Assessment OF Learning

Assessment Of learning is extremely essential when looking at a student’s education.  The purpose of assessment of learning is to report on the students’ achievements within the classroom and record them (Harlen, 2007) . This information is vital to the students because it can aid and enhance their learning process helping them to reach their full educational potential. Students can use this information from the assessment of learning aspect to see what was wrong and analyze it, so that they can do a better job on their future assignments or standardized tests. I remember back in grade 11 for the first two months of English class our teacher would hand back all of our assignments and standardized tests already marked with feedback on them, so that we may correct our mistakes. After we fixed our mistakes she would recollect the assignments or quizzes and mark them again. This was an excellent tool for the rest of the students in the class and I because it allowed us to see what we were continually doing wrong on the assignments. We could also see what our strengths and weaknesses were to improve on in the future. It was also able to provide us with what we knew we needed to work on to go seek help from the teacher.

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Another key factor having to do with assessment of learning is that students are able to see how consistent the teachers are with their marking and evaluating.  By getting assignments and tests back from teachers with feedback on them or not students are able to get a feel for how the teacher marks. It is also important because it can be used a record for the parents of the students. If a parent ever has any question as to why their son or daughter is not doing well in school then you can back it up by using the summative assessments that have been recorded throughout the year. This is a very effective way to trace the progression of each student and see who is struggling and who is excelling within the   different subjects.

This can be also be very important to not just students and parents, but also the teacher themselves. Teachers are able to see where their class stands as a whole or even where individuals in their class stand in relation to their knowledge of the content they are teaching or are not teaching. If the majority of the students are not doing well in a certain area then myself as the teacher might not be doing a good job or here could have been confusion while teaching the lesson on that certain aspect. Assessment of learning does require that teachers are consistent within their teaching. The less consistent they are the more problems will arise due to discrepancies between the students assignments, tests, or projects.

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Assessment of learning needs to take into account multiple perspectives of the process where learning occurs within individuals (James, 2006). This can be different for each individual student and should be paid attention to closely.  As the curriculum continually changes to take on a more constructivist teaching approach to accommodate the needs of different learning styles, the purpose of assessment is shifting from measuring the achievement of the students to enhancing learning instead (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). The numeric values are starting to fade away and the focus on promoting the learning of the students is becoming the main factor.

References

Drake, S., Kolohon, W., & Reid, J. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom                      assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.

Harlen, W. (2007). Assessment of learning. Sage.

James, M. (2006). Assessment, teaching and theories of learning. Assessment and learning, 47-60.