Creating Fair Assessments
Teachers’ assessment practices reveal what they really value and hence what pupils should work to achieve (">Butler, 2006). Fair assessments measure what students know about a subject, so that a teacher can adjust his or her instructional practices to motivate learning and help each student master what is taught.
By definition, fair assessments are aligned to the standards. They should also align to students' interests and intrinsic needs to feel safe and part of the learning environment. Assessments should never present an obstacle to student success. To foster learning, assessment practices should be part of a non-threatening classroom culture where students trust their teacher.
Communication and respect are especially important when it is time to assess student knowledge. Taking a test or answering questions in front of peers can be extremely stressful to students, especially if a student is worried that he or she does not know the answers. When the evaluation process stresses comparisons to their classmates, students adopt their goals around demonstrating superiority rather than focusing on mastery of the content. Praising students for mastery boosts intrinsic motivation, while social-comparison praise reduces it (Corpus et al., 2007).
Formative assessments, such as questioning techniques and active engagement check-ins are essential to learning. According to McManus (2008), teachers should consider these criteria when implementing effective formative assessment:
- Learning goals and criteria for mastery need to be clearly articulated to students.
- Students should be given feedback that is based in evidence from pieces of their learning. An example of this would be teacher responses to a student-facilitated discussion.
- Students should be self-assessing and interacting with their peers to reflect on their learning. Ultimately, they will be thinking metacognitively to monitor their own growth. For example, students could learn to use rubrics to self-assess their work.
Standards are the foundation that support student success. Assessments ensure that this foundation is ready to be built upon using additional information that engages students' critical thinking skills. In the next two topics we will be examining formative and summative assessments in detail.