Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

When I was a student in high school, I thought the main purpose of assessing and grading was to see if I met the expected teaching objectives and to earn points toward my grade for the course. After reading Assessing and Evaluating Students’ Learning, I’ve realized that points and fact-based questions shouldn’t be the only things teachers are looking for. I’ve taken tests after reading a novel where knowledge and factual information were what the teacher valued. While I might have learned what my teacher wanted me to learn about the novel, I’m not sure I got much else from reading.

I like that the article suggests to first define what you, as a teacher, values in literature. Then you can think about how you will ask students to show you what they’ve learned. I think this goes back to having a reason for everything you do in the classroom. It seems obvious to first know what you’re hoping students learn and then plan around that, but this article showed me just how important learning objectives are. I think it’s important that students know the learning objectives and how they’re expected to show their knowledge. When I knew a huge test at the end of a novel awaited me, I would read for facts. My focus wasn’t on my own interpretation of the novel and because of that, I’m not sure that I had my own interpretation.

I also liked the section of the article that talked about grading according to a group norm. I agree that the less-able students will remain at the bottom while the top students continue to perform above average. While that’s great for the top students, the bottom ones are just continually compared to kids who are doing better. Their own improvement, if there can be any in this type of assessment, is ignored. I think criterion-based evaluation is a great tool to help students grow, regardless of if they are in the top or bottom of a group norm. I think students should be evaluated based off of improvements they make because their education is their own and being evaluated based on how they perform will encourage students to try hard and perform better.