Using Assessments to Improve Teaching and Learning

Using Assessments to Improve Teaching and Learning Thomas R. Guskey

Making Assessments Usefulpremise…we should • Use assessments as sources of information for both students and teachers • Follow assessments with high quality corrective instruction • Give students second chances to demonstrate success

Use assessments as sources of information for both students and teachers • Our assessment practices may be grounded in our own experiences when we were in school • What we studied was different from what our teacher chose to emphasize on the test • Our teachers believed the test must remain a “secret” • Our teachers tested isolated concepts or obscure facts-”gotcha”

Making Assessments Useful • “They should know the answer to that question” • “Let’s find out who was really listening.” • “I love that question…it’s kind of tricky.” • “I don’t see any reason to review. It takes too much time…They should know what the important concepts are…” • The Guessing Game lives on….

Continued… • “I taught them. They just didn’t learn it!” • Can effective teaching take place in the absence of learning?

Premises • Classroom assessments that serve as meaningful sources of information do not surprise students • The classroom assessments reflect the concepts and skills the teacher emphasized in class • The classroom assessments are aligned with the TEKS, the TAKS, and follow the agreed upon scope and sequence

Teaching to the Test • We teach what we test and we test what we teach….sounds like “teaching to the test” • If a concept is important enough to assess then it is important enough to teach…and if it is not important enough to teach then why include it on the test

Using Assessments to Improve Teaching and Learning • The classroom assessment results help the learning by providing feedback on student progress in turn helping the teacher identify the learning problems • We can know what we taught well and what needs work • Item analysis to find trouble spots

The assessment items • When reviewing results first examine the quality of the question • Is it clearly written-see our District Checklist • Did the students misinterpret the question or the instructions?

If there is no problem with the item then….eeekkk • If teachers find no problem with the item then they must turn their attention to their teaching • When half the students in a class answer a clear questions incorrectly, it is not a student learning problem—it is a teaching problem,

Things to ponder • The effectiveness in teaching is not defined on the basis of what we do as teachers • It is defined by what our students are able to do as the learner

Follow assessments with high quality corrective instruction • What does this mean to you?

Give students second chances to demonstrate success • What does this mean to you?

Using Assessments to Improve Teaching and Learning