Rethinking Assessment Practices

A defining moment in my development as an educator was when I attended a Stiggins workshop entitled "Asssessment FOR Learning." This notion of assessment FOR learning instead of assessment OF learning was the beginnning of a paragigm shift for me. Through my conversations with other edcuators and my research related to this topic, I began to realize that we (educators) typically assess the same way that we were assessed as students and we rarely stop to think about why we do what we do, or whether it is the most meaningful way to determine if our students are truly learning. As an instructional leader, I now realize that I have a responsibility to help my teachers stay focused on the ultimate goal- STUDENT LEARNING. As such, I think that one of the best ways to do this is to make the emphasize be on learning- not grading. I think it's also important to constantly build students' confidence and give them multiple opportunities and avenues for illustrating what they have learned.