Symposium

===1) How would you define assessment? How would you explain the difference between assessment and testing to your teachers? Parents? Students? === Assessment is a classroom tool that teachers use to evaluate how students are performing in the classroom, at times this tool compares students against other students while at others the tool is designed to evaluate a student’s progress. I would explain the difference between assessment and testing to parents AND students in an easy to understand manner “testing is something that is done to you, and assessment is something that is done for you”. This simple statementgets to the heart of what assessment is designed to do – evaluate a student to benefit that student. Testing on the other hand only benefits a student if appropriate measures are used in conjunction with appropriate feedback designed to encourage the student to improve. To my teachers, I would explain assessment in a similar manner to ensure that communication is clear and consistent across all three groups. With my teachers I would certainly elaborate on the forms of assessment, why, when, and how we should use the varying forms of assessment, and explain with RESEARCH why assessments are the evaluation tool of choice for the district.

2) How wouldyou modify the Stiggins 5-step model to make it more effective in your particular setting?
Oftentimes, teachers understand the purpose and the targets set forth by the district, however there are instances in which clarification is needed. I would modify the Stiggins model to place the emphasis on assessment design and results, and I would ideally work towards getting teachers to move towards a model in which students can be involved in their own assessment. This is difficult to do as it is a major paradigm shift in the way teachers have traditionally think about assessment. I would have to work diligently to get staff buy in on project based assessments with appropriate rubrics in which students were involved in the design.

===3) What isthe reality of the assessment process in your school? How would you move the assessment process in the direction you would like it to go? === The realityof assessment in my school is that departmentally some departments do much better than others during various steps in the Stiggins model. Much focus has been placed on building common assessments as a data point for students to measure student progress throughout a four year career, however with the adoption of CCSS, the focus has now shifted to the development of clear learning targets and the development of assessments to address these new standards.

4) How could classroom assessment process(es) be used more effectively?
 I feel this process could be used more effectively if all teachersused the same model of design, if teachers worked collaboratively to createcommon assessments upon which students had clear expected outcomes and, withthe exception of summative assessments, had numerous opportunities to modifytheir work to show they have made progress throughout a particular timeframe. Additionally a focus on project, problem, and challenge based assessments, which require the employment and development of 21st century skills must be used in order for students to excel academically and professionally. These types of assessments engage student learning, are easily modified to provide differentiated learning among all students, and allow each student to work at his/her own level and show personal progress throughout their academic careers.

5) What are some specific strategies that would better include students in the assessment process?
Problem, project, and challenge based learning and assessments. I strongly believe that student choice in learning and assessment motivates learners to produce the best product they possibly can. Having students create their own rubrics, with guidance, allows for a collaborative approach between teacher and student which creates a “guide on the side” approach for the teacher. This requires a paradigm shiftin teacher thinking to allow for teachers to shed the labels of “transmitters of knowledge” and gain a label more akin to “teachers of skills and thinking”. In the age of the internet, instant messages, smart phones, and other yet to be seen technologies, the‘knowledge’ is available to anyone who is savvy enough to modify their search criteria to find what they are looking for. It is the ability to synthesize and produce that student need, and as teachers allow themselves to be guides instead of transmitters, students benefit via learned skills and the tools needed to succeed outside of k-12educational world.