Standard 3 Assessment and
Evaluation
Administer and interpret appropriate assessments for students,
especially those who struggle with reading and writing.
Analyze and use assessment data to examine the effectiveness of
specific intervention practices and students responses to instruction.
While completing courses in the Reading Specialist Program, many projects,
assignments, and student interactions have focused on how to differentiate
instruction, find engaging content, learn the theories behind reading
instruction, and assess student development. Teachers can conduct student assessment
in a wide array of ways, from simple observations and teacher journals to
standardized testing. During a research assignment, I found an article from
Edutopia that provided a lot of insight on how teachers should view and interpret
data. Rebecca Adler, in her article “Three Ways Student Data Can Inform Your
Teaching,” argues that teachers should create a constructivist, student-directed
classroom where teachers can collect data by simply having the opportunity to
listen to their students think out loud and participate in a group or pair
setting. Adler explains the importance of this dynamic by stating, “The beauty of
having a constructivist classroom is that the kids are comfortable with you
walking around and sitting with them in their groups - your ‘guide on the side’
role. In other words, they don’t freeze up when you step away from the podium
or your regular spot by the whiteboard” (1). By being the fly on the wall, teachers
can find out answers to very important literacy development questions, like “How
well are they making sense of the content? Interacting with others? Are they
struggling with a learning activity?”
In addition to
the constructivist mindset, Adler also reminds teachers that summative assessment
and standardized tests are not always the enemy. In fact, they are a necessary
component to a student’s development. While standardized tests do not assess
every aspect of a child, they can and should be used alongside other assessment
data to determine student grouping and differentiation. According to Adler, Standardized
test data reveals how students performed: advanced, proficient, basic, and
below basic. This could help inform how teachers choose student groups, create
seating charts, and differentiate for individuals” (3). If, for example, a teacher
has a student who has historically scored below basic and exhibits other signs
of a struggling reader, that teacher should consider placing the student at the
front of the class so that she can easily provide extra support. Teachers can
also use this data to place students in discrete, changeable groups.
As a general
educator, I have used both of these types of assessments, as well as project-based
assessments and rubrics for essays. By using a variety of assessment, teachers
can collect data that considers all aspects of a student.
Below is a screen shot of Adler’s Edutopia article and a rubric
that I used to asses a recent creative writing project.
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