Student Assessment
Without some way to demonstrate mastery of the material, how do you know when to move on to the next topic? Do you move on because the calendar tells you that you have been working on this for a week and it is time to change or do you move on when your students know the material? This is why assessment is important. There are many types of assessment, but what does it really tell you? The FCAT is an assessment tool. Without getting into the debate whether the FCAT is fair, should be used, is only a political thing, etc., it can tell you some things, if you know how to look for them. At the very least, it can show any gains your students had from one year to the next. Are those gains because you were working with them? I don’t know if there is a way to tell that. They see so many different teachers throughout the day, who can say?
How can you assess their work? I suppose it all depends on what you are trying to do. If your main goal is to create a grade in the gradebook, then just give them assignments, grade them when they are due and record the grade. If your goal is to help students understand the material, create assignments that allow students to show mastery of the material in different ways. Would you grade an artist based on his ability to write a description of what he sees and wants to paint? Sounds silly, right? What about someone who is a gifted writer having to explain his thoughts without words by acting them out. How would that be graded? Why then would you only choose one way to show mastery? What if the student could show mastery on a part of the assignment but not in another? Would you want to have to retake the whole test? Why should you? If you set up your assessments to have a wide range of learning styles incorporated, you should be able to see if a student has mastery of the material. I strongly believe that by having differentiated assignments it allow students to demonstrate they have mastered the material in the method that will suit them best. By using rubrics when grading, students know exactly what is expected of them in the particular assignment they have chosen.
Along these same lines, I also allow students to redo tests that they do not earn an “A” on. There are many reasons for this. One reason is the main goal of demonstrating mastery. I feel that I should allow anyone who did not earn an A to redo a test because I could not prevent someone who wanted the opportunity to do better. There are many restrictions to this policy however. I ask that students who wish to redo a test to get the test signed by a parent, and write me a letter requesting that they be allowed to redo the test. The letter must contain a reason explaining how they will improve next time. I meet with them to discuss an additional assignment that will reinforce or reteach the part they did not understand. After completing the additional assignment, they are then allowed to retake the test. They are not given the exact same test, but a different version that focuses more on the area that they worked on. This is all done under a strict time limit. The students this past year were given up until two weeks before grades were due to complete any retakes. Surprisingly, not too many students took advantage of this offer. I did have one student who failed a vocabulary quiz take advantage of this offer and when she retook the quiz, scored a high A on it. I know the idea works, but I am not sure how to convince the students that it is worth their time. Many of my students who fail quizzes and tests just throw their test away when they get them back. I know that this is not a unique situation, but I am always looking to find ways to reach the challenging students. Many times these students do not yet realize the value of a good education because they do not see it yet at home or in their community. I have set a high standard for my students and myself that we must continue to work toward. I will not lower my standards just because my students do not think they are capable of dreaming and reaching for the stars.
(Brian Dorman is a 7th grade Geography teacher at Sanford Middle School.)
