Traditional Assessment Concerns

 

Sternberg, B. (2012, December 3). None of the Above- Why Standardized Testing Fails: Bob Sternberg at TEDxOStateU. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlmKZeNi-U

          I’d like to share why I feel it is important to change how students are assessed in the majority of North American High Schools. Currently, assessment of the formal curriculum, outlined by the provincial Ministry of Education, continues to reflect a traditional grading system that involves students competing for academic grades that will either allow or deny them access to scholarships and higher education. This implies that knowledge can be measured quantitatively and that a student's test result can indicate a final judgment of their academic potential (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 2014).  For example, grades influence whether students are streamed into academic or applied leaning groups that, according to DiAngelo and Sensoy (2014), create self-fulfilling prophecies of self-worth and academic potential. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that this is an accurate representation of student success or diversity.

Rahim, Sameer. (2010, June 11) English Examination: Have they got easier? Web. 22 Sept 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7817602/English-Examinations-Have-they-got-easier.html

         I’m sure you can recall a time when you were up late the night before an exam, trying to memorize as many definitions and equations as possible. For me, this was before my grade 12 Biology exam. I was extremely nervous because my mark on the exam would determine whether or not I would receive a significant scholarship from a University. This story ended happily for me as I did well on the exam however, the test was not a fair judgement of my understandings of the course. If asked to write the same exam a week later, I probably would have failed. The point to this story is that the test didn’t actually measure how well I knew the course content; the exam measured how well I could memorize equations and predict the formulas that would be tested. In reality, students have strengths and weaknesses that cannot be evaluated solely through hand-written tests.

Kumar, Radiant. (2012, Dec 26) Left Brain VS Right Brain. Web. 22 Sept 2015. Retrieved from: http://theonshoreworld.blogspot.ca/2012/12/left-brain-vs-right-brain_26.html

          I tutored a grade 9 student with a Learning Disability who was reading at a grade 3 level. Although he struggled with reading, he had an incredible vocabulary and a very creative mind. Students with Learning Disabilities often struggle academically and it’s not because they are any more or less intelligent. They simply learn and express information differently. This is why I feel it’s necessary to adapt assessments to cater to different groups of learners. This links to a discussion about equity and how students should receive the same opportunities to succeed based on personal learning needs (Verstegen, 2015). For example, students should have opportunities to showcase their understandings through multiple means such as presentations, projects, verbal and written assessments. Furthermore, rather than asking specific questions with one right or wrong answer, perhaps evaluations should be more open-ended, allowing for students to express what they do know about the content. The final clip furthers this thinking by touching on the importance of assessment being consistent, accurate, meaningful and supportive.

                                                                                    

O'Connor, K. (2011, June 3). Solution Tree: Ken O'Connor on Grading Effectively. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGcjhaQuXK8 

References

DiAngelo, R. r., & Sensoy, Ö. o. (2014). Leaning In: A Student's Guide to Engaging Constructively   with Social Justice Content. Radical Pedagogy, 11(1), 2.

Drake, S. M., Kolohon, W., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: engaging the 21st-century learner. Don Mills, Ontario : Oxford University Press, [2014].

Kumar, Radiant. (2012, Dec 26) Left Brain VS Right Brain. Web. 22 Sept 2015. Retrieved from: http://theonshoreworld.blogspot.ca/2012/12/left-brain-vs-right-brain_26.html

O'Connor, K. (2011, June 3). Solution Tree: Ken O'Connor on Grading Effectively. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGcjhaQuXK8

Rahim, Sameer. (2010, June 11) English Examination: Have they got easier? Web. 22 Sept 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7817602/English-Examinations-Have-they-got-easier.html

Sternberg, B. (2012, December 3). None of the Above- Why Standardized Testing Fails: Bob Sternberg at TEDxOStateU. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlmKZeNi-U

Verstegen, D. A. (2015). On Doing an Analysis of Equity and Closing the Opportunity Gap. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23(41).

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