My Assessment Philosophy

My assessment philosophy is grounded in transparency and clarity.  I want my students to know what they need to do and how they need to do it.  Assessment is not meant to be a trap, where students are surprised and have been given no tools to properly prepare.  In high school, I had math teachers who told me “If, I told you what was on the test, that would be cheating.”  I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement.  By failing to provide students with clear, accurate, and detailed expectations, how are they supposed to perform at the level we demand?  Testing is not meant to be a trick.  I do not find joy in “fooling” my students with trick questions or surprising them with overly difficult problems in which we did not practice.  My philosophy is meant to provide opportunities for meaningful learning, where I am also an active participant.  Assessment feedback is just as important to the student as it is to me.  By using results and student feedback, I can better develop my teaching, which is then transferred to the student to improve their learning and success. 

Students should feel PROUD when completing an assessment task.  I want to design my assessment structure so that students are excited to show their mastery and skills.  I want to develop confidence as much as I want to develop content mastery.  By providing clear expectations, students can better prepare for assessments.  This takes form in many ways.  On a day-to-day basis, this means incorporating similar items in daily assessment activities that will be seen on larger tests, as to build familiarity.  Students will be given opportunities to practice and receive feedback without penalty in many instances before they must perform on an exam.  On larger projects, students will be provided with comprehensive, detailed rubrics, so they can understand what is being asked of them.  This will also be an effective grading practice as to allow for the highest level of fairness and accountability on my part.  When students perform at a lower level, they are aware of where they lost points and what had to be done to receive full credit.  On larger tests and exams, clear point values and grading criteria are listed with each item.  This will allow students to clearly understand the grading process, as well as a time management and prioritization tool to help boost their performance.  This helps provide transparency and clarity when understanding their scores.  Instead of their work disappearing to a magical grading land and coming back to their hands with a random score, they are better equipped to understand where the score came from why they received the grade that they did. This develops even more meaning to the feedback so they can learn and improve next time. 

Overall, the most important element to me is clarity.  I want students to feel like I am there to help them rather than just assign grades.  I want them to be as much a part in the teaching and learning process as I am.  By being clear, transparent, and detailed with expectations, students will be better prepared to learn and demonstrate learning.