Brooke Hebrank

Philosophy of Assessment
April 27, 2015
The purpose of assessment is to ensure students understand the
content of the curriculum being taught to them. Assessing students
means to give them a true assessment that will test their knowledge
instead of their ability to memorize, their test anxiety, and their ability
to guess correctly. Assessments should give a valid reading of what the
student knows compared to what they still need to learn. Assessments
should be for the teacher, parents and the student. They should always
give the student feed back. When assessments are created correctly,
they can help students build confidence and poise in the classroom.
21st century learning skills are essential to education because they
promote skills such as: life and career, critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, creativity, media and technology skills
and core subjects. The purpose of assessment in these areas is to
assure that students are presenting mastery levels of comprehension
while using 21st learning skills. The student will be able to provide
evidence for this knowledge through application of assessment in the
classroom. For example, the student may be taking a Language Arts
assessment. A question may be a Level I question. The following
question may ask the student to provide evidence for their choice of
the Level I question. The student must then demonstrate what made
him or her choose that answer. He or she must then provide evidence
to be evaluated on this matter. This is representing the 21st century
skill of critical thinking.
Formative assessments are given to students to provide teachers and
students with feedback based upon their knowledge. Teachers may
take these results into consideration to regroup students based on
their abilities, change teaching or lesson structure and provide
students with feedback. Formative assessments will be used in my
classroom to promote understanding of subjects. They will regularly be
given to my students with feedback to assure that their knowledge
does not end after an assessment, but rather that it continues on
during each class. These assessments are for understanding a
students current knowledge and assisting them to progress and
continue to learn.
Another type of assessments are summative assessments. They are
given at the end of a unit. They give a final result as to whether the
student has exhibited mastery knowledge of a standard/unit or not.
The results for these tests will also be returned to my students with

feedback. It is my goal to assure that all students do exhibit mastery

knowledge on all summative assessments.
Curriculum based assessments (CBA) measure students knowledge
based upon lessons taught in the curriculum of the class. These
assessments show how students are progressing throughout the
course of the year. Results from these assessments should be shared
with the student and their parents. This provides feedback to the
student and the parent of how well they understand material in class.
Based off of whole classroom CBA test results, I will be able to assess
my teaching methods and strategies. I will be able to use the bell curve
from these results to make sure I am educating the students to a
mastery understanding of the curriculum.
There are always going to be more assessments in life. It is essential to
begin preparing students for assessments at a young age. I will make
sure that all of my tests are well created and true to testing the
knowledge of the student. My students will be prepared for tests
because they will be given on a regular basis. Students must be taught
test taking strategies. These strategies could be as simple as deep
breathing before a test to creating study outlines before a test to
reading all the answers before selecting one choice. Students will also
be assured that if they did not reach mastery performance on a test
that they will be given feedback to assist them in understanding the
concept better. Students should also be reassured that the area of
proficient or emerging will be retaught to them so that they will
understand and become mastery in that concept. Every student will
reach mastery knowledge of every subject in my classroom through
these techniques.
My classroom will be modeled through high-end assessments.
Diagnostic assessments and benchmark assessments will be given to
students routinely throughout the course of the school year. It is
essential to understand where each individual student stands in the
classroom. Basing the diagnostic assessments off of the standards
taught in class will allow feedback for me to know what areas need to
be modified and taught differently to students. By benchmarking them,
I will be able to see their progress and understand what methods of
instruction they react best to. I will also use the RTII model in the
classroom to create a structured atmosphere where students are
grouped together based upon their understanding of the content. This
will allow me to modify my teaching instruction to each of the three
tiers in the RTII process.
Comprehensive assessment models (CAM), a current research-based
trend in education, allow students to be assessed adequately on their

actual knowledge. Rhode Island documents on CAMs go into great

detail about how to use CAMs in the classroom. I will use CAMs in my
classroom by giving students an assignment and allowing them to
create their project based off the topic. This will be accompanied by a
specific rubric to assist the students to know what is expected from
them.
Another research-based education trend are data notebooks. They
allow students to individually and independently keep track of their
educational progress in the classroom. Data notebooks can be made
for any subject and for any topic. I will have my students use them in
all subject areas. They will assist my students to know what they have
mastered as opposed to where they are areas of still emerging. This
tool is excellent for students to assess and pace themselves. Selfassessment has shown major advancement with knowledge and
grades in education.
All of the assessments in my classroom will be accompanied by a
rubric. These rubrics may be as vague or as detailed as necessary
based upon the assessment type. For example, project based
assessments will be very detailed. They will have categories based
upon mastery, proficient, or emerging categories. Informal and formal
evaluations will also include a rubric. For assessments such as
benchmark, diagnostic, CBAs and summative assessments a different
type of rubric will be given. This rubric may include what is expected
from the student in terms of commitment and completeness of their
work. All of these rubrics will assess the actual knowledge of the
student. Lessons I instruct will also be cooperative. Students will be
encouraged to find information on their own and come together to
share that information with their peers. A form of this type of learning
in my classroom would be through the jig-saw method. Students will
be graded individually and as a group. To ensure that grades are
accurate, there will be a well-formed assessment for this type of work
accompanied by a rubric. Project based lessons will regularly be
assigned and accurately assessed in my classroom.
There are many different type 21st century technologies that can be
used to assess projects or assessments. Students should be familiar
with all different types of technology in the classroom. For example,
Show Me is an excellent app that students could use to present a
project. The app, Exit Ticket, is a simple way to informally assess your
students after a lesson. It is an app for exit slips. Technology also has
the ability to make students will quickly becoming engaged and want
to answer questions. My classroom will be introducing and using
technology in many forms. By the end of the year, students will be

familiar with apps and different computer programs and technology

pieces that will help them in their future lives.
Adaptations are necessary for students in any classroom. The first day
of class, I plan to explain to the students how no student is the same
as another. Therefore, no student tests the same as another.
Assessments in my classroom will be adapted to each students
individual needs. The classroom will be an open and comfortable room
where students are not afraid to say they need more assistance on a
topic. Special needs students will also be needing adaptations to their
assessments. Different ways I will create these assessments is based
off of each students individual needs. For example, if the students are
given a history assessment and the student is better at orally speaking
than at writing it is possible to give that student an oral exam while
other students are taken a written exam. This is because the students
are being assessed on a specific history topic, not on their writing
skills. Some students may need different arrangement such as a quiet
room where they can concentrate. It is also important to keep in my
mind IEPs for students in the classroom. IEPs may require be
adjustment of the number of options to questions or open-ended
responses. Adaptations are essential for every class, however it is
important to make sure they are being used for the purpose of the
student learning better. These changes are not to just pass the student
through the class. They are to assist them in understanding the
curriculum.
Grading students involves more than just assigning points to different
tasks the students complete. Grades should be a determination and
calculation based upon academic work only. Non-academic grades will
skew the overall grade. This means that the grade will be giving false
reading of the students actual knowledge. Giving points for nonacademic work, such as giving points for covering a book, will give the
student points where they do not assess the students knowledge.
There are other ways to encourage students non-academic work, such
as incentive charts or the whole class working towards one common
goal/reward. Grades should be processed as only academic information
so that the parents and I are able to see how the student is progressing
in the class. Weighting grades skews the actual representation of the
knowledge of the student. I will assign points appropriately to all
assignments. There will not be points given for nonacademic work in
my classroom. I will use different methods of charting and rewards for
non-academic work in my classroom. It is essential to provide a true
representation of students knowledge based upon the classroom
curriculum.

Every moment inside of the classroom is a learning experience for

students. Assessments are only a small key to student education.
Assessments must be used properly in order to assess a students
knowledge. Feedback for these assessments it the next learning step.
Students must have this feedback to see where they need to improve
their grade. As an educator, it essential to me that I make this process
happen and change my instruction strategies to the needs of each of
my students. Assessments have an array of types. Giving students a
variety of types of assessment will assure that they are progressing
with the 21st century. Including these assessments in the curriculum
will also assist them in their future careers of life. Assessments must
be given in all types of ways such as hands on, technological, written
and project based. This will assure that students from every different
learning type are being assessed on their true knowledge adequately.