The Role of Assessments
Content standards can serve as valuable guides in specifying the skills and concepts students should master, clarifying the expected outcomes, and providing guidance in planning assessments (Barell, 2007). Clear Standards and Fair Assessments are partners. Standards create the guidelines for learning, while various forms of aligned assessments judge if these guidelines were met during instruction.
According to Resnick (2006), Assessment plays two roles in standards-based instruction:
- First, the assessment process establishes accountability by monitoring student progress.
- Secondly, it becomes a model for guiding instruction.
When assessments are accurately aligned to the standards and to instruction, teachers and students attain a clearer picture of goals and can reflect upon areas of academic development. Doing so creates an environment where the individual students as well as the teacher are mutually held accountable for academic success.
The modern view of assessments is that they are much more than about grades. The results of assessments should encourage reflection and inform the next steps of instruction. According to McTighe & Brown, “Assessments should require students’ demonstrations of understanding, not just recall of information or formulaic modeling” (2005, p. 236).