Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

This chapter explores the very inexact science of assessing student learning and teacher
performance. Sections examine different approaches to the assessment of student work, the
way to design fair assessments, the debate over national standards and standardized tests,
and an examination of why teachers should continually reassess their own practice. It in-
cludes sample rubrics for grading student work, ideas for assessing your own performance
as a teacher, and suggestions for creating a professional portfolio.

FIG. 8.1 Key terms for understanding student assessment.

ASSESSMENT: The ways students demonstrate understanding of concepts, mastery of

skills, and knowledge of and ability to use information. Assessment devices include, but

are not limited to, teacher-designed and standardized tests. Assessments are used to eval-

uate student performance, teacher effectiveness, and the success of curricula and pro-

grams.

STANDARDS: Formal content acquisition and skill development goals for student achieve-

ment developed by state education departments, school districts, and national educational

organizations. Sometimes they are coupled with instructional strategies for teachers and

assessment tools.

STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT: Standardized assessment devices, especially multiple-

choice tests, measure narrow areas of competence. Advocates for this type of assessment

argue that results on these tests accurately and objectively measure a student’s general

level of achievement.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT: Direct evaluation of student competence in different areas

using various assessment devices, including standardized tests. Performance assessment

attempts to directly measure a student’s ability to think critically, write clearly, express

ideas orally, and work cooperatively.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT: A form of performance assessment that minimizes the use of

tests and encourages the direct assessment of student performance during learning activi-

ties and through the evaluation of student work.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT: Students’ performance is evaluated based on a collection of

their work assembled over an extended period. The portfolio demonstrates growth as well

as final achievement.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE: The idea that teachers, individually and collectively, need to con-

stantly reevaluate their performance in order to assess whether they are achieving their

goals.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

Authentic assessment is not an easy task. As a high school teacher, I continually found

myself sweating over grades and offering students other opportunities to demonstrate

what they learned and what I taught.

Questions to Consider:

1. What are your views about standards, testing, and assessment?
   2.What were your experiences as a student? How do these shape your views as a
   teacher?

ASSESSMENT 203