Formative vs. Summative

I think that assessments are a pendulum that swings back and forth with the times. Right now I feel as though the pendulum is very much on the side of formative assessments and project based assessments. The trend in education is currently all about letting students show their learning in any way they want to and recognizing that students learn and demonstrate their learning differently.

            I do not usually use assessments that I find online. I think that if I am truly assessing my students on what they should know by the end of the unit or lesson I need complete control over what goes on the assessment. Canned, pre-made assessments will not fit the needs of my students. My assessments are more valid than “professionally created” assessments, but only for my students. I do not pretend to be an expert on creating assessments. But I do know what the expectation on my particular students is, and I know what they are capable of. Thus, my assessments are tailored specifically to them. And this even changes year to year. I use the same assessments from one year to the next, but I always need to review them to make sure they are still an accurate representation of what my students learned. I think that my assessments meet standards as well as professional made ones.  

            I have not previously used technology to create my own assessments. While I try to be innovative and project based in my assessments, especially summative assessment, I have never viewed technology as a tool specifically for assessing students. I think this mental block comes from there not being enough technology for every student. However, upon study and reflection, there are many ways around that. I can create an assessment with technology that then gets printed and becomes a paper or project assessment for my students. I could also do more assessing in small groups using resources like iPads. Accelerated Reader is a website that has reading assessments for many books that my students use on a regular basis on the iPads.

However, I have also seen technology assessments backfire. My students take the NWEA MAPS tests three times a year. This is a test taken on the computer and I know that many of my students do not take it seriously simply because it is on a computer. They just click answer after answer so they can be done. And it is difficult for me as a proctor/teacher to tell when this might be the case. I think these assessments are not an accurate representation of what my students know.

I use many different resources to track student growth. I keep anecdotal notes on student behavior using an iPad app called Class Dojo. I keep the iPad handy throughout the day and award and remove points from students’ accounts. Their parents also have instant feedback on their behavior using this system. As far as achievement, I use a GoogleDoc spreadsheet to keep all my students beginning, middle, and end of year assessment scores in one place. I then share this doc with any other teacher my students might work with, such as the literacy specialist and the special education teacher. I also keep track of student achievement in my gradebook, which is online on the Infinite Campus Portal. This is also live for parents to see.

I think that the popularity of rubrics has to do with the current education trend to let students show their learning in any way they want to. We need concrete ways to grade these projects and rubrics seem acceptable. Rubrics also provide a lot of feedback to students and parents. And feedback is also very popular right now. For example, students can see not only that they lost 4 points on a writing assignment. They can see they lost 2 points for unsatisfactory conventions and 2 points for partially proficient organization. This gives them specific skills to work on in the future.

I do enjoy using rubrics. Here is a specific example of why: My students do an animal project in October. For the most part the students will get full credit as long as they followed directions. However, for a project this big it seems silly to give everyone 100%, but I have no specific reason for taking points away. When I use a rubric a 3 is proficient and a 4 is advanced. There are specific indicators on the rubric for student and parent reference. I can give a student a 3 for the reason that their work is proficient, but not advanced. Rubrics give a more accurate representation of what students know, and they are easier for parents to understand. I do go online to get ideas of ways to create rubrics for specific projects. But I always end up changing things to apply more directly to my students.

I think that teachers should absolutely be assessed on their use of technology in the classroom. Using technology in our instruction is not an option anymore. Technology is a necessary part of education and students in this generation need to be taught good technology skills. Using technology, especially for older teachers, shows that we are life long learners and always open to learning new and better teaching strategies. Teachers that don’t use technology in their instruction are seriously hindering the education of the students in their class.