Thursday, July 23, 2009

Topic: Testing and Assessment

10-second review: “Testing is for final results”; “assessment” is for learning what a student knows and needs to know and for the teacher to know what to do to meet the students’ needs.


Title: “Testing and Grading vs. Assessing.” G Goode. Language Arts (May 2009), 395-396. The elementary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).


Summary/Quote: (For students, assessment means nothing if it is not part of their grades.) “These views challenge teachers to be clear about the difference between testing and assessment, terms that for many teachers are synonymous in meaning. Testing is supposed to be for final results, while assessment refers to an ongoing collection of data that directs teaching and learning. Assessment is not supposed to be about the grade: it is supposed to be about 1) students demonstrating that they have learned and what they still need to learn, and 2) about teachers determining what steps to take to accommodate the needs of students in order to advance student learning.” p. 395.


Comment: A useful distinction between testing and assessment: final result vs. learning what students have learned and need to learn and teachers determining what the students need. RayS.

No comments:

Post a Comment