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Meaningful Assessment Is More than a Snapshot

Joanne Myers

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Assessment is not only a common word in schools, it  has become a household word across the province. Recently I witnessed an interesting interaction. Matteo, a grade 3 student, asked his mom a casual question. Matteo was not satisfied with her answer and followed through by politely guiding her chin and eyes toward him, saying, “Now, Mommy, that wasn’t your best answer. I want a level 4 answer to my question please.” Clearly this is a child who is developing a deep understanding of assessing his own needs and advocating for them, something obviously modelled effectively in his classroom.

Elementary teachers have been working diligently to plan differentiated learning programs for their students while continually assessing what students already know and planning how to further that learning. Teachers strive to  knit together and balance instruction and assessment so that students develop a deeper understanding of their own progress, and can work cooperatively and productively with their teachers and peers to improve their learning.

New terminology from the Ontario Ministry of Education describes three major terms related to effective assessment.

  • Teachers and students use Assessment for learning to determine what learners already know in relation to the Ontario curriculum expectations. Assessment for learning is essential when teachers plan differentiated programs and work with their students to set goals. It includes diagnostic and formative assessment, and informal daily observations.
  • Assessment as learning is ongoing and is integrated with daily instruction that allows students to reflect on their performance and achieve their individual learning goals.
  • Assessment of learning involves evaluation and usually occurs at the end of the period of learning. It informs students and parents of achievement levels and is most appropriate for reporting and assigning grades.

In  today’s  classrooms  teachers  are  successfully  using  and  integrating all three of these assessment approaches in concrete and meaningful ways. Students are becoming partners in the assessment process, which promotes student  responsibility, self-advocacy, and  improved  emotional  and  social intelligence. It fosters the growth of the whole child. And as Matteo aptly demonstrated, it also extends to life and learning outside of the classroom.

Alison Campbell, a teacher at Wilclay Public School in the York Region District School Board, is a strong advocate of daily meaningful assessment. The approach she describes on the next two pages typifies the high-quality assessment that occurs in classrooms across our province. It is far more effective than the snapshot given by provincewide testing.