Entry 7: Analysis of an Assessment
As Zessoules and Gardner (1991) point out in Authentic Assessment: Beyond the Buzzword and Into the Classroom, if we are going to ask students to complete analogies, recall information, or preform basic calculations under time pressure the curriculum needs to give them regular opportunists to practice these things with speed. Along with this, if we ask students to grasp scientific principles then the curriculum needs to give students frequent opportunities to investigate, test, and observe nature. They go on to indicate, with no unison between the pedagogical approaches, expectations, standards of performance, and the education of students own capacities for self-critical judgment, new forms of testing “will be as discontinuous with teaching and learning as they have ever been.”
In the most recent unit exam I had students take I was very intentional to have my expectations for the entire unit be transparent though every handout, activity, homework, and quiz. I began the unit with a unit outline. This outline not only broke down the unit into three main components but also had the measureable objectives students needed to master in order to do well on the unit exam. From there I used the homework, classwork, and class activities to get students to practice each measureable objective. This involved group work that required students to complete practice problems in a restricted amount of time after they had sufficient practice with the material through guided lecture and homework. The lab, Salt vs. Sugar, allowed students to interact with and manipulate the material related to the content. Towards the end of the unit I had students create concept maps as a group and a study outline individually for homework to further support them directly practicing with the measureable objectives in multiple ways.
I analyzed the Unit 4 exam and took note of which questions students had the correct answer for. Although this is only the second unit I have taught there was approximately an eight point increase in the test average from the previous unit exam. This may be partially due to the fact that the types of questions I included on the exam were specifically given as part of group work and individual work throughout the coverage of this material. Having the objectives be supported by the assessment is critical for students and the teacher. This not only gives students guidelines for what they need to be able to do but also gives a teacher data from their assessment that clearly presents evidence of the students mastery of those specific skills that were being assessed. This also makes a test useful for students to gauge what content they grasped and what parts they were not able to work through.
I key observation I have made by analyzing an assessment is that it is not useful to do so in an isolated way. I find it difficult, and possibly useless, to analyze an assessment outside of the context of the material or pedagogy that builds up to and prepares students to perform on the assessment. Along with this, aligning each questions of a test, quiz, or project with the objectives and breaking down how questions are asked is critical. Without aligning a question and “correct” answer expected to the objective what the students produce as their answer is not grounded in the essence of what the student is displaying. The objectives, along with the actual pedagogy that is the foundation of a student’s experiences before being assessed are important to analyze assessments in context and not as an obscure isolated set of data.
I have found in my experiences as a student, and so far in my teaching career, assessments are viewed as isolated “snap shots” of student achievement. This is supported by the testing culture that is prevalent throughout this country. The “correct” answer and not what you actually did to get to the “correct” answer is overly, if not the only, stressed measure of academic success. In order to combat this in future unit exams I give I will continue to keep a strong connection of objectives throughout daily pedagogy and in addition create assessments that are more original and utilize the actual skills and application of those skills on the assessment (Zessoules & Gardner, 1991).
Reference:
Zessoules, R., & Gardner, H. (1991). Authentic Assessment: Beyond the buzzword and into the classroom. In V. Perrone (ed.), Expanding Student Assessment. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. pp. 47- 71.
As Zessoules and Gardner (1991) point out in Authentic Assessment: Beyond the Buzzword and Into the Classroom, if we are going to ask students to complete analogies, recall information, or preform basic calculations under time pressure the curriculum needs to give them regular opportunists to practice these things with speed. Along with this, if we ask students to grasp scientific principles then the curriculum needs to give students frequent opportunities to investigate, test, and observe nature. They go on to indicate, with no unison between the pedagogical approaches, expectations, standards of performance, and the education of students own capacities for self-critical judgment, new forms of testing “will be as discontinuous with teaching and learning as they have ever been.”
In the most recent unit exam I had students take I was very intentional to have my expectations for the entire unit be transparent though every handout, activity, homework, and quiz. I began the unit with a unit outline. This outline not only broke down the unit into three main components but also had the measureable objectives students needed to master in order to do well on the unit exam. From there I used the homework, classwork, and class activities to get students to practice each measureable objective. This involved group work that required students to complete practice problems in a restricted amount of time after they had sufficient practice with the material through guided lecture and homework. The lab, Salt vs. Sugar, allowed students to interact with and manipulate the material related to the content. Towards the end of the unit I had students create concept maps as a group and a study outline individually for homework to further support them directly practicing with the measureable objectives in multiple ways.
I analyzed the Unit 4 exam and took note of which questions students had the correct answer for. Although this is only the second unit I have taught there was approximately an eight point increase in the test average from the previous unit exam. This may be partially due to the fact that the types of questions I included on the exam were specifically given as part of group work and individual work throughout the coverage of this material. Having the objectives be supported by the assessment is critical for students and the teacher. This not only gives students guidelines for what they need to be able to do but also gives a teacher data from their assessment that clearly presents evidence of the students mastery of those specific skills that were being assessed. This also makes a test useful for students to gauge what content they grasped and what parts they were not able to work through.
I key observation I have made by analyzing an assessment is that it is not useful to do so in an isolated way. I find it difficult, and possibly useless, to analyze an assessment outside of the context of the material or pedagogy that builds up to and prepares students to perform on the assessment. Along with this, aligning each questions of a test, quiz, or project with the objectives and breaking down how questions are asked is critical. Without aligning a question and “correct” answer expected to the objective what the students produce as their answer is not grounded in the essence of what the student is displaying. The objectives, along with the actual pedagogy that is the foundation of a student’s experiences before being assessed are important to analyze assessments in context and not as an obscure isolated set of data.
I have found in my experiences as a student, and so far in my teaching career, assessments are viewed as isolated “snap shots” of student achievement. This is supported by the testing culture that is prevalent throughout this country. The “correct” answer and not what you actually did to get to the “correct” answer is overly, if not the only, stressed measure of academic success. In order to combat this in future unit exams I give I will continue to keep a strong connection of objectives throughout daily pedagogy and in addition create assessments that are more original and utilize the actual skills and application of those skills on the assessment (Zessoules & Gardner, 1991).
Reference:
Zessoules, R., & Gardner, H. (1991). Authentic Assessment: Beyond the buzzword and into the classroom. In V. Perrone (ed.), Expanding Student Assessment. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. pp. 47- 71.