Sarah Hawley Philosophy of Assessment Assessment is the method that educators use to evaluate the skills, beliefs and understanding that a student has acquired from their learning. The purpose of assessment is to see whether what is being taught to students is appropriate or not appropriate. Effective assessment, going along with the purpose of assessment, is to see if the goals and objectives that are set at the beginning and end of both units and lessons were met and if the assessment method used is appropriate for the grade and age level of the students. Assessment relates to what we know about child development and developmentally appropriate practice by providing meaningful and appropriate ways to assess students. There are more ways to assess a child’s learning than just giving a standardized test. Assessment is effectively carried out through useful authentic assessments. These assessments provide a better insight into what and how the students have learned because they assess the student through engaging tasks that are more meaningful. Formal assessment includes tests, papers or a project such as a research project. Formal assessment gives a grade to a student. Informal assessments include portfolios, observations and rubrics to name a few and they do not give a grade to a student. Both are needed to help assess whether or not a student has acquired the knowledge and skills that were being taught to them. The kinds of tools that we use for assessment include formative, summative, criterion-based, norm-referenced, informal and formal assessment. We use these different kinds of tools because it allows us to look at multiple views of
how the student is assessed. As an example, if a student does not achieve well on a formal assessment, informal assessment can help to see if the student understands the knowledge and skills that they were being taught through methods such as observation notes and portfolio work.