On-going Assessment to Determine Next Steps

 

Sometimes teachers can feel overwhelemed by the demands placed on them to collect, record and analyse assessment data. Teachers are expected to conduct assessment before, during and after teaching, and not only record but analyse what the data is showing to determine next steps and govern teachering.

 

I have always found collecting and analysing standardised test data, such as P.A.T and STAR test results a relatively staight forward, although time consuming, process due to marking keys and spreadsheets.

 

It is the on-going, less formal assessments conducted on a daily basis that I find far more challenging. I put this down to the fact that I have never sat down to take the time to set up a system that would allow me to collect this data in a simpe and effective manner.

 

Having more time on my hands lately to resolve these issues, I have now developed a system that is simple and only takes a few minutes to undertake each day.

 

Each day I see a number of groups for guided sessions (reading, writing and maths). During these sessions I pay close attention to student behaviours and responses to monitor their ability to pick up and apply the concept being taught. I also look at students follow-up tasks to see how they have performed on an indpendent level.

 

At the end of the day, I take a few minutes to make a brief note about what I have observed from the group seshions and subsequent independent follow-up, writing under the student's name. I keep my notes and planning for that week on the same page to easily allow me to see what they were learning. This only takes a few moments at the end of the session and enables me to keep track of where students are at. This allows me to see which students might require a quick follow-up conference or which students are in a poisition to advance to a new group.

 

When I plan my teaching for the following week I am quickly able to see whether I need to spend more time re-teaching a concept or if the students are read to move on. It is my belief that assessment, planning and teaching should always be linked and flow in a cyclical manner.