My Assessment Philosophy
Assessment is a constant issue in education and as budding educators it is important to develop our own assessment philosophy. “Assessment provides accountability for the student and the teacher” and has evolved into a fundamental part of the education process (R. Milne). Assessment can be broken up in a number of different ways. Firstly there is the distinction between formative and summative assessment. Simply put this differentiates between a graded assessment that will directly impact on a final report or grade, a summative task, and a formative task that does not carry this same weight. Assessment can also broken down by purpose as assessment of learning, assessment as learning and assessment for learning. In this breakdown assessment of learning forms the basis of a summative assessment. It focuses on students being able to “demonstrate learning of content and skills” (Dr Hewson). It also serves an important purpose for the students and the school as it ‘provides evidence of achievement to the wider community, including parents, educators, the students themselves and outside groups’, which can have an impact on funding, enrolment and retention (BOSTES). Assessment for learning is the “process of using data or evidence to determine where students are at in their learning in order to plan to extend that learning” and is a type of formative assessment (Dr Hewson). This type of formative assessment helps the teacher gather information in order to inform focus on the specific areas of growth for particular students. Dr Hewson has a particular passion for this style of assessment as it “assumes that everybody has the capacity to learn and is a very inclusive process”. Finally, assessment as learning forms another type of formative assessment. This is “more peer and self-assessment and is about students assessing and evaluating themselves” in order to expand their learning (Dr Hewson). This is a great form of formative assessment as it ‘encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning’ (BOSTES). English is a very word driven subject where assessment is increasingly subjective compared to other subjects. This allows for peer and self-assessment to be a good option as the students get feedback from other people with different viewpoints and opinions. This understanding of these types of assessment will assist in developing my own philosophy of assessment.
An unfortunate reality that became clear through my primary and secondary research as well as my teaching practice is that the classroom often revolves around assessment. This can mean that ‘our assessment activities seem to conflict with our most basic education mission’ (Astin, 1991, p. ix). This can often be the case in English where the content, such as a novel, can consume an enormous amount of class time. One fundamental concern about assessment is that many classrooms spend too much time trying to assess learning and not enough time doing any actual learning. This could be because ‘interest in student assessment has intensified, especially interest in accountability and assessment of learning outcomes’ (Sax, 2012). Astin argues that although ‘the basic purpose for assessing students is to enhance their educational outcomes’ our current methods of assessing do not meet this goal (p. 5). Dr Hewson explained that ‘following the implementation of an innovative program this year I’ve come to the conclusion that we do too much summative assessment and not enough of the formative which is more useful for learning purposes’. This is something that I fully agree with and has helped guide my philosophy towards assessment for and as learning being a major focus. “Formative work especially is about the positive feedback for the student” and this is incredibly beneficial for student learning (R. Milne).
Fundamentally I agree ‘that in order to be useful, assessment results should inform practitioners about the connections between what they are doing in practice and how that relates to student outcomes’ (Sax, 2012). Assessment should focus on improvement; this means that everyone can achieve positive results. One way our assessment structure doesn’t focus on improvement was highlighted by Dr Hewson who expressed concern that final scores “tend to be an aggregate or an average” of assessments completed throughout the year. I agree with Dr Hewson’s suggestion that a final score should represent the level that the student is currently at, not an average of their level throughout a semester. Understanding that when bound by SACE this is difficult to implement, Dr Hewson said that “in Years 8-10 that’s how I’ve tried to assess” as she did not believe a ‘C’ at the start and an ‘A’ at the end should equal a ‘B’ if that student was operating at an ‘A’ level now.
I firmly believe that assessment should benefit the students and their learning. A key component of assessment is the search for “continuous improvement, the focus of assessment should always be on continuous improvement and should be positive and affirming” (R. Milne). Teachers and schools can be prone to “over assess in the summative form which, in order to manage, requires students be given much class time to do tasks so we lose good teaching and learning time” (Dr Hewson). I experienced this during all of my practicums where classes I observed were required to spend weeks and weeks just doing assessment tasks. I have found that English often requires a lot of class time to support students, as writing is a consistently lacking skill. This excessive working time does not benefit the ultimate goal of student learning and academic development. Summative assessment can also be “very limited in its format; writing is still privileged as the main form of assessment” (Dr Hewson). This is not inclusive and can disadvantage students with particular learning difficulties. Formative assessment can allow for more flexibility on how students demonstrate learning, as it’s less critical to directly assess specific criteria. Dr Hewson has spent two years working with a class of students with learning difficulties and this has had a significant impact on her philosophy of assessment. “A student should be measured on their progress from start to finish” and not what achievement standard a standardised continuum says they should be at according to their chronology of schooling (Dr Hewson). “It should be a very personalised process” and doesn’t fit in with education’s idea of ranking students based on where they should be at for their age group (Dr Hewson). A student in a grade level that’s above their capabilities will consistently achieve poor results and “it’s demoralising and they might forever be well below standard” (Dr Hewson). This appears to present a major pastoral care concern for the students mental health and feelings of self-worth.
Throughout this research process and my limited experience it seems that too often assessment is dictated by how much work the teacher is prepared to do. Often the most beneficial assessment, providing for a unique range of opportunities, using innovative ideas, is just too hard. Regularly teachers fall back on existing assessments, producing generic written work that is easier to explain, facilitate and mark. Teachers have an extraordinary workload and it is not at all surprising that this occurs and is difficult to rectify without significant reform or extraordinary teacher commitment. English especially presents a large marking load, as assessment pieces can often be very lengthy and more complicated to mark than a maths test for example. Perhaps by moving into some more innovative forms of summative and formative assessment a teacher could reduce their workload and provide a better learning environment.
Pastoral care development is too often an afterthought when considering assessment for students. In my practicum experience it was immediately apparent that the word ‘summative’ invoked an instant negative reaction from the students who almost immediately entered a state of stress. Dr Hewson expressed concern for the timing of most summative tasks always coinciding at the end of term. Whilst I understand that students might know more information and therefore, in theory, perform better at the end of term this may not be the case when they’re under the level of stress invoked by numerous summative tasks simultaneously. My philosophy will take serious consideration of this issue and try to make for a more balance scheduled where possible for the students. To assist with the pastoral care development of students “assessment needs to be framed well at the beginning and the purpose of assessment needs to be understood by parents and students” (Dr Hewson). A greater understanding of the how and why of assessment in general and the specific task can help students come to terms with why they are doing it and provide necessary motivation. During my practicum it was obvious that a motivated and informed student was able to manage their time and personal health better than those in a state of confusion and concern. It is absolutely vital “to understand the individuals as people and as learners to understand how assessment affects them” individually (Dr Hewson). Every student is different and catering for the academic and pastoral care development requires building relationships and understanding who they are, what they’re capable of and what they want to achieve.
My philosophy thus far has been built around my practicum experience and the results of this research process. The evaluation of formative and summative assessments has demonstrated to me the importance of formative assessment in the learning process. Assessment for learning and assessment as learning can serve a far greater educational purpose than their accountability counterpart. I would query why we need so many summative assignments when an informed educator can gain an equally great understanding of a student’s ability through formative assessment. My philosophy will be to limit summative assessment to the minimum required and use formative assessment where necessary to understand a student’s abilities. It is my desire that this approach will go someway towards assisting in the pastoral care development of the students as well as their ability to be critically self-reflective in their learning. Equally I will give considerable thought, on a case by case basis, to how and when to deliver summative tasks in order to give the students the best possible chance at achieving to the best of their abilities.
I understand that accountability has helped drive an increase in assessment and reporting and my philosophy is to completely embrace that accountability. Accountability as a teacher is vital but also to ensure that students accept that they’re accountable as learners. I will endeavour to seek and validate improvement in any student I am responsible for and I will be accountable for that improvement. As an educator and facilitator of learning it is the bare minimum of my role to ensure continuous improvement in the students I am responsible for.
My philosophy will seek to focus on continuous improvement and use class time for learning as appose to assignments. It is not feasible to do away entirely with this assignment time but by reducing the number of summative tasks and creating a habit of students working in their own time I can focus more class time on learning and improvement.
A philosophy of positive feedback will help students in my care feel good about themselves and the improvements they are making. Formative assessment is an opportunity to give praise for effort and learning as achievement is of a reduced importance here and this will help build confidence and feelings of positive self-worth. When not restricted by rubrics and criteria I will have a philosophy of giving good feedback for at least one aspect of the task by marking a students effort and improvement as much as anything, this is easier to do on formative tasks. Students under my care will have the capacity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a variety of different ways to give them all the best opportunity to demonstrate what they are capable of. A philosophy of positive inclusiveness will help me create students who have a love of learning, improving and achieving to the best of their abilities.
Reference list
Astin, A. W. (1991). Assessment for excellence: The philosophy and practice of assessment and evaluation in higher education. New York, NY: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing Company.
Hewson, S. (2015). Assessment Philosophy.
Milne, R. (2015). Assessment Philosophy.
NSW Board, (2015). NSW Syllabus :: Assessment for, as and of Learning. [online] Syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au. Available at: http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015].
Sax, Linda J. "Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education." Research & Practice in Assessment 7.2 (2012): 42+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
An unfortunate reality that became clear through my primary and secondary research as well as my teaching practice is that the classroom often revolves around assessment. This can mean that ‘our assessment activities seem to conflict with our most basic education mission’ (Astin, 1991, p. ix). This can often be the case in English where the content, such as a novel, can consume an enormous amount of class time. One fundamental concern about assessment is that many classrooms spend too much time trying to assess learning and not enough time doing any actual learning. This could be because ‘interest in student assessment has intensified, especially interest in accountability and assessment of learning outcomes’ (Sax, 2012). Astin argues that although ‘the basic purpose for assessing students is to enhance their educational outcomes’ our current methods of assessing do not meet this goal (p. 5). Dr Hewson explained that ‘following the implementation of an innovative program this year I’ve come to the conclusion that we do too much summative assessment and not enough of the formative which is more useful for learning purposes’. This is something that I fully agree with and has helped guide my philosophy towards assessment for and as learning being a major focus. “Formative work especially is about the positive feedback for the student” and this is incredibly beneficial for student learning (R. Milne).
Fundamentally I agree ‘that in order to be useful, assessment results should inform practitioners about the connections between what they are doing in practice and how that relates to student outcomes’ (Sax, 2012). Assessment should focus on improvement; this means that everyone can achieve positive results. One way our assessment structure doesn’t focus on improvement was highlighted by Dr Hewson who expressed concern that final scores “tend to be an aggregate or an average” of assessments completed throughout the year. I agree with Dr Hewson’s suggestion that a final score should represent the level that the student is currently at, not an average of their level throughout a semester. Understanding that when bound by SACE this is difficult to implement, Dr Hewson said that “in Years 8-10 that’s how I’ve tried to assess” as she did not believe a ‘C’ at the start and an ‘A’ at the end should equal a ‘B’ if that student was operating at an ‘A’ level now.
I firmly believe that assessment should benefit the students and their learning. A key component of assessment is the search for “continuous improvement, the focus of assessment should always be on continuous improvement and should be positive and affirming” (R. Milne). Teachers and schools can be prone to “over assess in the summative form which, in order to manage, requires students be given much class time to do tasks so we lose good teaching and learning time” (Dr Hewson). I experienced this during all of my practicums where classes I observed were required to spend weeks and weeks just doing assessment tasks. I have found that English often requires a lot of class time to support students, as writing is a consistently lacking skill. This excessive working time does not benefit the ultimate goal of student learning and academic development. Summative assessment can also be “very limited in its format; writing is still privileged as the main form of assessment” (Dr Hewson). This is not inclusive and can disadvantage students with particular learning difficulties. Formative assessment can allow for more flexibility on how students demonstrate learning, as it’s less critical to directly assess specific criteria. Dr Hewson has spent two years working with a class of students with learning difficulties and this has had a significant impact on her philosophy of assessment. “A student should be measured on their progress from start to finish” and not what achievement standard a standardised continuum says they should be at according to their chronology of schooling (Dr Hewson). “It should be a very personalised process” and doesn’t fit in with education’s idea of ranking students based on where they should be at for their age group (Dr Hewson). A student in a grade level that’s above their capabilities will consistently achieve poor results and “it’s demoralising and they might forever be well below standard” (Dr Hewson). This appears to present a major pastoral care concern for the students mental health and feelings of self-worth.
Throughout this research process and my limited experience it seems that too often assessment is dictated by how much work the teacher is prepared to do. Often the most beneficial assessment, providing for a unique range of opportunities, using innovative ideas, is just too hard. Regularly teachers fall back on existing assessments, producing generic written work that is easier to explain, facilitate and mark. Teachers have an extraordinary workload and it is not at all surprising that this occurs and is difficult to rectify without significant reform or extraordinary teacher commitment. English especially presents a large marking load, as assessment pieces can often be very lengthy and more complicated to mark than a maths test for example. Perhaps by moving into some more innovative forms of summative and formative assessment a teacher could reduce their workload and provide a better learning environment.
Pastoral care development is too often an afterthought when considering assessment for students. In my practicum experience it was immediately apparent that the word ‘summative’ invoked an instant negative reaction from the students who almost immediately entered a state of stress. Dr Hewson expressed concern for the timing of most summative tasks always coinciding at the end of term. Whilst I understand that students might know more information and therefore, in theory, perform better at the end of term this may not be the case when they’re under the level of stress invoked by numerous summative tasks simultaneously. My philosophy will take serious consideration of this issue and try to make for a more balance scheduled where possible for the students. To assist with the pastoral care development of students “assessment needs to be framed well at the beginning and the purpose of assessment needs to be understood by parents and students” (Dr Hewson). A greater understanding of the how and why of assessment in general and the specific task can help students come to terms with why they are doing it and provide necessary motivation. During my practicum it was obvious that a motivated and informed student was able to manage their time and personal health better than those in a state of confusion and concern. It is absolutely vital “to understand the individuals as people and as learners to understand how assessment affects them” individually (Dr Hewson). Every student is different and catering for the academic and pastoral care development requires building relationships and understanding who they are, what they’re capable of and what they want to achieve.
My philosophy thus far has been built around my practicum experience and the results of this research process. The evaluation of formative and summative assessments has demonstrated to me the importance of formative assessment in the learning process. Assessment for learning and assessment as learning can serve a far greater educational purpose than their accountability counterpart. I would query why we need so many summative assignments when an informed educator can gain an equally great understanding of a student’s ability through formative assessment. My philosophy will be to limit summative assessment to the minimum required and use formative assessment where necessary to understand a student’s abilities. It is my desire that this approach will go someway towards assisting in the pastoral care development of the students as well as their ability to be critically self-reflective in their learning. Equally I will give considerable thought, on a case by case basis, to how and when to deliver summative tasks in order to give the students the best possible chance at achieving to the best of their abilities.
I understand that accountability has helped drive an increase in assessment and reporting and my philosophy is to completely embrace that accountability. Accountability as a teacher is vital but also to ensure that students accept that they’re accountable as learners. I will endeavour to seek and validate improvement in any student I am responsible for and I will be accountable for that improvement. As an educator and facilitator of learning it is the bare minimum of my role to ensure continuous improvement in the students I am responsible for.
My philosophy will seek to focus on continuous improvement and use class time for learning as appose to assignments. It is not feasible to do away entirely with this assignment time but by reducing the number of summative tasks and creating a habit of students working in their own time I can focus more class time on learning and improvement.
A philosophy of positive feedback will help students in my care feel good about themselves and the improvements they are making. Formative assessment is an opportunity to give praise for effort and learning as achievement is of a reduced importance here and this will help build confidence and feelings of positive self-worth. When not restricted by rubrics and criteria I will have a philosophy of giving good feedback for at least one aspect of the task by marking a students effort and improvement as much as anything, this is easier to do on formative tasks. Students under my care will have the capacity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a variety of different ways to give them all the best opportunity to demonstrate what they are capable of. A philosophy of positive inclusiveness will help me create students who have a love of learning, improving and achieving to the best of their abilities.
Reference list
Astin, A. W. (1991). Assessment for excellence: The philosophy and practice of assessment and evaluation in higher education. New York, NY: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing Company.
Hewson, S. (2015). Assessment Philosophy.
Milne, R. (2015). Assessment Philosophy.
NSW Board, (2015). NSW Syllabus :: Assessment for, as and of Learning. [online] Syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au. Available at: http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015].
Sax, Linda J. "Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education." Research & Practice in Assessment 7.2 (2012): 42+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.