Assessment conversations


So far, doing well on the BlAugust posts. And talking through the justifications for my ed theory class is helping me.

MTBOSBlaugust2016

So the second through fourth day of the class is all about Assessment. Why do I start with assessment? What am I having the learners read?

The justification is a paraphrase of this quote: Mathematics assessment is the process of making inferences about the learning or teaching of mathematics by collecting and interpreting necessarily indirect and incomplete evidence. (from Mathematics Assessment Literacy, pg 21.)

The paraphrased / modified quote for class becomes: Assessment in Math and Science is the process of making inferences about learning or teaching by collecting and interpreting necessarily indirect and incomplete evidence.

Assessment is about making INFERENCES.

Assessment makes those inferences from NECESSARILY indirect and incomplete evidence.

I start with Standarized Assessments (ACT and SAT) and move on from there to Formative Assessments over the course of 3 days.

The reading list over the 4 days is:

  • Lemann, N. (1999). Behind the SAT. Newsweek, 134(10), 52.
  • Atkinson, R. & Geiser, S. (2009). Reflections on a century of college admissions tests. Educational Researcher, 38(9), 665-676.
  • Sacks, P. (1999). Standardized minds: The high price of America’s testing culture and what we can do to change it. Cambridge, Mass. Perseus Books. (chapters 1 & 2, origins of testing and cost (not financial) of testing).
  • Popham, W. J. (1999). Why standardized tests don’t measure educational quality. Educational Leadership, 56(6), 8-15.
  • Feynman, R., Leighton, R. (1985) Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a curious character). New York: Norton & Company. (only the chapter on Brazilian Science teaching)
  • Popham, W. J. (2003). The seductive allure of data. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 48-51.
  • Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-144, 146-148.
  • Gardner, H., Kornhaber, M. L., & Wake, W. K. (1996). Intelligence: Multiple perspectives. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace. (chapters 2, 3 and 5)

The goal is to move from the history of national assessments, to the idea of formative assessments and how to do formative and summative assessments well in the classroom.

In addition, the focus on biological (Nature) forces and assumptions that went into the creation of the testing movement will be discussed.

Hopefully, at the end of this progression, learners will have an understanding of the history of the national movement of testing, why these tests are given, what is learned from these tests, as well as having the stronger grounding in the theory of formative assessment and how and why to focus on formative assessments in the day to day teaching.

The Black and Wiliam article is required reading for every teacher, as far as I am concerned. It is an article that I will be referring back to repeatedly.

The Popham articles are interesting and very anti-testing. I am okay with that (clearly, because I am assigning them). The rest of the articles are not all that favorable either.

Teaching is a political act.

I will not just teach educational theory to reinforce the status quo.

I mean, after all, this was in my Twitter feed THIS MORNING.

 


The quotes are from a Pennsylvania Department of Education representative.

Assessment is the issue with which I will start the Educational Theory class. I believe it is important that future teachers understand the assumptions and implications such statements have for the learners in the classroom.


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