Types of Assessments Currently Used in My Classes

During the reading of this chapter, I did feel like I had a comfortable knowledge of the various types of assessment used in our educational system. Part of this is due to the requirements of the curriculum work we do in our department: we are required to list the types of formative and summative assessment we will be using in each chapter. However, I also noticed that although I can identify the various types, it doesn't mean that I use all of them in my classroom currently.

To begin, my assessments are all assessments of maximum assessment. I have rarely used typical performance assessment in my classroom. Quite honestly, I don't even know where I would fit in that type of assessment. However, in one of my accelerated English classes we just finished a unit on creation myths, and a short answer question on the test asked students to write about one benefit of reading these myths. In this question there is an aspect of typical performance assessment, as students may answer with what they will use the knowledge to do in regards to future reading.

When deciding whether to give a fixed-choice or complex-performance type of assessment, I usually combine the methods. All of my tests include essays, which makes sense especially since it is an English classroom. The essay portion is typically worth more than any other section, as it is hard to guess to get lucky on an essay if the student doesn't have a good grasp on the material. The fixed-choice, if we are studying literature, is usually recall information, and the complex-performance addresses specific goals of the unit, like understanding the various methods of characterization or identifying different types of humor in writing. For me, this type of assessment is able to capture more aspects of a student's progress in my class, incorporating the new material for the unit with the concepts we reinforce all of the time: grammar, organization skills, using support in writing, etc.

In the last few years I have also incorporated some project oriented units into my classroom. One is a powerpoint presentation of the students' original poetry that is united by theme or tone, with the theme or tone reinforced through the artwork and music that accompanies each slide. In a written portfolio that accompanies the powerpoint, students reflect on the decisions they made in revising their poems, write critical essays on published poems that fit in with their themes or tones, and reflect on the changes in their learning and attitudes toward poetry throughout the unit. It has been a wonderful project for my students and for me. It has shown so much more achievement than the summative assessment I used to give, which was a combination of fixed-choice and complex-performance paper and pencil test.

In regards to the ways I use assessment in my classroom, I am definately lacking in a few areas. One is the placement test. I rarely, if ever, give placements tests. The only units in which I do so are grammar units that are reinforcing skills learning in the previous year's English curriculum. This is probably an area that I need to explore more in regards to my teaching. On the other hand, I feel that I use formative assessment in my classroom very well. I assign homework over the concepts we are studying and have class discussions to gather information about student understanding. I am also, after this summer's CTER course, setting up an online class discussion so that I can better monitor those students who are not comfortable speaking out in class. Hopefully, through this method I will be able to more effectively judge the understanding of almost all students in class in an ongoing process.

Diagnostic assessment is used in my classroom only through observations. I have referred some students to counselors when I think that their ability level is just too low for me to be able to achieve the class goals with them, but that does not happen very often.

I end all units in my class with summative evaluations. The evaluation may take the form of a test, a paper, or a product. This is usually worth much more than any formative evaluations, but not too much that, if a student has demonstrated knowledge throughout the unit but tests poorly, the student's grade isn't salvageable. I do understand that these tests do not measure the complexity of their learning, and that some students simply get too nervous under testing conditions. I have had several students fail tests that, when I ask them right after class to explain an answer to me, can do so very well.

All of my assessments are criterion referenced. I do not incorporate any norm referenced assessment, and, as of now, don't understand when or why I would do so. The achievement of the unit goals is what I am interested in assessing.

Although I am currently happy with the assessments I use in some of my units, I also know that many of my assessments need to be rewritten. This will always be an ongoing process. My only hope is that, with the revision, I can find ways to assess through complex-performance assessments without overloading myself with grading. Having 120 English students a day means that any type of formal assessment takes a lot of time, and that is, I believe, why so many teachers stick with fixed-choice tests. I do hope that this class is helpful in my own classroom and can help me find ways to balance effective assessment with time constraints.