Consider giving the same assessment at the end of the unit so students can see how far they’ve come! Graphic organizers (e.g., mind maps, flow charts, KWL charts)ĭiagnostic assessments can also help benchmark student progress.When you structure diagnostic assessments around your lesson, you’ll get the information you need to understand student knowledge and engage your whole classroom. To make sure the unit goes smoothly, you want to know if your students have mastered fact families, place value and one-digit multiplication before you move on to more complicated questions. Let’s say you’re starting a lesson on two-digit multiplication. They can help engage students in the learning process, too! One study 'showed that in most cases the students pointed out the target knowledge as the reason for a task to be interesting and engaging, followed by the way the content was dealt with in the classroom.' It teaches critical thinking skills, problem-solving and encourages students to set achievable goals for themselves and objectively measure their progress. Assessment as learningĪssessment as learning actively involves students in the learning process. There are lots of ways you can deliver assessments for learning, even in a busy classroom. We’ll cover some of them soon!įor now, just remember these assessments aren’t only for students - they’re to provide you with actionable feedback to improve your instruction.Ĭommon types of assessment for learning include formative assessments and diagnostic assessments. What did I most want students to learn from this lesson? Did I succeed?.What are students most commonly misunderstanding?.Did my teaching strategies reach students effectively?.Did students find this lesson too easy? Too difficult?.What did students take away from the lesson?.When you’re creating assessments, keep these key questions in mind: As John Hattie, a professor of education and the director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia puts it:Īssessments for learning provide you with a clear snapshot of student learning and understanding as you teach - allowing you to adjust everything from your classroom management strategies to your lesson plans as you go.Īssessments for learning should always be ongoing and actionable. Assessments help shape the learning process at all points, and give you insights into student learning. There’s so much more to assessments than delivering an end-of-unit exam or prepping for a standardized test. And as a teacher, you know that student progress isn't just a number on a report card. Assessments can be difficult to structure properly and time-consuming to grade. Assessing students in meaningful ways can help motivate and empower them to grow as they become agents of their own learning.īut testing can contribute to math anxiety for many students. Some students have lost a portion of their academic progress. School closures and remote or hybrid learning environments have posed some challenges for educators, but motivating students to learn and grow remains a constant goal. How do you use the different types of assessment in your classroom to promote student learning?

Purpose of national benchmark tests