Assessment+Philosophy

//Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.// - Albert Einstein

The purpose of valid and effective assessment is to provide students with feedback regarding their progress, with the goal of increasing student learning. Just as each student is unique, so are their individual preferences, academic strengths and learning methods. Not all forms of assessment are equally effectual for all students, and it is therefore our responsibility as teachers to develop and carry out varied and reliable methods of evaluation that cater to the individuality of students. Assessment must be differentiated in order to ensure that diverse learning styles and multiple intelligences are considered and recognized. In this way, we can encourage and contribute to our students’ overall educational process.

When preparing an assessment, we as teachers must identify the skills and information that we expect students to have learned from our instruction. If a test or assessment is to be a valid and reliable indication of what students have actually learned, we must ensure that there is a proper alignment between instruction and evaluation.

Teachers must establish, maintain and increase optimism regarding assessment. Many students experience stress or anxiety at the more thought of being tested or assessed, which can negatively affect their performance and thus their scores and grades. We must support and encourage students, in order to decrease anxiety levels and to help students develop an attitude of effort attribution, whereby they will work hard due to the belief that this will bring them success.

To read my Philosophy of Assessment, click on the following link. 