Blog #9 - Testing 1 2 3

Sometimes, teaching reading in a content-area classroom seems like a struggle, but then I am reminded that I must also assess students in ways that are beneficial to them, me, school administration, and the government. How can I do this successfully? In order to figure out how to assess students effectively, it is important to first think about why we assess students.

There are several reasons students are assessed, with the most obvious one being for information. Parents, teachers, and even the students themselves need to know how they are doing in their classes. Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction says that the goal of assessment is to provide teachers with information on how to better adapt their teaching style to the learning styles of their students and to provide the students with information on where they are succeeding and struggling (Hinchman, 2014, pp. 348-349). One way for content-area teachers to assess literacy learning in their classrooms is to carry out a Content Area Reading Inventory (CARI). These tests are designed to assess how well the students are comprehending the types of reading that are commonly found in that content area. After receiving the information from this test, teachers can use the results similarly to the way in which they would use the results from standardized test scores (Hinchman, 2014, p. 354). This information helps teachers to communicate with other parties involved in the education of our students (Beers, 2007, p. 260). Families and administrators are often very involved in how our students are progressing, so it is important that they have access to and can understand assessment information.

It is fairly easy to assess literacy skills in the classroom when they are in a typical test format. However, schools are becoming more diverse in the ways that they assess their students because of a gap between the demands of state assessments and the demands of the real-world (Beers, 2007, p. 259). After introducing this dilemma, Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice asks us to consider what literacy comprehension looks like when the assessment is not traditional (Beers, 2007, p. 266). Creating nontraditional assessments seems like it may be much more difficult than creating traditional assessments, but often, students are able to take the reins on these assignments and create their own project, which takes a lot of the pressure off the teacher.

When designing units in which students will be assessed in nontraditional ways, one of the most helpful things a teacher can do is start at the end of the unit (Edutopia, 2011). After thinking about what students should accomplish by the end of the unit, the teacher can design lessons that help students achieve these things. The second thing a teacher should do in these units is take advantage of using rubrics (Edutopia, 2011). Rubrics let the students know what is expected of them, and it keeps them on track as they are working on their projects. Using rubrics will also help the teacher when it comes time to grade these untraditional assessments because the assessments can then be graded on pre-established criteria, not on how well the teacher thinks the student did. Teachers do a lot of work creating these units and assessments, but it can be very informative to let students take control of their assessments. An article titled, “Ten Takeaway Tips for Using Authentic Assessment in Your School” on Edutopia shares that allowing students to do their own assessment by writing the most important thing they have learned so far and what they are still struggling with encourages them to reflect on their own learning (2011). This assessment also serves as a metacognitive exercise for students.

Assessment can be tricky in any classroom, but it becomes especially tricky when you are assessing literacy skills in a content area class. Once we understand why we assess students in this way and how that information can be used, we can learn how to assess students more efficiently. From there, we can use the extra time to allow students to create projects, read more, and hone any skills they need to improve. In the case of assessment, traditional works, but nontraditional seems to work even better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – just tweak it a little bit so it runs a little more smoothly.

References: 

Beers, K. Probst, R. E., & Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann. 

Edutopia. (2001). Ten takeaway tips for using authentic assessment in your school. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/10-assessment-tips-for-class

Hinchman, K.A., & Sheridan-Thomas, H. (2014). Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction. New York, New York: The Guilford Press.