Thoughts on Assessment-How, Why, When,...

No, these are not new thoughts. What I write in the following lines has been said before. I guess what I can add to this topic is a willingness to explore and discover.

I believe that as education becomes more individualized and differentiation becomes a mainstay in classrooms. It is important that we assess student ability in effective and efficient ways. The implications of our culture of data can overwhelm and dishearten teachers, as well as discourage and disenfranchise students.

We cannot ask our students to be accountable for what they have not been taught. Nor can we expect our students to use skills, strategies, or reasoning which they have not been provided opportunity to apply in practice. Assessment needs to be an opportunity for the learner to "show off" what they've learned.

It doesn't really matter what type of assessment (ongoing, progress monitoring, formative, summative, or other), if we don't completely understand the how, why or what, then we have potential systemic issues.
So, I guess this is where I shall continue my personal exploration:
If the goal is to activate and empower the learning process, how does effective assessment fit into this perspective?

This is where we MUST begin...

I was privileged to be witness to a great quote from a pre-service teacher (pursuing their degree in elementary education at the University of Northern Colorado) and interviewee for a prospective Learning Center Aide today re: students & their individual talents. "I heard from teachers how difficult this one student was. But what I came to find out was that he was really a great kid & that some of his distractions were actually his talents."

This is the mindstate of possibility. It comes from a person first perspective, it values difference & diversity, it shows care and concern, it models empathy & frames the foundation for resiliency.

This is what ed reform needs to be. Where it needs to begin.