Evil Assessments!

            Having witnessed the usual eye rolling, headache rubbing, under the breath scoffing response that educators give to the idea of assessment, I was a bit skeptical about reading these chapters in Donna Kay Beattie’s Assessment in Art Education. The term “assessment” has collected such a stigma from teachers stifled by standardized tests that the actual usefulness of the information in the chapters surprised me.

            I really felt like the information presented in the chapters that I read will be very useful when I have my own classroom. Beattie described assessment in an extremely thorough and non-threatening way. Explaining that assessment is “an integral component of quality teaching” and not a waste of teachers’ valuable time was a great way to start the discussion. After saying this, Beattie gave a one sentence summary of assessment that I really felt encompassed the flow of how assessment fits into lessons. She explained, “ Preassessing for prior knowledge, building on prior knowledge through instruction, reassessing, reteaching based on assessment findings, and final assessing are all part of sound classroom teaching practices” (Beattie 2-3).

            Traditionally, the most common assessment used by teachers is summative assessment. I never even considered that assessment could be formative until I got into the education field. Everyone is aware that teachers are required to provide the school, parents, and even the state with information about student learning after each lesson in the form of summative assessments. But after reading Beattie’s chapter on formative assessment, I am beginning to think that formative assessment is even more important and influential to student success. While summative assessment is simply a final declaration of whether a student did learn or did not learn, formative assessment allows hope for improvement, reassurance that information has been learned, and provides a direction for continued learning in that particular area. While both types of assessment are useful, they differ on “when, how, and why they are used” (Beattie 84)

            I feel as though I have not had much experience with formative assessment in my field work and in my education experience, so I doubted whether it could be incorporated into class periods without causing a drastic shift in class format, and without taking up too much instruction time. I was so relieved and excited to be given so many examples of how this can be done! Having students use note cards (and possibly working in groups) to summarize big ideas or questions is the perfect way to obtain the necessary information of classroom understanding, encourage discussion and clarification from peers, and even promote higher thinking skills that are helpful in all areas of education.

            With this new information, I plan to focus much more on formative assessment than I ever thought I would! I always knew it was important to check up on student work but did not know how many possibilities there were to assess mid project/unit assessment. I am certain that I will incorporate group formative assessments, because students can help each other gain clarity. Then, as Beattie mentioned, I will address any remaining “muddy areas”. I will have a better understanding of what my students have learned by using both formative and summative assessment together because to see what/if learning has taken place, you must see where a student began, how they progressed, and what they have to show for the process as a whole. In this manner, assessment can actually be extremely helpful and keep the teacher in control of classroom learning as opposed to having control taken away by evil assessments!