Conley Chapter 4

The book states that ongoing assessment is a term that signals that assessment should be diverse and happening all the time. I find that indeed the statement is true but many teachers may not practice this effectively within the classroom. When teachers assess students they are checking that learning or knowledge has occurred for students. Everyday instruction should include differentiation in order to meet the needs of each student, which is identical to what the book describes as ongoing assessment. Ongoing assessments include classroom assessments that may include simple class discussions and observations of students. These types of assessments are easy and very informal but help to effectively measure student’s understanding and serve as a guide to help teachers plan for further instruction. Classroom assessments provide useful info about how students might perform on state tests.

With the increased focus on state and standardized tests, authentic assessments often go overlooked by teachers, which may be very harmful for students. I believe that teachers should keep in mind the content that students must learn for the test but also remember that students learn better when they can relate to the content. Teachers should use a variety of assessment tools in order to meet the needs of every student. Therefore assessment must be ongoing and authentic in order to effectively measure a student’s learning. Some examples of authentic assessments include portfolios and authentic classroom tests.

In order to successfully measure or evaluate a student’s learning the teacher must first develop the right combination of assessments to help monitor each student’s progress. Assessments should also be used by teachers in order to successfully understand a student’s personal identity. When teachers are able to pinpoint an individual’s learning needs then they are more capable of increasing a student’s content knowledge. Teachers must remember that although high stakes test and accountability are very important, they should also keep the individual learning needs of each student in mind as well by making sure learning has occurred for them.