This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licenseteacher, might say that the goal of her next unit is: “Students will learn about the Cvil War.” Clearer goals require
that Vanessa decides what it is about the US Civil War she wants her students to learn, e.g. the dates and names of
battles, the causes of the US Civil War, the differing perspectives of those living in the North and the South, or the
day-to-day experiences of soldiers fighting in the war. Vanessa cannot devise appropriate assessments of her
students’ learning about the US Civil War until she is clear about her own purposes.
For effective teaching Vanessa also needs to communicate clearly the goals and objectives to her students so they
know what is important for them to learn. No matter how thorough a teacher’s planning has been, if students do
not know what they are supposed to learn they will not learn as much. Because communication is so important to
teachers a specific chapter is devoted to this topic (Chapter 8), and so communication is not considered in any
detail in this chapter.
Step 2: Selecting appropriate assessment techniques
Selecting and administrating assessment techniques that are appropriate for the goals of instruction as well as
the developmental level of the students are crucial components of effective assessment for learning. Teachers need
to know the characteristics of a wide variety of classroom assessment techniques and how these techniques can be
adapted for various content, skills, and student characteristics. They also should understand the role reliability,
validity, and the absence of bias should play is choosing and using assessment techniques. Much of this chapter
focuses on this information.
Step 3: Using assessment to enhance motivation and confidence
Students’ motivation and confidence is influenced by the type of assessment used as well as the feedback given
about the assessment results. Consider, Samantha a college student who takes a history class in which the
professor’s lectures and text book focus on really interesting major themes. However, the assessments are all
multiple choice tests that ask about facts and Samantha, who initially enjoys the classes and readings, becomes
angry, loses confidence she can do well, and begins to spend less time on the class material. In contrast, some
instructors have observed that that many students in educational psychology classes like the one you are now taking
will work harder on assessments that are case studies rather than more traditional exams or essays. The type of
feedback provided to students is also important and we elaborate on these ideas later in this chapter.
Step 4: Adjusting instruction based on information
An essential component of assessment for learning is that the teacher uses the information gained from
assessment to adjust instruction. These adjustments occur in the middle of a lesson when a teacher may decide that
students’ responses to questions indicate sufficient understanding to introduce a new topic, or that her observations
of students’ behavior indicates that they do not understand the assignment and so need further explanation.
Adjustments also occur when the teacher reflects on the instruction after the lesson is over and is planning for the
next day. We provide examples of adjusting instruction in this chapter and consider teacher reflection in more
detail in Appendix C..
Step 5: Communicating with parents and guardians
Students’ learning and development is enhanced when teachers communicate with parents regularly about their
children’s performance. Teachers communicate with parents in a variety of ways including newsletters, telephone
Educational Psychology 242 A Global Text