A Trustworthy Friend

Chapter 4- Validity and Reliability

Summary: Validity and reliability are inseparable from one another because an assessment that contained one and not the other would surely be unacceptable. In preparation for making assessments, teachers must be sure to prepare questions that are valid and fairly test all material covered, not just one particular segment of the lesson more than the others. The test must also be fair in a sense that the same results would be yielded if tested at another time or with a different set of questions. You can make sure a test is valid by interpreting the results of the assessment according to the four categories of validity and analyzing the evidences. When testing for reliability, the measure for error is usually minimum. If it goes beyond that small perimeter of error that has been set, further analysis should be done.

Reflection: I definitely want to make sure that when I make assessments in my classroom, they will be reliable and valid. I cannot be certain that a test I have given fits these two categories until I receive the results and I am able to analyze them. I can take steps to ensure I cover most of the content and construct questions that could be repeated in a different way in order to make my tests valid and reliable. I think the trickiest part in all of this would be constructing and grading a performance task without subjecting any bias onto the projects and without comparing the results based on the best student’s performance. I would do my best to grade each student based on the rubric and have another person grade them also so that we can combine our results.

Working together in harmony...

Chapter 3- Planning for Assessment

Summary: Assessment planning must always be integral in the planning of classroom instruction. These two must be harmonious in order to best grasp what the students have learned and to make it fair to them also. There are many types of questions that can be asked at a variety of complex levels, but whatever types of questions used, the entirety of the content taught should be represented in the assessment. All assessments must align with state standards, the curriculum, and learning objectives, even if they are simply observational assessments or if they go as far as assessing performance. Rubrics are an important tool in assessments because they lay out exactly what is expected of the students and can act as a guide to their demonstration of skills. Portfolios are also useful because it shows the progress of learning by collecting student work and assessing overall achievement. No matter what type of test is given, the test itself and the results we receive must always be valid and reliable. This means, they must be appropriate for the learning outcomes we are seeking and must be consistent with the learning of the student.

Reflection: “All too frequently the remembering of factual material is overused” (p. 32). I hope to never overuse this type of assessment, especially now that I know how many other types of assessments I can use and how effective they are. My favorite assessment that I hope to use in my classroom was the adaptation level of the psychomotor taxonomy by Bott (1996). In this step, the student can use their skills in a new situation and demonstrate their learning by applying their skills. Although this may take some extra time to think up and grade, I would love to use this type of assessment in my classroom because it requires high-level thinking. No matter what type of assessment I want to do, however, I must always make sure it is in line with the state standards and curriculum of the school. In order to make sure I have an effective assessment for my students, I will start thinking early in the process and make the tests work according to the situations, being conscious of validity and reliability. I would love to start a collection of student work and make a portfolio so that I can visually see student progress.

Gronlund, N.E. & Waugh, C.K. (2013). Assessment of Student Achievement, (10^th ed.).New York: Allyn & Bacon.

A time and a place for all things...

Chapter 2- Nature of Student Assessment

Summary: Assessments can come in many shapes and sizes and be utilized for specific purposes. The four types of tests can be put into four categories, which can all be beneficial depending on what students are expected to demonstrate in their learning. Selected response tests require almost no time to grade but they do not show a very representative view of what reality would show them. The Supply-response tests require the students to just give small amounts of information, which can be helpful to see learning. Restricted performance assessments are very structured and have specific targets to demonstrate learning. Extended performance assessments require students to almost be “in” the situation and act is if were real life, which means there is no real structure to the answers on the teacher’s end. Allowing for real life scenarios and questions in important because it will help them get exposed early on. The norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests can be helpful in their own ways; the former giving an accurate comparison of student performance and the latter defining their performance in a set of tasks.

Reflection: Knowing when to use each type of test depending on the depth of the lesson taught is very important. There is a time and a place for each type of assessment and I would hope to know when each one would be best used in my classroom. Although extended-performance assessments can be quite difficult to grade, I think it is very worth it to see the responses I would receive from my students. But, if I am just testing them on basic skills that I want to make sure they have mastered, I would just use one of the lower end tests so that the testing can be quick and the results can get to me quickly also. It is important for me to leave time for all of the grading and planning for the assessments because calculating student performance can be a difficult task if done incorrectly. I think it is only fair to my students if I test them in many different ways because it will help them demonstrate their learning in several ways.