Assessment is an important part of students learning as it both enhances learning and provides opportunities for students to reflect on what they know, understand, and can do.
Assessments are varied to provide students with the greatest chance to express what they know and can do and allows for different learning styles.
The assessment is handed-out, collected and assessed by the teacher. The assessment includes a set of instructions and the criteria with which the student’s performance will be assessed. The teacher assesses the work according to the criteria and awards an attainment level for each of the criteria assessed (e.g. a lab report may cover three of the six science assessment criteria).
The assessed work is then shared with the student. It is then that a teacher must provide feedback to the student about the work and the student may constructively question the attainment level awarded. The attainment levels reached in each criterion are then noted down with the other levels attained on previous work, include:
- Formative assessments are used by the teacher and student to reflect on what knowledge and skills have been learned and developed and can be applied.
- Summative assessments take place at the end of the teaching and learning process and allow the student the opportunity to develop and show what has been learned and provide samples of their work to show their understanding. It also helps the teacher judge the level of achievement the student has attained.
- Assessment criteria. Students have criteria with which they will be assessed. It provides guidelines on what teachers will be looking for when assessing the student’s knowledge and deeper understanding of the unit and unit question. It also helps the students know what is expected of them so that they can prepare and do the best they can. Often the student has the criteria
Assessment is ongoing and progress is reported to parents through different ways: