Once you create and administer an assessment to students, what next? Of course, you will mark the student assessments, but is that all you will do? Do you also ask yourself the following –
- What did you understand about the student from their responses?
- What do you think the student knows?
- What do you think the student has a misconception about?
Assessment data is useful to teachers for two main reasons:
- To understand where students stand in understanding of the learning objective
- To understand which teaching methods are working and which must be modified
What do student responses tell us?
- Whether students have attained mastery over the content
- Whether students have acquired the skill they were meant to learn
- What possible misunderstandings students have
These are called “insights” and are the most important input teachers receive from student responses.
The below infographic summarises the same information:
Teachers can also use assessment data to test their own teaching methods.
For example, a 5th Grade math teacher has taught the topic ‘Constants and Variables’ using a blended learning approach and taught the topic ‘Solving Algebraic Equations’ using pre-recorded asynchronous lectures. Formative assessments are conducted on each of the topics. It is found that students perform much better in the ‘Constants and Variables’ assessment. From this, the teacher can conclude that the blended learning approach was a better fit for their students, and next time will use this type of teaching rather than completely asynchronous classes
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REFLECTION TIME!
For your own assessment that you modified in the last session - 1. Identify which questions will give you meaningful insights. Why do you think so? 2. Identify which questions will NOT give you meaningful insights. How can you modify it to ensure you get these insights?
