Courtney Richardson The Delicate Balance of Assessment Practices Assessment practices vary among teachers, student needs, school

policies, and ought to be geared toward student success. With a focus in elementary I value education as a way to gain skills, life lessons, and experiences within a class of diverse peers that may have different abilities, interests and backgrounds. In the future I am prepared to construct learning opportunities and assessments for my individual students as a partnership in furthering their academic development, learning, and confidence. Instruction and assessments whether formative, pre-assessment or summative need to be set in place as a narrative response to where students are in their learning, where we aim to go and the learning along the journey. There needs to be a balance of assessments that are valued as useful to improve learning with practical components that are meaningful, sufficient feedback, choices within assignments, and a mutual understanding between teacher and student on what needs to be learned. As a tool assessment provides students with a clear idea of their achievements of learning outcomes as well as where to improve if it is set up carefully, thoughtfully and with strategic methods to succeed. As I mentioned, students should be involved in the process of assessment making so there is an understanding. Success criteria needs to be discussed and the reasonable expectations from the teacher and the students. Diagnostic and formative assessments will be implemented into my teaching, but will be carefully connected to the learning outcomes. The students should know what they are being assessed for and how it will happen whether through uses of rubrics, checklists, exit slips, choice boards to aid in keeping everyone accountable. As a teacher I plan to use a combination of assessment methods such as pre-assessment but with my students needs in mind. I admit to not taking risks during my public education due to the fear of failing. I would never read the comments from the teacher on my tests, only the letter grade. I believe that sufficient feedback is necessary and teaching students that learning is an ongoing journey are critical factors to their success. There is, however, a time and place for assessment, but its importance on improvement in individual students needs to be the ultimate goal. Teachers therefore need to have a layout of the outcomes and assess on what is being learned, who needs help, and how to motivate students to strive to improve. As Marzano suggests, feedback from classroom assessments should give students a clear picture of their process on learning goals and how they might improve (2006). As I ha ve learned from my experiences teaching thus far, feedback and pinpointing improvements calls for great amounts of preparation and dedication from the teacher and students. However it is all worth it when concepts are grasped, as long as there is a purpose and correlation between tasks and assessments. Being flexible and adaptable are qualities that are essential when assessing students. Learning needs to be authentic and giving redos and retakes should be an option. On that note, the teacher giving the redos and retakes needs to be reasonable and discuss with the student the circumstances in a timely matter. If, even with my preparation as a teacher to engage

students in their learning and support along the way, there is a student who is struggling in my class, I believe in second chances and overcoming obstacles. Knowing my students and taking the time to have practices that suit their needs ensures that teaching will be more than a traditional lecture and pencil and paper tests. In addition, to using oral language, questioning techniques, and writing, effective teachers incorporate projects and performances in their classrooms to determine students understanding of the content (Fisher and Frey, 2007) . There are many ways to assess students on their learning. By varying the ways to assess how they understand, the chances of their learning to be more authentic is increased with the same learning goals in mind. As I evolve in my teaching I learn more and more ways to assess students. One thing that will stand true is valuing student success individually, assessing them on the learning outcomes, and how they show their understanding makes learning accountable for everyone. By using a combination of formative, summative, and pre-assessment strategies with the understanding that success criteria needs to be made, understanding of expectations is clear, and to offer retakes in certain circumstances within the choice assignments given will make for a teacher- student partnership in learning success.

References Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2007). Using projects and performances to check for understanding. In Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom. ASCD: Alexandria, VA, 72-97.

Marzano, R. J., & Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (2006). Classroom assessment & grading that work. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.