INTERIM ASSESSMENT

Based on the Glossary of educational reform, the meaning of interim assessment is defined as,

An interim assessment is a form of assessment that educators use to 

(1) evaluate where students are in their learning progress 

(2) determine whether they are on track to performing well on future assessments, such as standardized tests or end-of-course exams.

Generally speaking, Interim assessments fall between formative assessment and summative assessment, and understanding their intended purpose requires and understanding of the basic distinctions between theses two assessment strategies.

The Purpose of the Interim Assessment and the Way it is Conducted

An interim assessment is administered at different intervals (hence the name) between instruction. The data from interim assessments can be used for several purposes – all of them intended to deliver instructional useful information to teachers, students, principals, district administrators and parents. 

•  to provide educators insight into growth patterns in student learning.
  

•  to help teachers make decisions around differentiating instruction.
  
•   predictive and evaluative.

• 
   

Interim assessment allows educators to do something immensely important:

compare data across groups and track trends in learning over time. The ability to compare the performance of students to that of other students gives educators an important data

point.  Additionally, it can help with setting reasonable growth targets.

My personal's view/ reflection/ opinion about the issues raised by the assessment

Assessment data can be a powerful tool in the hands of an educator—if it is used properly and understood thoroughly. 

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of measuring growth. Whether a student performs at, above, or below grade level, he or she can still show learning growth—and it’s the explicit responsibility of teachers to nurture every student’s growth potential.

References

|, M. H. (15 November, 2013). Interim Assessments – What they are and how to use them to benefit student learning . Retrieved from Teach. Learn. Grow. the Educational Blog: https://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/interim-assessments-use-benefit-student-learning/

INTERIM ASSESSMENT. (30 October, 2013). Retrieved from The glossary of education reform: http://edglossary.org/interim-assessment/

Why Interim Assessment Matter? (2014). Retrieved from Northwest Evaluation Association: http://ostrc.org/doclibrary/documents/WhyInterimAssessmentMatters.pdf