Karina Del Rio
EDTE 250
Prof. Parsons
Running head:Literature Review
Disparities in Children’s Testing and Performance Assessment
Author(your name)
Author Affiliation
Introduction
Seven years ago, I walked in to my first classroom to twenty pairs of excited eyes. From that moment, I've made it my personal goal to be completely committed to my students to create the healthiest foundation for their future success. I currently work as a first grade teacher at a Spanish/English immersion school in the Fremont Unified School District. The school is located in a low-income neighborhood with the majority of the students being Hispanic. Due to my experience with a diverse group of students and community, I have discovered many areas of concern within the educational field. The center of my focus and research has been on disparities in children's testing and performance assessment. There are many different avenues of thought concerning the causes and affects of poor performance assessment and testing.
Through my coursework thus far at San Jose State University, and through my personal experience, I am aware that there are many different learning styles. Some students may be more auditory, while others may be more kinesthetic or visual. Just as students have different learning styles and gain knowledge and learn materials in different fashions, it is my belief that students have different testing and assessment styles. Because standardized testing and typical in-class assessment may not be presented in a fashion that a student performs best, there is noticeable and considerable disparities in a child's performance on a test when compared to their actual capabilities. Misrepresentations of a student's abilities can have dramatic adverse affects on their educational development. The purpose of my research is to identify what testing and assessment methods harness the fullest potential of each student so that no student is achieving below their potential.
Through my pursuit to discover an answer to my topic, I have discovered three general themes: the use of portfolios in assessment, assessment methods and techniques, and development. Below I briefly describe each of these themes, the current avenues of thought and the role they play in my research.
The Use of Portfolios in Assessment
In the education field, a common theme that is found in the form of assessments is the use of portfolios in the classroom. A portfolio is a collection of a student's work representing their performance and progress. Portfolios in classrooms today are derived from the visual and performing arts tradition in which they serve to showcase artists' accomplishments and personally favored works. A portfolio may be a folder containing a student's best pieces and the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the pieces. It may also contain one or more works-in-progress that illustrate the creation of a product, such as an essay, evolving through various stages of conception, drafting, and revision. In using a portfolio in the classroom, the student is able to monitor their own assessment, and the teacher is able to work along side the student to achieve developmental goals. Using a portfolio helps to foster communication between teacher and student as well as between teacher and parent with understanding and tracking a student's progress. A portfolio is believed to be a proper way of assessing a student’s performance and demonstrates their progress over a period of time.
Through my research I have found that many authors have written about the importance of portfolios and how they should be used in the classroom setting.
L. Buschman, awarded the Milken Educator Award, writes about using certain techniques to optimize the use of student portfolios as a working tool in the classroom to keep record of a students progress and work. Bushman uses portfolios to track student's goals, as well as to inform the parents on how their child is progressing during the academic year. J. Campos and T. L Adam's, authors of educational research, share the same idea and takes the portfolio one step further by using them, not only as an accumulation of work progress, but as formative assessment, by using the work provided as a way of evaluating the student. Lastly, in S.J. Meisels article "Using Work Sampling in Authentic Assessments", he stresses upon the importance of progress documentation and assessment goals. His theories coincide with that of Bushman, Campos and Adams in which they suggest that cumulative work is necessary to capture the student’s full potential and progress.
I find the concept of portfolios to be highly valuable and imperative to fostering responsibility within students to take investment in their own education. Also mentioned previously, portfolios offer a more comprehensive assessment process. In addition to simply using a portfolio system for each specific year, it would also be beneficial to students, teachers and parents alike to have the portfolio travel with the student through each academic grade level to offer even a greater representation of the child's educational development. By doing so, this would help better assess continual problem areas. In addition, I agree that a portfolio system would also aid in positively changing lesson plans to accommodate common problem areas amongst the students. However, although I personally agree with what is said about the importance of the use of portfolios, I find it still difficult to implement them into the routine at the young primary levels such as Kindergarten or First Grade. Throughout my teaching experience, I have found that students at these ages have difficulty understanding how to track their own progress and development. Because comparing present work to past work is not stressed in prior years, nor is it stressed in the framework of the curriculum, students often do not understand the concept of recognizing their improvements. Having an on-going, interactive portfolio at these young levels raises concerns that students would choose to place projects that they like in their portfolio as opposed to projects or assignments that actually demonstrated their growing development. In addition, although it could be explained to the young students during review time why one assignment is more representative of their work than another, they may have difficulty understanding the reason for this, for they have not yet developed the skill of recognizing and tracking personal progress and change.
Further research in this area of study should focus on further developing a portfolio system that works well on very young students so that they can gain from this system in the same manner as the older grade level students.
Assessment Methods and Techniques
Classroom assessment techniques are formative evaluation methods that serve two purposes: they can help to assess the degree to which students understand the course content as well as can provide information about the effectiveness of particular teaching methods. They provide information that can be used to improve course content, methods of teaching and student learning. Formative evaluations are most effective when they are done frequently and the information is used to effect immediate adjustments in the day-to-day operations of the class. Methods and techniques are designed to be quick and easy to use and each assessment provides different informational keys depending on what is being evaluated. Such assessments also provide students with valuable feedback about their strengths and weaknesses which can assist them in their development and sustains motivation and interest in material and their education as a whole. Examples of such formative assessment methods/techniques are multiple choice, fill in the blank, free response, true/false or project related assessments, among others.
Through my reading on this subject I have found that many authors comment about how imperative the diversity of assessment methods and techniques are. M. James, author of "Matters of Judgment", stresses the importance of teachers evaluating their students using a variety of methods and not basing their assessments on one form of required assessment. In addition, Y. Mamrommatis, author of "Understanding Assessment in the Classroom", suggests that assessments should be completed in phases to ensure a comprehensive analysis of a student's abilities and that these forms of assessment should have a direct impact on each students learning practices. In L. Shepard's article, "Why we need better assessments", he mirrors James and Mamrommatis in that teachers should use different measures of assessment through a variety of methods in order to meet the necessary educational goals that are set by the teacher, student or curriculum. Lastly, in P. Bricston's article, “The Role of the State Agency in Local Assessment Systems,” describes that it is important to ensure that the content assessed through each method is important to the development and progress of each individual student and that testing is not provided for the sake of simply testing. His study showed that many of the students were continually assessed on material that they had previously mastered or that was not relevant to classroom materials. Assessment should be used properly to identify a child's progress and areas of needed improvement.
There are a variety of assessment methodologies and it is important to deduce which methods capture a students fullest potential on learned material and what the proper process for tracking a student’s development. Finding such a method is still a main research focus among many. It is without question, based on my personal experiences and the research of others, that one cannot capture a student's capabilities based on a single form of assessment. Students have varying learning styles and it is not only fair, but the duty we have as educators, to evaluate a student in a manner that reflects these learning differences. Doing so not only helps the student in their educational path but also benefits the teacher by in monitoring the effectiveness of their teaching methodologies.
Further research in this area of thought would be to discover a comprehensive assessment process that takes into consideration different learning styles, incorporates a variety of methods and focuses on relevant material to properly track a student's progress, development and full capability without causing distress to the students.
Development
Student development is ultimately the crux of research in the field of education from which other themes of research form. Researchers and teachers alike are continually looking for the best method to make meaningful connections with their students to foster real educational progress and development. As related to the previous themes, the main topic and concern associated with student development is the form of assessment and evaluation. Teachers, as well as parents, are motivated by the development of their students. During parent-teacher conferences, the most common question or concern is if the student is learning or comprehending the material presented. In addition, they are concerned about where each student falls in comparison with other students and standardized assessment. Finding better ways to connect and increase the development of a student will remain a focus of research because student’s needs are constantly changing. Student assessment and development has changed greatly over time, certainly in my experience as a teacher and educator and drastically since I was a child. The standard lecture and paper and pencil assessment is becoming a method less used due to low results. Currently teachers use a variety of methods and forms to connect with students and evaluate their development, in-class tests, portfolios and projects are just a few examples. Healthy development is the key to producing an effective and responsible student.
Research shows that authors have a common thought on the subject of development. According to R. Marzano, author of "Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model", there are five types of thinking to promote the essentials of the learning process: thinking positively, thinking to be involved and to inquire, extending and refining learning, meaningful thinking and habits of the mind. Marzano suggests that these types of thinking will help to foster meaningful student development. E. Roeber, educational researcher, suggests that development is dependant upon adequately designed assessment. If assessment is incorporated back in to the teaching method, students will develop and progress. In M. Kino's article, “The State of Assessment Programs: What are State-wide Assessment Programs Doing?” emphasis is placed on obtaining the proper background information in order to formulate a proper assessment of each student. Collaborating with other teachers, administrators and district officials is important for developing a more effective foundation for cohesive assessment.
Student development is an aspect of teaching that needs tremendous focus and careful direction. It has been due to concerned and driven educators and researchers that changes in the past have been made to foster better development and progress among students. Through my own teaching experience I have seen the advantages and disadvantages of effective and conversely ineffective forms of assessment. The process is cyclical: If the teaching method failed, students do not progress. If the assessment method failed, the teacher may not recognize a need for modification of the previous teaching method and students do not progress.
In a perfect situation, a teacher or educator who recognizes that a particular teaching, assessment or development method is unsuccessful, there is support for correcting the point of error. However, this is most certainly not always the case. In my personal experience, there have been numerous occasions where there was a lack of support from administration to foster healthy changes within the classroom. What can be done to further gain liberty to make necessary adjustments to teaching and assessment methodologies to promote healthy progress and development? What can be done in the face of pre-existing limitations, protocols and district regulations?
Conclusion
Although there have been many advancements concerning closing the gap between a student’s capabilities and their performance on particular methods of assessment, there is still great need for implementation and change. Using portfolios in the classroom setting certainly has an abundance of positive affects with respect to evaluating the student’s capabilities as a whole, however there is further research and development needed to make this assessment process successful at all grade levels. Additionally, it is important to continue researching different methodologies that encompass all learning styles and properly focuses on student progress and not on filling quotas for standardized testing and district regulations.
At this point of my research, I have taken many of these authors and educators thoughts into practice in my classroom and have discovered that that use of portfolios can be an effective form of monitoring my student’s progress but have not used them as a form of assessment at this point nor have I been successful at teaching my students to recognize their improvements. With further development, I do feel, however, that this could definitely aid in tracking my student’s progress throughout the year and better the communication with their parents. I have also taken to attempting different teaching and assessment methodologies and have discovered that my students respond to an assessment that centers on the visualization of material. I plan to further my research to discover a system that truly captures all aspects of my student’s capabilities and fosters their investment in their own educational endeavors thus lessening the disparities between a student’s capabilities and their actual performance.
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