PLE 4: Assessment

"Good assessment is the foundation for effective teaching." 

Although the term assessment typically conjures negative and stressful thoughts of grades and standardized tests, assessment is necessary in evaluating a student's understanding and achievement.  In fact, Fountas and Pinnell claim, "Good assessment is the foundation for effective teaching" (275).  Contrary to popular belief, assessment does not imply the giving of a test.  While tests are certainly one method often utilized to assess a student's performance and accomplishments, assessment essentially is instruction.  As a teacher, I will strive to never give a test for the sake of giving a test; rather, I will assess students in order to promote learning and autonomy. 

Consider incorporating assessment in a reading lesson plan in a first grade class.  Effectively assessing students' reading is especially essential to productivity in elementary school classrooms.  There are two basic types of assessment--informal and formal.  While informal assessment is spontaneous, formal assessment is planned in advance for a specific purpose.  

Informal Assessment

1. The image below depicts a reading attitude survey, which would be an excellent tool for a teacher to reliably evaluate students' attitudes towards reading (McKenna and Kear).  I would give students this survey at the beginning of the school year to determine whether each student is interested in recreational or academic reading and modify my lesson plans accordingly. 
2. During a Read Aloud, a teacher can informally assess students' comprehension by asking thinking questions.
   

 

The entire Reading Attitude Survey can be found here.   

 Formal Assessment

1. Reading assessment can be incorporated into centers.  For example, in a Word Sort center, have each student sort the words and take a picture of his or her completed assignment.  As long as the student works independently and documents his or her work, this provides an accurate assessment of each student's understanding of the material.  Additionally, this activity can be modified to accommodate students' learning levels by assigning different colored words to each level. 
2.  Listening to a student read aloud and assessing his or her accuracy and fluency via Running Records is an example of formal assessment.  This assessment can be referenced when determining a student's reading level.