In our Adult Ed department, administration is focusing
on excellence in assessment in the formal teacher
evaluation process this year.  The main thrust of this
focus is to establish clear learning goals that begin
with needs and skill level assessment.  It is expected
that the instructor will use a variety of assessments
embedded in the instruinal process through backward
planning.  Assessments are aligned to curriculum and
standards and guide lesson planning.  Instructors use
not only formal testing measures, but also student
constructed assessments, when appropriate, and an
informal, routine check for understanding during the
lesson presentation.  Students know how and when they
will be assessed; teachers give timely, accurate and
constructive feedback to students while providing time
for students to reflect.  Students track their own
progress and look forward to assessments, thereby
taking ownership of their progress and goals.

This is a huge undertaking for both adminsitration and
staff.  To my way of thinking, assessment should
inform instruction as well as informing the student of
his/her progress.  Clear learning goals that are
communicated to the students and revisited frequently
during the course of instruction is key to student and
teacher success. 

--- "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
wrote:


> This has been a great day of discussion.

> Many touched upon the issue of assessment and how it

> affects students' 

> perceptions of their performance. Julie raised a

> question about 

> instructional practices leading to students'

> success. I believe 

> assessment may be one of the key areas of pedagogy

> to consider, and here 

> are some thoughts on it.

> A significant portion of the teacher’s time is

> devoted to the evaluation 

> of students’ performance. Ideally, such assessment

> of products or 

> behavior should provide students with the necessary

> information that 

> would allow them to adjust their learning

> strategies, get rid of 

> existing misconceptions, correct mistakes, increase

> (or sustain) 

> motivation, and, ultimately, move them closer to the

> desired goals. That 

> is, it should facilitate student successes not just

> provide teachers 

> with information about what is learned. However,

> research has shown that 

> very often the impact of assessment on students’

> performance and 

> motivation has the opposite — adverse — effect.

> Possible reasons for 

> such a quandary are hidden in specific attributes of

> evaluative 

> practices, with the quality and type of feedback

> being among the most 

> important ones. Our understanding of differential

> effects of assessment 

> in general and feedback in particular on students’

> learning is crucial 

> to ensure optimal outcomes of education.

> 

> I recently conducted a literature review on the

> effect of feedback on 

> leaning and motivation. What most studies show is

> that the key role of 

> teachers in every classroom from kindergarten to the

> most advanced 

> educational setting is to provide information about

> the gap between 

> students current performance and the desired

> performance (as identified 

> by teacher, student, and/or curriculum). Some of the

> main findings are: 

> 1) The more frequent the feedback, the more

> effective it is. 2) 

> Informative feedback comprised of explanations of

> mistakes and 

> suggestions for corrective measures, is much more

> effective than a 

> simple statement of correct or incorrect. 3)

> Feedback should focus on 

> the task not the learner, or attention to the self

> depletes cognitive 

> resources and compromises learning. For instance,

> criticism should be 

> about the task, not the learner. In this case, the

> students' self-esteem 

> will be able to weather the corrective nature of the

> feedback and they 

> won't be discouraged. 4) Grades and numerical scores

> , even if presented 

> along with comments, were found to reduce motivation

> and short circuit 

> the learning process (when you get the score of a

> game, you don't want 

> to watch it).

> To provide good feedback is really time consuming.

> So what are your thoughts about the best assessment

> practice in the 

> adult literacy classroom?

> Looking forward to your comments.

> Ana.

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Focus on Basics mailing list

> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,

> please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics

>