Standard 5 - Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

 

It is essential that the educator has extensive knowledge of a range of formative and summative assessment strategies that can be implemented in the classroom. With varying advantages and disadvantages of assessment types the educator can enhance the validity of results by making consistent and comparable judgments utilizing a range of assessment techniques. Hattie and Timperley (2007, p.102) describe assessment as being “among the most critical influences on student learning”. When provided inappropriately or inaccurately feedback can have a negative effect on the child’s development.  

 

Assessment for learning is a strategy that encourages the use of formative assessment methods rather than summative assessment. Cowie and Bell (1999) describe formative assessment as being interactive, where the educator observes, identifies and responds to the student’s thinking throughout the teaching and learning process. The timing is ideal as the feedback becomes meaningful to the students who can immediately respond to the comments made by the educator (Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Shute, 2008).  The accuracy of formative assessment also contributes to the effectiveness of assessment for learning as it is based on the educator’s evaluation of work samples or observations made in the classroom rather than the child’s performance on an end of unit test.

 

It is important that the educator collects evidence of student development to share with families and inform records of student achievement. The educator may choose to keep a foci book, write observations, checklists and collect work samples in order to make accurate judgments of student learning.