I hope this works.:)
I am still in the midst of doing my readings, but after reading a little from Clay and Gillet I am understanding assessment more. I know assessment is important, but I honestly could not see assessment past tests. I teach in a private school and from what I have learned in the past months we have a lot of freedom when it comes to what a teacher has to teach. There is curriculum we use and we supplement like crazy for what we need, there are standards that we match up with our curriculum, but testing (standardized testing) was just that time of the year. Our IOWA standardized tests are great tools, but I don't want it to be the only tool. I also don't want that "final" test to be the tell all of what the student has learned.
I read an article this week that talks about using multiple types of assessment and how to evaluate it. When reading Clay I could see how that matched up. What I loved most about the article is that there were four different tests regarding reading used: Standardized, Cloze, IRI, and Running Record. Each fictional student was assessed, given a percent, and then the percentages were mapped out and given a reading level (1, 2, 3). Composite scores were rung up and...viola...a reading level. All were presented in a chart and graph.
I hope this was not too scattered.
I absolutely agree that it is necessary to validate results by using a variety of assessments in the classroom rather than relying on standardized tests alone to guide grouping and instruction. There are so many different ways of assessing students, most of it qualitative rather than quantitative, that administration and the powers that be so often ignore. I'm always trying to get people to see that the journey is just as important as a final test score.
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