Teacher Interview Question: How can Assessment Improve Student Learning?

When the cook tastes the soup, that's formative; when the guests taste the soup, that's summative.

Stake, R. cited in Earl, L. 2004. Assessment As Learning: Using classroom achievement to Maximize Student Learning. Experts in Assessment. Corwin Press Inc. Thousand Oaks, California.

Assessment is a powerful tool to improve student achievement.  Rather than treat assessment as an end result, teachers should incorporate assessments as part of the learning process, allowing both teacher and student to monitor progress and evaluate news ways to improve.   A teacher can accomplish by

1.       Clearly defining the learning target/objective

2.       Showing student work

3.       Delivering pre-assessments to understand students' prior knowledge and to create a baseline

4.       Continually assessing students' progress and providing effective feedback on how to improve.

5.       Teaching students to self-assess and reflect on their quality of work and achievement of targeted objective.

If time permits, provide an example of how you have used assessment as part of the learning process.  Specifically, you may be asked to give descriptions of formative and summative assessments you would use in a unit of study.  Undertand these terms! Click here for a breakdown.

Best of luck in your interview!

-Road to Teaching