When discussing assessment, it is essential to define exactly what it is were talking about. So, what do we mean by assessment?

Assessment is the process teachers use to gather information and make decisions about students learning and development (McMi llan, 2007a; Nitko & Brookhart, 2007). It is critical to understand the function of education, which is fundamentally based on students learning. I believe that I would be using many different forms of assessment, but formative and summative assessment will be the backbone in my classrooms, and progress as the primary focus. After all, not everyone learns at the same pace, not everyone has the same motivating factors and we all have different ways that were able to learn and understand certain topics but, progression is something we share as a common heritage. Now, lets say that weve just covered a math topic which is an intricate part of the problems that wed be covering in the next lesson: what sense does it make to move forw ard if there is no understanding of what we just covered? Math is like a staircase, one must take it one step at a time. This is where a formative approach would come in handy. By addressing the students progression with pretests, samples and assignments to gauge where their comprehension level is at, then taking the necessary steps to get them caught up; perhaps trying new approaches to get the message across in order for the students to get a better grasp of what theyre expected to do at the next step. Once weve got a foundation of understanding laid out, a summative assessment would be in order. By taking all the information the students submit to me, I would take many things into account before coming up with a final grade. First, I would notice where the students were

when we started the topic. Do they understand concepts that should have been learned in the previous years? Second, get them caught up if they did so happen to fall behind or get them somewhere that could if it is of hindrance to the rest of the students learning experience. And, lastly I would assess their personal progress and effort levels with the subject at hand. Based on these things is where I would make decision as far as how I am going to grade my students.