Running head: ASSESSMENT PHILSOPHY 1

Assessment Philosophy

Saint Thomas University

Katelyn Culberson

Friday, March 1st, 2018

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Introduction

Assessment and evaluation plays a major role in guiding an educator’s teaching. It’s

through this data that teachers base how effective their teaching is, whether certain concepts need

to be retaught, and it provides evidence of students’ knowledge and understanding. Evaluation

can be a very intimidating process when a plan is not put into place. This is why it’s important

that each teacher exercise their beliefs through a plan for assessment and evaluation. I feel that in

order to avoid this overwhelming feeling, that it’s important to be continuously assessing and

evaluating students throughout the whole year, so that when it comes time to make a professional

judgment regarding students’ learning, there is enough data to inform the teacher’s decision. The

following addresses how I will effectively assess my future students through the use of formative

and summative assessments, and through the method of triangulation.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment, in my opinion, is one of the most important kinds of assessment,

and is one that I plan to use the most in my classroom. Formative assessment can serve as a

multipurpose tool for assessment, and be used in several different contexts, both informal and

formal (Marzano, 2006). For example, formative assessment can be conducted throughout any

moment of the day through the use of anecdotal notes, teacher conferences, and through the

collection of students’ work. More specifically, strategies such as peer and self- assessment,

round table discussion, think-pair and share, and use of kinesthetic creations and visual

representations all fall under the umbrella of formative assessment and are very effective in their

use (Davies, 2011). It’s important that this kind of assessment be conducted through an entire

unit, and constructive feedback be used considerably. I feel that formative assessment would

help me plan for future instruction, and be valuable in helping plan for differentiation. In terms
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of differentiation, formative assessment could help me structure a lesson that allows each student

to grow. It’s also helpful in serving as an indication of where each student’s understanding falls.

Formative assessment allows students the opportunity to show their growth and progress

throughout a unit, as well as perform in an assessment situation that is non-threatening and

engaging for all learners.

Summative Assessment

Although I plan to implement the use of formative assessment within my classroom, it’s

also important that I include summative assessment in order to have a proper balance in terms of

evaluation measures. Summative assessments are typically assessments that are conducted at the

end of the unit to assess students’ overall understanding and help determine their final grade

(Davies, 2011). These measures often include tests, final projects, presentations, demonstrations,

interviews, etc. Based on my experience, summative assessment in elementary isn’t used to

inform teacher’s planning, but aids them in assigning a students’ final grade in conjunction with

formative assessment pieces. Although I feel that it’s imperative that teachers use some form of

summative assessment in order to see what their students have learned, I’m also aware that

summative assessments often create a source of anxiety within younger learners. Due to this

phenomenon, my goal would be to try to reduce students’ anxiety by turning tests into “show

what you know” activities or creative projects. I don’t want summative assessment pieces to be a

source of stress for students, but instead try to make them fun and engaging. To help alleviate the

anxiety, I feel it’s important to make sure that students are well prepared, and know what will be

expected of them beforehand (i.e.: use of rubrics or checklists). By equipping students with this

knowledge, they will feel less anxious during these assessment situations.
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Triangulation

As a future educator, I plan to implement triangulation into my assessment and evaluation

practices because I think it’s important. I’m a firm believer that each student has their strengths,

and these strengths will be reflected in different ways; therefore, it’s important to give students

every opportunity to reflect their knowledge (Herbst & Davies, 2016). By using the method of

triangulating data, I will use at least three different forms of assessment for each outcome. In my

experience, incorporating different forms of summative and formative assessment strategies

guided me in determining each student’s knowledge and understanding. Through combining

various formative and summative assessment strategies, I was able to give all students the

opportunity to succeed. For example, I assessed using anecdotal notes, through the collection of

exit slips and worksheets, as well as through administering a guided math activity. I feel that just

like teachers need to use different modalities when teaching, they also need to use multiple

modalities when assessing. The method of triangulation allows for this, it ensures that the data

collection will be well rounded and this translates into providing several opportunities for

students to succeed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that when teachers have a well-balanced assessment plan, both

teachers and students will benefit. I feel it’s important to use the three methods of assessment

addressed above in order to aid in the success of student grades. Assessment is crucial when

determining a student’s progress and understanding, as well as for the growth of the teacher as

assessment is often a reflection of their teaching and guides their methods. As I gain more

experience as a teacher over the years, I’m sure my beliefs regarding assessment in conjunction

with my assessment practices will change as I learn more effective strategies.

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References

Davies, A. (2011). Making classroom assessment work (3rd Ed.). Courtenay, BC: Connections

Publishing.

Herbst, S., & Davies, A. (2016). Grading, reporting, and professional judgment in the

elementary classrooms. Courtenay, BC: Connections Publishing.

Marzano, R. (2006). Classroom assessment & grading that work. Alexandria, VA: Association

for Supervision and Curriculum Development.