MethodandCriteriaforAssessment

Usingassessmentcanbeintimidatingforstudents,educators,andparentsalike.
Whilestudentsimmediatelythinkofmultiplechoicetests,itbecameanimportanttaskfor
myselftousemultipleformsofassessment,notjustwrittentests.Atthesametime,Ididnot
gradeeveryassessment.Ibelievenoteverythingneedstobeinthegradebook.Assessment
mustbesomehowconnectedwithinlesson,butshouldnotnecessarilyreflectinthestudents
grades.
MostfrequentlyIusedthemethodofclassdiscussiontoassessstudentengagement
andlearning.Almosteveryclassperiodendedinaformofdiscussion,eitheringrouporwith
theentireclass.Informaldiscussionasanassessmentmadestudentsfeelmoreateaseand
eagertosharetheirformulationsandopinionsonthesubject.AtthestartoftheunitIgavean
informalpreassessment,aworksheetovertheunit.Iaskedstudentstofilloutasmuch
informationastheycouldwithoutthetextbook.Theworksheetwascreatedasatimelineof
the20sand30sandincludedseveralsignificanteventsandessentialvocabulary.Iassessed
studentspriorknowledgeofthesubjectbywalkingaroundandmentallyrecordinghowmuch
oftheworksheetstudentscouldcompletewithoutthehelpofthetextbook.
TorecordformalgradesLNEusestheprogramSynergy.Synergyisagreatgrading
tool,allowingteacherstoeasilycommunicatethegradewithbothstudentsandtheirparents.I
includedseveralworksheets,studyguidequestions,aswellasquizzesandtheirthree
summativegradesfortheunit:1920sNewscastproject,theirmultiplechoicetestandtheir
essayresponses.Below,thegraphshowstheformativeassignmentsenteredintothe
gradebook.Imadesurethateachchapterincludedagradedformativepiece.

Thegraphontherightdemonstratesthethreesummative
piecestothisunit.Clearly,manyofmystudentsstruggledwith
turningintheformativeassignmentsandoftendidnotfully
preparethemselvesforquizzes.
Afterdiscussingtheissuewithmycooperatingteacherand
whatIcoulddotoimprovethenumbers,shesaidtoolowerthe
numberofdaysstudentshavetocompleteahomework
assignment.Ifollowedthesuggestionandbythelastformative
worksheetthepercentagewentupby2fromthefirst
homeworkassignmentoftheunit.
UnitIIIsummativescoreisthehighestoutoftheprevious
exams,andtheprojectisthehighestsummativeaverage
recordedfor7thperiod.
The1920sNewscastprojectwasgradedbasedonarubric,in
whichIassessedboththegroupperformanceandindividual
accomplishments.Insteadofgivingoutapotentiallyunfair
gradeforthegroupoverall,Imadesuretoevaluateeach
studentseffortputintotheprojectovertheworkdays,aswell
asaskedstudentstocompleteapeerevaluationworksheet.
Thepeerevaluationworksheetallowedmetoknowwhich
groupsworkedbesttogetherandwhowouldneedadifferent
settingforthenextgroupwork.