The assessment of learning in the classroom, allows teachers to understand what their students are learning and the best methods to use to teach them. The information gathered through classroom assessment, can help teachers plan and modify their teaching methods, monitor student progress, and identify strengths and weaknesses. It can also determine whether students are prepared for important placement tests, such as the SAT’s, and help students improve their own performance in the classroom.
Classroom assessments help students realize what is important in the learning process and what is expected of them.
Teachers need to consider several things while planning assessments. They need to determine what their learning goals are, decide what the assessment strategy should be, and take into account what evidence would prove that students were reaching the learning goals of the classroom.
The assessment strategy needs to be planned in the context of classroom instruction and each assessment should be designed around each particular learning experience. Properly chosen, well developed assessments will give teachers the best information on how much their students have learned. Assessments should be designed around what goals and outcomes the teacher has for the students and how to measure those outcomes to determine that they have learned the material. Assessments should be pertinent to what was taught in the classroom and relevant to the student’s real world experiences.
There are multiple ways to assess student learning and using several methods will give the best results. No single assessment will work in all situations. Each has its own strengths and weakness and each will give different evidence of what was learned. Since each student learns and tests differently, using multiple forms of assessment will allow for the best results and give each student a chance to prove what they‘ve learned in the way best suited to their individual learning style.
