Running head: PHILOSOPHY OF ASSESSMENT

Philosophy of Assessment

Cassidy Hennigar

February 28th, 2019

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Assessment in the elementary classroom is an essential part of effective teaching and an

integral component of showcasing how goals and curriculum objectives are being achieved.

Teachers use assessment as an every day tool to retrieve multiple snapshots of their students

understanding of the content and their ability to apply their knowledge in their work.

Assessment is also routinely practiced as an effective way to indicate what the teacher needs to

focus on in the following lessons. As a future elementary school educator, my philosophy of

assessment centers specifically around my students learning process and effectively using

assessment to allow my students to continuously progress in their learning.

A statement that Herbst and Davies (2016) say that is a strong depiction of assessment

includes “Reporting used to be an event that happened only at set times in a year. Now, in many

jurisdictions, examining and making sense of a student’s learning is becoming an ongoing

process that involves students, parents, and teachers.” (p. 60). This statement beautifully reflects

the notion that the meaning of assessment is continuously changing in the classroom to better

focus on the students learning process and not the end result or mark. This statement also

highlights my strong belief that in order for assessment to be successful, teachers need to include

the students and the parents throughout the learning process. I consider the relationship between

me and my students and understanding my students needs is key to generating learning in my

classroom. When this is accomplished, I will be able to create my lessons to reflect my students’

abilities and interests and set my students up for success during assessment.

I believe that when teachers involve students in creating the expectations in the classroom

and the expectations that the teacher will be looking for in assignments, activities, and projects,

students can showcase their true potential because they understand what they need to do and they

had a say in it. Davies (2011) expresses this very well when he says, “When participates are
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invited to be involved and when they choose what and how they are going to learn, the power of

their learning can be astonishing” (p. 106.). I also believe that including parents in my

assessment strategies is very important to maintain that relationship. With the differences in

assessment from when the parents were students to now, they need to understand your

philosophy. Davies (2011) discusses this in the following statement, “Let parents know that you

are continuing to assess all student work, although you may not be responding with a mark or

grade.” (P. 78). As an educator, I will use address this by contacting parents through letters and

through oral explanation at parent teacher interviews. I want my students and their parents to

know that through these assessment strategies, I am focusing on their child’s learning and their

progress.

My future classroom will be an environment that fosters the experience of both success

and failure as a means of learning and growing. My goal is for my classroom to be a place where

students are not afraid to ask questions, share their confusion, and make mistakes. Davies(2011)

discusses this when he says, “Unless students understand that mistakes are essential for learning,

they may not take the risks necessary for it to occur.” (p. 16). The anxiety associated with getting

the wrong answer, and therefore not participating and not reaching out for help when needed,

greatly hinders students learning. For this reason, I believe it is detrimental for teachers to

emphasize how failure is needed for learning to occur and to continuously model this positively

with their students.

As an educator, I believe in the power of choice when it comes to students showcasing

their learning. This essentially drives from my questioning of why does every student have to

create the same thing in the same way? My answer to this, is that they do not. I will give my

students a variety of options when assigning projects and allow them to express their learning in
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a way that makes sense to them. My goal in this is to set every student up for success with a fair

means of assessment.

My assessment strategies will focus on formative assessment to observe students during

the learning process and to maintain the environment of assessing students to improve their

learning. To formally asses in an elementary school classroom, I plan to rely on observations,

anecdotal notes, exit slips, portfolios, conferencing, and self-evaluation. When assigning

projects, I want to co-construct checklists with my students, so they are involved in the

expectations. This type of assessment will allow me to see if students understand while they are

doing it and I can see what the students have achieved and what needs work.

When assessing students work, I strongly believe that using descriptive feedback rather

than a mark, reinforces student learning. My individual feedback will allow students to reflect

on their work and enforce a sense of pride and wanting to constantly improve. I want my

feedback to always be framed in a positive and encouraging manner with highlighting the things

they did well and small things they can improve on. Descriptive feedback sets up the students for

success as it allows the students to continuously learn and improve their work. Students should

never be assessment based on one evaluation at one given time, the key to knowing what your

students are truly capable of is “By looking for patterns and trends over time, based on multiple

sources (triangulation) of reliable and valid evidence” (Herbst, S., & Davies, A. 2016, p. 63). I

believe that by allowing my students to have input in their learning, have the choice of

demonstrating their understanding in a way that makes sense to them, collecting data through

observations and using descriptive feedback, over time I will have a true understanding of each

of my students’ abilities and generate effective learning.

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References:

Davies, A. (2011). Making classroom assessment work (3rd ed.). Courtenay, BC:

Connect2learning.

Herbst, S., & Davies, A. (2016). Grading, Reporting, and Professional Judgment in Elementary

Classrooms (1st ed.). Courtenay, BC: Connect2learning.