Welcome!

Dear Families,

Welcome to another school year! I am so excited to

help your kiddos learn this year! Below is a little more
about how I plan to assess your student so I can
ensure they are learning effectively, and what I
believe in terms of this. My job is to help your
students learn as best as I can so, and assessment is
how I can do that! As you read through this, if you
think of any questions, comments or concerns please
do not hesitate to reach out to me!

Every child deserves a champion- an adult who will never give up on

them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become
the best that they can be.
-Rita Pearson
 What is Assessment?

Before I dive into the parts of assessment, I want to review what

the National Council of Teacher Mathematics thinks about assessment
because we base all that we do off of their standards. According to the
NCTM “Assessment should support the learning of important
mathematic and furnish useful information to both teachers and
students”. Through assessment, I hope to give students the tools so they
may not only just take an “assessment” for me but use it as a learning
tool to help them improve on their future assignments.

Types of Assessments

Diagnostic Assessments – “the pre-test”

The diagnostic assessment is the assessment that occurs before the
instruction occurs. Like I had said before, you may know this as a pre-
assessment. This is how we can determine what the students know
before the instruction begins. This could include a multiplication test,
questionnaire or simple round robin group discussion.

Formative Assessments- “What did we learn TODAY”

The formative assessment typically happens as instruction is going on.

These kinds of assessments not only help us determine if
 The students are keeping along with the lesson
but also where we need to go next in the
learning process. This kind of lesson can be
discussion, sorts, or various other types of
activities.

Summative Assessments- “Okay, were finished, what did we

learn OVERALL”

The Summative Assessment takes place after the learning occurs; after
the lesson Is over. This can be after a lesson that I taught is over, a unit
is over, or the grade is over. These kinds of assessments help us
determine the student’s level of mastery. This can include a unit test, a
project-based assessment, or a state or city-based assessment.
 Why Use Them All?
Through my explanation of each form of assessment I wanted to tell
you how I plan to assess the students as well. However, all of these
types of assessment are used for different purposes so we can figure out
how the students are, or are not learning in different ways.
 Examples of Assessments

Diagnostic Assessment

Round Robin Group Discussion – A round robin group

discussion allows students to share their ideas often with a form
of a talking stick. It gives the students an opportunity to share
what they have learned, what they are still confused about and
also learn from their peers.

KWL Chart- A KWL chart stands for what you know, what you
want to know and what you learned. This can be used as a
Diagnostic Assessment through filing out the first two columns
prior to beginning to lesson and finding out what students
already know and what they would like to learn.

Formative Assessment

Exit Tickets-Exit tickets are often used for students to write one
fact they have learned and one fact they are still confused about.
However, they can have various questions on them that help us
confirm that learning has occurred.

Sorting- Sorts can also be used in multiple ways to help confirm

students learning after a lesson. For example, we can have
student sort elements from two stories to compare and contrast.
Or, they may have to do a simple word sort.

Summative Assessment
Unit Test- For a unit test, we will test the students on their
ability to put together the knowledge they have learned from
various lessons throughout the unit.

Project Based Assessment- This kind of summative assessment

would also require students to put together all of the knowledge
they have learned from various lessons throughout the unit.
However, they would be putting their knowledge into a product
instead of a a test. This could be a poster, group project such as
a presentation skit.

What is the Difference in Scoring and Grading?

Grading
Think of grading as a letter. A,B,C,D,E,F. I am sure that is how
most of us think of it and that is correct. Also think of grading
as us as teachers grading how the students are preforming on a
task.

Scoring
When you think of scoring, think of this as a number or symbol
to help the student improve their learning for next time. Yes, we
are still trying to see how they are preforming on a task, but we
are also trying to where they sit in their learning process.
How Do Rubrics Fall Into All of This?

Rubrics are a great tool for students to understand why they lost
points on which part of their assignment and improve in the
places where they previously struggled as I have talked so much
about! However, it is so important for students to be involved in
creating the rubrics used in the classroom to grade their work,
so they understand them. Not only does it help with the rubrics
being put in a language they understand but it also helps with
there being a mutual respect created between the teacher and
the student.

Conclusion

This is a whole lot of information. What you really need to

know is that students are assessed throughout the entire learning
process and included in the entire learning process, that
includes assessment too! That is so critical! I will always ensure
I communicate with you and your student if I ever feel as if they
are struggling at any time so that we can attack the issue
immediately. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact
me if you think of any questions at all!

Here are some links if you would like to read more!

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-response-ways-to-include-students-in-the-formative-
assessment-process/2012/01

https://www.nwea.org/blog/2019/three-ways-to-better-engage-students-to-get-the-most-from-
educational-assessments/
https://inquiry.galileo.org/ch3/involving-students-in-creating-assessment/\

Links I used to create this for you! (Aside from my own knowledge)

https://pdo.ascd.org/lmscourses/PD11OC117/media/DI-
Assessment_M1_Reading_Assessment.pdf

https://facultydae.waubonsee.edu/instruction/assessment/types-
assessment

https://www.nctm.org/Standards-and-Positions/Principles-and-
Standards/Principles,-Standards,-and-Expectations/

https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/improve/evaluate-course-
level-learning/rubrics

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/rubrics.ht
ml