Assessing What Students Really Know

Assessment is a word I hear in almost every discussion among teachers. At some point, we need to assess our students on what they know. I cannot keep teaching and have no idea whether my students are understanding what I am teaching.

I think when a lot of us think about assessment, we remember our days in school getting yet another multiple choice test and bubbling in A, B, C, or D. Did that one letter choice really tell our teachers what we did (or did not) know? I do not think so. I believe assessments if designed correctly, have the power to inform our instruction as teachers. But we need to move beyond assessing for the recall of information we give to our students and really need to assess our students on what they understand. This teaching and assessing for understanding over learning is supported by Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000). I write about this assessment for understanding in more detail here.

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I also believe that technology has a powerful impact on improving student’s understanding of what we are teaching and ability to improve what they can show us on an assessment. If we are teaching for understanding and assessing our students on that understanding, we as teachers want to do everything we can for students to understand. I think appropriate incorporation of technology in classrooms can help us do just that.

References:

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R.R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368

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