Planned Method of Student Assessment

¶ … Planned Method of Student Assessment Assessment has become, in a sense, a central part of education, insofar as performance indicators are generally used to evaluate and advance students within the system. As a result, assessment methodology is often emphasized today in the educational setting. However, as this discussion shows, the mixed methodologies informing these assessment frameworks also informs the mix of positive and negative impacts experienced by students. The discussion on the methodology of assessment will endorse observation and systematic planning based on this methodology.

The discussion will likewise consider such relevant issues as the importance of remaining sensitive to increasing individual and cultural pluralities in engaging observational methods of assessment. As the emphasis on teaching students to understanding or honing specific educational skills is eclipsed by a misappropriated focus on standardized testing and a focus on culturally inflexible modes of evaluation, the premise of effectively empirical observation strikes as a markedly flexible way of assessing student dispositions and individual learning strategies.

First and foremost, the teacher is in a unique position to act as an impartial observer, making anecdotal recordings and recognition of different learning and behavior patterns in students. For instance, creating contexts in which class participation and interaction within the context of learning disciplines will induce behaviors where such anecdotal observation is possible.

Here, it will be reasonable to gather through observation details on the way that the student interacts socially with other students, the way she addresses issues where problem-solving is necessary and such other grading intangibles as focus, attentiveness, enthusiasm and intuition. All of these can help the teacher to learn with greater nuance how to understand individual and collective student behaviors and performance indicators.

As the anecdotal assessment approach is, after a duration within the context of the classroom, threatened by a relative absence of subjective restraint, a way to balance this approach is through employment of the observational checklist. Here, it would be possible to establish a range of categories and subcategories relating to student socialization, academic performance, emotional development, improvement and a host of other crucial learning and developmental areas.

The great value in the observational checklist is that it essentially creates a context in which all students are assessed according to the same standards of consideration. This improves the objective veracity of the yielded findings. Finally, portfolio logs will become possible over the course of a later school year, with the larger sample of completed work allowing for the observation of certain longterm patterns or periods of transition.

By taking the time to assess the formulation of these patterns over the course of the school year, the teacher can begin to create a valuable data set through which to observe any number of importance issues relating to strengths, weaknesses, needs and areas of excellence for each student. This will have a.