Assessment+and+Evaluation

Assessments that explore student creativity and personal preferences may take some time to develop and the creation of a suitable rubric can be challenging, but when used appropriately gives students a sense of ownership and ultimately enhances student learning and raises the quality of the product. An example of such an assessment may be a research project, where the final communication of the research is in a format of the student's choosing. Submissions could include essays, posters, videos, powerpoints, presentations, skits, etc. The desired inquiry skills are still developed during the research phase, but students will become more involved as they look forward to making a video, performing a song, or creating an artwork. > //Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources (including assignments, day-to-day observations, conversations or conferences, demonstrations, projects, performances, and tests) that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving// //the curriculum expectations in a course. As part of assessment, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement. Evaluation refers to the process of judging the quality of student work on the basis of established criteria, and assigning a value to represent that quality.// (page 23) Please read chapter 5 in //Growing Success 2010// for the current policy on evaluation.

When designing assessments, it is important to incorporate all of the achievement chart categories. At the beginning of the year, the course outline that is handed to the students will detail the individual weighting of each category. This may differ for each course, or may be something predetermined by a department or school. It may differ significantly between different grade levels and can vary between the different streams. Whatever the division is, students should be evaluated in each category on a regular basis, both formatively as well as summatively. Infrequent assessment in a particular category can result in a very skewed weighting of specific questions or assignments. This does not mean that each evaluation or assessment necessarily addresses each achievement chart category. On quizzes early in the unit, many questions will likely be in the **Knowledge and Understanding** category. Labs and research projects easily incorporate **Thinking and Investigating** skills, and also allow student the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to **Communicate** their comprehension. Frequently, lab questions will also ask the student to **Apply** the information to new areas. Especially in the intermediate grade, and likely at the beginning of a course, students find **applying** concepts quite difficult. It is important to allow students to develop this skill in a formative setting before they encounter it on a summative evaluation. Please read through the following articles below. Choose one article, write a brief summary and then reflect on how you can use this in your science classroom. Some things you may wish to consider in your reflections:
 * Have you used this type of assessment before? How and where?
 * What were the benefits?
 * How do you foresee using this type of assessment in a science course?
 * What do you hope to accomplish with this assessment?
 * How frequently will you use formative and summative assessments