Assessment Connections

Matrix

Use the following matrix to record notes related to your

assessment philosophy and key assessment concepts from the
course readings and discussions.

I believe that assessment should be about student learning and understanding. Assessment
should not incorporate behavior, participation, or attitude, but should only encompass student learning and
growth. This will provide us with a fair assessment practice that reflects exactly what the student have
learned based on the outcomes of our curriculum.
I believe in using both formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment provides us
guidance to individual needs, the direction of future lessons, and feedback to how we are doing with
teaching the content. It also provides students with ways to improve and how to increase their academic
achievement. It gives students a chance (or multiple chances) to improve their work before being
assessed summatively. The best learning comes from receiving feedback and being able to fix mistakes. If
the option wasnt given to students, they would only focus on the grade assigned.
My
Assessm
ent
Philosop
hy

I believe in using formative assessment more often than summative assessment. Summative
assessment should be the last thing students do after theyve practiced and are comfortable with the
material. With formative assessment, we give students multiple chances to show us what they know and a
summative assessment ties it all together. I do believe in using summative assessment, but I think there is
a time and place for it and there needs to be a limit to how much we assess summatively. Formative
assessment is a much more valuable learning experience for teachers and students than summative
assessment is.
I believe that assessment should be continuous throughout the lesson or unit. This will promote
student learning and give students the chance to reflect on what theyve learned and apply their
knowledge. This is where formative assessment is critical in the classroom. By using formative
assessments in multiple forms, such as simple as observations and discussion, we can keep a continuous
assessment and learning environment in the classroom. The multiple and continuous assessment will
benefit student learning in the classroom.
I believe in connecting the curriculum to student interests. By doing this, we can create an
engaged learner who is excited and motivated to do well. With this point, I also believe that relationships
are key. I think its crucial that we have a relationship with our students and get to know them so we can
create a positive learning environment to them.

Assessment
Concept

Sources

Summary

Application in my Planning

Assessment for
Learning fair
academic
assessment

Assessment
Concept

Formative
Assessment
Throughout a
Unit

Including more
than just
summative
assessment

Guskey, T. R. (2014).
On your mark:
Challenging the
conventions of grading
and reporting.
Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press.
OConnor, K. (2007). A
repair kit for grading:
15 fixes for broken
grades. Portland, OR:
Educational Testing
Services.
Sources
McTighe, J. and
OConner, K. (2005).
Seven practices for
effective learning.
Educational
Leadership, 63(3), 1017.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2007).
Learning to love
assessment.
Educational
Leadership, 64(4), 8-13.
Burke, K. (2010).
Balanced assessment:
From formative to
summative.
Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press.
Chappuis, J., Stiggins,

Assessment should only incorporate

what students are learning and guide
students in the direction to achieve
academic achievement. Assessment
should not reinforce behaviors in the
classroom but promote student
understanding and learning. In his text,
OConner (2007) relates to his first
teaching in that how confident am I
that the grades students get in my
classroom/school/district are
consistent, accurate and meaningful,
and they support student learning?
Like OConner mentions, we need to
focus on student learning and having
grades that reflect just that.
Summary
Formative assessment should occur
throughout lessons to check for
student understanding and direct
teaching. Informative assessment
could occur any time I went in search
of information about a student. In fact,
it could occur when I was not actively
searching but was merely conscious of
what was happening around me
(Tomlinson, 2007). As Tomlinson (2007)
mentions, formative or informal
assessment can occur at any time and
can be simple observations to see if
students are getting the material and
what they need to succeed.
In a class where everything students
produce homework, practice
activities, projects, papers, labs,
quizzes, and tests result in a score
that contributes to the final grade
(Chappuis, 2011). Instead, keep track
of formative assessment in addition to
summative as evidence to help

In my UAP, I have included many

formative assessments that will give
students the opportunity to demonstrate
what they know. I will assess what they
are learning using labs, projects, preassessments, and homework
assignments to provide feedback to guide
them further. My UAP does not include
any assessment based on classroom
behavior.

Application in my Planning

I have incorporated many forms of

formative assessment in my UAP. I will
ensure I listen to discussion and observe
how students are doing while working on
projects and labs. In my UAP, I will be
doing pre-assessments or postassessments to ensure that students
understand the material. I will also be
taking in homework assignments, labs,
and projects formatively that will help me
understand what each student needs in
the classroom.
In my UAP, I have incorporated a mixture
of summative and formative
assessments. I have three-quarters of my
lab assignments as formative and onethird of my projects as formative
assessment. This allows me to still test
student understanding, but give students
the chance to first learn what is expected

R., Chappuis, S., &

Arter, J. (2011).
Classroom assessment
for student learning:
Doing it right using it
well, (2nd ed.). Toronto,
ON: Pearson.

Pre-assessment

McTighe, J. and
OConner, K. (2005).
Seven practices for
effective learning.
Educational
Leadership, 63(3), 1017.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2007).
Learning to love
assessment.
Educational
Leadership, 64(4), 8-13.

Summative
Assessment

Burke, K. (2010).
Balanced assessment:
From formative to
summative.
Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press.
Chappuis, J., Stiggins,
R., Chappuis, S., &
Arter, J. (2011).
Classroom assessment
for student learning:
Doing it right using it
well, (2nd ed.). Toronto,
ON: Pearson.

assess the students understanding of

the material. Tracking both forms of
assessment will increase student
achievement and provide sound
grading.
Assessing students before teaching
helps to gain knowledge about your
class in order to get them involved and
engaged in the material. This will help
in planning for the unit, covering
material that is unclear or can clear up
misconceptions students may have. A
reason to pre-assess is at the outset
of any unit of study, certain students
are likely to have already mastered
some of the skills that the teacher is
about to introduce, and others may
already understand key concepts
(McTighe, 2005). By finding this out,
teachers can then differentiate their
instruction and plan lessons based on
student knowledge.
We are required to have summative
assessments in class to show student
learning. When giving summative
assessments, we should be giving
chances for students to do well, have
formal summative assessments (final
drafts) and have formative assessment
guide them towards summative
assessment success. Burke (2010)
looks at the purpose of summative
assessment as providing the last
opportunity for students to
demonstrate their ability to meet
standards within a specified learning
period. With that, it is crucial that we
test learning throughout to give

and where they can improve. All of my

assessments will provide me with
evidence of student learning. I will also be
giving students time to improve by
having a unit long assignment/homework
sheet to have as a evidence of their
learning and understanding.

Pre-assessment is very important for me

in my UAP. I have a unit pre-assessment
on my first day, which will help me
understand what students are
knowledgeable about. From there, I can
tweak my lessons and unit depending on
student knowledge. I will also incorporate
pre-assessments everyday to see what
students have learned from previous
topics or classes. This will help guide my
instruction on a day-to-day basis so I
understand what each student needs.

I have built my UAP to give students the

opportunity to build their knowledge
before testing. I have included many
formative assessment labs and projects
before I have students do summative
ones. This gives them the chance to get
feedback regarding the assignment and
where they need to improve to do well
summatively. Throughout the process of a
summative lab or project, I will observe
and discuss with students to ensure they
are on the way to success with it. I have
also included time for an alternative
strategy if students do poorly on exams,
such as a redo, an alternate form of the
exam (oral), or an assignment.

students the best chance to do well on

summative assessments.

Burke, K. (2010).
Balanced assessment:
From formative to
summative.
Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press.
Surprise-free
Testing

Dueck, M. (2014).
Grading smarter, not
harder: Assessment
strategies that
motivate kids and help
them learn. Alexandria,
VA: ASCD.

As a teacher with well designed unit

plans, students preparing for a test
could check off the box beside each
learning targets are they determine
their own aptitude (Duek, 2014).
Students should be aware of tests and
summative assessments and know the
material that is being presented. It was
thought that surprising students would
keep them on their toes but surprises
should be kept in a learning capacity.
Surprises in learning should never be
counted as summative. Students
should know exactly what is expected
of them for assignments, tests, and
exams.

In my UAP, I have taken out any surprises

in assessment. I will provide students
with a review/homework sheet for every
topic we cover, which will cover outcomes
and questions that will be on formative
and summative assessments. My testing
will be very outcome based, and students
will know what outcomes the quizzes are
focusing on beforehand because of their
review/homework sheet. My preassessments will guide student
understanding and make them aware of
what is expected of them for learning. For
labs and projects, I will provide students
with a rubric to ensure they are on track
for success if they follow the rubric
outline.