informal assessment very

frequently and formal assessment at the end of a learning objective and use the results to provide

feedback and adjust my instruction to maximize learning.