A smorgasbord of assessment options

Summary- April

This article fits perfectly with the assessment assignment that the class recently finished. The author of this article, Kathy Bacon, reminds teachers that there are a plethora of assessment options and that student and teacher must remember that choosing the correct type of assessment is as critical as the information being taught. Bacon takes a moment to remind her audience what a student centered classroom should look like: it should be a place where the instruction is guided from the data gathered during assessment. This simply means that instruction and assessment must match the students thinking and way of communicating.

What is the best way to understand how to pair assignment and assessment; through the strategic use of excellent classroom examples. The students in Bacon’s classroom use every type of assessment. There is an example of a performance based assessment where a student created a three-dimensional duck and demonstrated her ability to identify shapes. Another student started to explore the properties of different solid shapes in a rudimentary proof. Students in the class keep learning logs and take pen and pencil exams as well. The author even provides an example of a test she gave to her students which contains true/false, short answer, multiple choice and essay questions. The key to success is that the teacher frequently uses formative and summative assessments. Both the teacher and the students are aware of the purpose of the assessments and are cognizant of the way that the data generated will be used.


Application

It is clear from the article that Kathy Bacon is an exemplary mathematics teacher. Her fifth grade students are producing very complex, sophisticated and thoughtful work. Their understanding of reasoning and proof is quite remarkable. I am currently novicing in a fourth grade classroom and based on my understanding of the students ability levels I feel certain that this work would be far too difficult for them in fifth grade. However, it seems evident that Kathy Bacon has been able to bring her students to a high achievement level. I am certain that this is due in part to her ability to assess and mold her lessons to the students needs. She stresses the fact that she often chooses assessment on the most effective way to get the information she needs with the smallest investment of time. She is fortunate that her school has a block schedule and that she has a ninety-minute block of time in which her students can be engaged in inquiry based activities.

I feel that as a teacher the most important thing is to take the time to do things well. Initially, Bacon probably spent a great deal of time designing her units and matching the assessment to the content being taught. But with repetition the process gets easier and less time consuming. It is an investment initially; however, the results in the long run are undeniable. Her students are high achieving and their knowledge is more than skin deep, they have an enduring understanding of the material due to the nature in which is has been taught.

Teaching Children Mathematics
Kathy A. Bacon
http://www.nctm.org/eresources/view_media.asp?article_id=9232


Bacon, K. (2010). A smorgasbord of assessment options. Teaching Children Mathematics. 16(8) 458.