There are no “right” or “wrong” assessments… but there is definitely a spectrum of weak to strong assessment practices. Our teachers are using the following questions to reflect on and strengthen their own assessment practices.
Guiding Questions to Strengthen Your Assessments
Before Designing the Assessment:
- What is the purpose for this assessment?
- How can this assessment be created collaboratively?
While Designing the Assessment:
- What curriculum standards (Common Core, PYP, Ontario etc.) do you want to asses?
- What type of task/questions will allow your students to show a spectrum of understanding?
- How will you, as the assessor, know what evidence would indicate the different levels of understanding?
- How will you accommodate for students with specific learning needs?
Before Giving the Assessment to Students:
- How will your students know how to be successful on the assessment?
- How can you give your students the opportunity to self-assess and reflect on what they think they did well and what they can get better at?
While “Assessing” the Assessment:
- How will you, as the assessor, know that your assessment of students’ levels of understanding is consistent with other members of your teaching team?
After “Assessing” the Assessment:
- How will you communicate feedback to the student about what they did well and how to improve?
- How will you provide feedback to the parents about their son or daughters’ strengths and areas for improvement?
- Where/how will you track/record the data from this assessment?
- How will you use data from this assessment to plan for future learning?
The stronger our assessment practices are the bigger impact we can have on our students’ learning. What do you think makes a strong assessment?
Making Good Humans 