9/3: Assessment Strategies

Formal assessments are the method of testing knowledge with which I am most acquainted. Formal assessments offer a broad range of exercises to be employed and are commonplace in all classrooms. For such an assessment, I would distribute among my students a rough study guide listing the date of the exam, the exam’s format, and what I expect the students to know. For example, if my class had recently finished covering the American Revolution, I may ask my students to list and defend causes of the Revolution.  I would use this as a summative assessment to gauge my student’s knowledge and alter my teaching strategy or pace to facilitate their learning. Informal assessments are trickier. I would observe my students’ behaviors and responses to questions. Though this strategy is somewhat generic, I expect it to be effective nonetheless. For example, if a student mentions Theodore Roosevelt during a section on World War II, I can interpret that perhaps the student may be having some difficulties with chronology.

Traditional assessments are as ubiquitous as formal assessments and operate within a similar vein. To give a traditional assessment, I would administer a mixed format, true/false and multiple-choice exam including causes for and effects of historical events. To make this assessment authentic, I would have students assume the mindset of a particular historical group and have them debate an issue. For example, continuing with the theme of the American Revolution, I could randomly divide students into groups and have them argue for and against going to war with Great Britain in the context of the 1760s and 1770s.

Criterion-reference and norm-reference assessment differ on the technique used to grade the assessment. Though I would not administer norm-referenced tests often in my classroom, I can see the utility of this method. For this assessment, I would present the students with a chronology of items or events and have them place the items in the correct order. By grading the results against the class as a group, the assessment would be norm-referenced. By grading the results based solely on the number of items correct, the assessment would be criterion referenced. I might use the results to encourage the top scores to consider the historical field as a work/college option and discuss with the lowest performers why they think they did not do well.

Though paper-pencil assessments are more commonplace than performance assessments, both have their palace in the classroom. For a simple paper-pencil assessment, I would give the students a list of names and events and have them write on the historical significance of each item listed. An example may include writing on how the American colonists interpreted the Stamp Act as an attack upon their liberties and organized in both formal and informal arenas to protest the duties. For a performance assessment, I would have students assume the identity of a historical figure, Benjamin Franklin for example, and give an oral presentation on that person’s significance within the context of our class discussions. This type of assessment would test the student’s knowledge and help them develop invaluable, practical skills.

I imagine most of my assessments will be teacher-developed since I wish to assess students on what I have been teaching. For a teacher-developed assessment, I would go back over my lesson plan and reflect on what topics I focused on most during class to draft a relatively open-ended, short answer exam. Conversely, if I wished to test the students against what a more formal entity (the state) expected them to know, I would administer a standardized test. To do this, I could give the students an AP practice assessment, Document Based Question, or an assessment developed by a testing company. I would use the results to alter my lesson plan to meet the expectations of the state and improve my students learning.