Module 5 - Chapter 15

For this last module, Chapter 15 stuck out to me the most because it talked about the basics of assessment which goes hand in hand with our final project on the test analysis.  Two forms of assessment we are most familiar with are formative assessment which happens in class during instruction and summative assessment which occurs after instruction, such as the final exam.  According to the book, formative assessment is the most important because summative assessment cannot adequately assess the student alone.

The most debated aspect of teaching I am continually hearing is the use of tests and their reliability.  According to Woolfolk, all tests are imperfect estimators of the qualities or skills they are trying to measure.  I have to agree, for the most part, I have always done well on tests because I would study super hard, but after the test, I never thought about that subject again.  I feel there is a better way to assess what your students have learned.

Standardized tests are a huge hot button topic these tests are not always reliable or there can be errors in scores.  According to standardized test companies, they now report scores using a confidence interval or "standard error band" that encloses the student's actual score.  This allows the teacher to consider a range of scores that might include a student's true score ( the score the student would have gotten if the measurement were completely accurate and error-free.) This is crazy to me that even the test company is letting the teacher know the measurement is not accurate and error-free.  We need to take this into account when assessing our classroom at all times.  Tests do not accurately measure every individual.

This area of chapter 13 really interested me because I have had areas in school I was very interested in but did not do so well on the test.  This, in turn, turned me off of the subject and I never really tried or wanted to be involved in this area of learning again.  I think we as teachers can come up with something better to tell if our students are learning.  Maybe a combination of a better type of test and some other type of assignment.  I would like to give the students a choice as well, I think that makes a huge difference in their grades.