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

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT VS SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Formative assessments are in-process evaluations of student learning that are typically administered multiple times during a unit, course, or academic program. The general purpose of formative assessment is to give educators in-process feedback about what students are learning or not learning so that instructional approaches, teaching materials, and academic support can be modified accordingly. Formative assessments are usually not scored or graded, and they may take a variety of forms, from more formal quizzes and assignments to informal questioning techniques and in-class discussions with students.

Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning at the conclusion of a specific instructional period—typically at the end of a unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Summative assessments are typically scored and graded tests, assignments, or projects that are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn during the defined instructional period.

Formative assessments are commonly said to be for learning because educators use the results to modify and improve teaching techniques during an instructional period, while summative assessments are said to be of learning because they evaluate academic achievement at the conclusion of an instructional period. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.”




The Purpose of Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment and the Way it is Conducted

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

Formative Assessment is an assessment FOR learning. It occurs when teachers use inferences about student progress to inform their teaching.

However, Summative Assessment is an assessment OF learning. It occurs when teachers use evidence of student learning to make judgement on student's achievement against goals and standards.

In my opinion, formative assessment is the pipeline or can be say that is the stair for student to achieve summative assessment. 

More formative assessment done before real test, more well the student will be while facing the summative assessment.


The Suggestion and Ways to Improve Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment

Just as the picture above, enough of formative assessment, then the student just can achieve summative assessment. So, how to conduct a effective formative assessment, so that summative assessment can be too?

Based on the Tesol Connections, tips for Effective Formative assessment and Summative assessment:

Assessment literate teachers should:

• set a comprehensive assessment plan that includes both AfL (formative) and AoL (summative) to assess learning outcomes.
• select assessment tasks that serve the intended purpose: AfL (formative) or AoL (summative), or both, that are also appropriate for the learning outcomes. Assessment tasks or tools that can be used both formatively (AfL) and summatively (AoL), depending on the learning outcomes, are:
• performance tasks
• papers
• essays
• projects
• demonstrations
• oral reports and presentations
• quizzes
• tests
• homework
• reflection journals
• classroom participation  
• be careful about using some assessment tasks such as homework, reflection journals, and classroom participation as AoL (summative) because they may not be appropriate for the intended learning outcomes. For example, if the learning outcomes do not include developing students’ reflection skills or classroom participation, then these assessments are more appropriate as AfL (formative).
• use classroom instructional strategies such as observation of classroom activities, questioning strategies, conferences, classroom discussions, oral and written feedback, and peer and self assessment for AfL (formative). AfL should not be separated from teaching.
• be careful about using the same assessment tasks for both AfL (formative) and AoL (summative) purposes, particularly tests. Otherwise, teachers will restrict themselves to teaching to the test.

Conclusion

To conclude, understanding and appreciating the difference between formative assessment (assessment FOR learning) and summative assessment (assessment OF learning) does matter and constitutes one of the fundamental principles of the knowledge-base of any assessment literate teacher.

Other key assessment principles that teachers should master are quality assurance of classroom assessments ensuring that assessment results are valid, reliable, and fair as well as appropriately preparing students for and interpreting students’ results on standardized external assessments. All teachers should work on continuously developing their assessment literacy knowledge, skills, principles, and practices to help their students learn better and achieve more.




REFERENCES

Alber, R. (15 January, 2014). Why Formative Assessments Matter. Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/formative-assessments-importance-of-rebecca-alber

Dawe, T. (n.d.). What Is a Summative Assessment? Retrieved from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/info_8659314_summative-assessment.html

Matter?, F. v. (n.d.). Formative vs. Summative Assessment: Does It Matter? Retrieved from Tesol Connections: http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2012-09-01/3.html

Summative Assessment. (January, 2011). Retrieved from Best of Bilash: http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%20of%20bilash/summativeassess.html

PRE-ASSESSMENT

The Meaning of Assessment

Pre-assessment are administered before students begin a lesson, unit, course, or academic program. Students are not necessarily expected to know most, or even any, of the material evaluated by pre-assessments—they are generally used to,

(1) establish a baseline against which educators measure learning progress over the duration of a program, course, or instructional period.

(2) To determine general academic readiness for a course, program, grade level, or new academic program that student may be transferring into.

Pre-assessment provides a way for teachers to gather key information about what students know and are able to do prior to instruction, as well as what student interests and learning styles are. 

Pre-assessments can be paper and pencil tasks or performance-based. 

They provide evidence to help teachers effectively match instruction with the needs of students. This includes decisions about content, pacing, materials, grouping, and specific learning activities. 

Examples for Pre-assessment :

1. End-of-chapter/unit test
2. Sequential Roundtable Alphabet (Buehl, D. 2001, p. 33)
3. Know-Want-Learn Chart (KWL)
4. Performance task such as solving math problems
5. Yes/No cards (Gregory & Chapman, 2002, p. 41) 
6. Anticipation Guide
7. Mind Map 
8. Five-Hardest Most Difficult First (Winebrenner, 2001, pp. 35-39) 

The Purpose of the Pre-Assessment and the Way it is Conducted

Pre-assessment plays a critical role in your ability to differentiate instruction. You administer pre-assessments before you being the instruction in a curricular unit in order to gain an understanding of what your students know, understand, and are able to do.

• Differentiate Instruction 
• Guide whole-group instruction 
• Plan learning activities that address varying levels of readiness 
• Determine which students have/have not achieved mastery of specific objectives 
• Identify problems that might cause students difficulty with mastery of an objective 
• Form flexible groups 
• Determine master level of individuals or small groups.

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

      Pre-assessment is a small test to test student what they has learnt after the class. In my opinion, pre-assessment is a very good test for student, due to by it the teacher can know how works the lesson after the class. 

     For one type of the pre-assessment like mind-map. It is a way to let the student to remember and to more easy to remember what they has learnt after the class. This is due to the fact, mind map is very simple, clearly and concise for student to study or refer back what they had learnt.

     Besides that, instructional decisions are based on evidence. Student are challenged at an appropriate level based on prior knowledge and skills. As a result, students are more likely to demonstrate continuous progress and growth. 

      Lat but not least, by using pre-assessment, student can engaged more by using their interests, learning styles and prior experience.

   
    The Suggestion and Ways to Improve Pre-Assessment
    

     In my opinion, the ways I think can properly run smooth pre-assessment among the students is by making the pre-assessment be more fun, creativity, and relaxed. This is the way that student won't feel any pressure and very excited to involve themselves to take participant nicely in the assessment activity. 

    For an example, pre-assessment can go through by gaming. Children love game all the time, so most of the student will integrate well in the activity. By this way, not only the children can learn and more remember what they had learnt (recall the memories). For the teacher too, teacher can easily to evaluate the student and also determine how much effectiveness is the lesson.

   

THE HIGH-STAKES ASSESSMENT

The Meaning of High-Stake Assessment 

High-stakes assessments are typically standardized tests used for the purposes of accountability—i.e., any attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers.  

In general, “high stakes” means that important decisions about students, teachers, schools, or districts are based on the scores students achieve on a high-stakes test, and either punishments (sanctions, penalties, reduced funding, negative publicity, not being promoted to the next grade, not being allowed to graduate) or accolades (awards, public celebration, positive publicity, bonuses, grade promotion, diplomas) result from those scores.

When tests and teaching are both matched to the set standards, students perform well on the test.

There are different types of tests that students typically take in a school year. One test the teacher creates and bases it on the information that has been provided in the classroom within a particular span of time. It provides information to the teacher, the parent and the student describing how much of a grasp the student has on the material.

Another test is a standardized test. Typically students take this test once each year to gauge their understanding and abilities in math, reading and writing. This provides the state and each school district a broader view of where students are in these subjects.

The Purpose of the High-Stake Assessment and The Way it is Conducted

High-stakes tests come in many forms and may be used for a wide variety of purposes, the following provide a brief overview of a few representative applications of high-stakes testing:

Students: Test results may be used to determine whether students advance to the next grade level or whether they receive a diploma. For example, a growing number of states require students to pass a reading test to advance from third grade to fourth grade, while others require students to pass a test to graduate from high school.

Educators: Test results may be used in the job-performance evaluations of teachers or to determine professional compensation. For example, in recent years more school reformers, elected officials, and policy makers have been calling for teacher pay (including bonuses), as well as hiring, firing, and tenure decisions, to be partly based on student test scores. 

Schools: Tests results may be used to trigger penalties for schools, including negative public ratings, the replacement of staff members, or even closure. For example, some federal and state policies require that test results be used to impose a variety of consequences, such as firing or transferring some or all of a school’s administrators and faculty, or forcing a school to pay for additional services and transportation costs for students. In addition, standardized-test scores are also increasingly being used, along with other measures, in various state and independent efforts to assign A–F letter grades to schools.

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

Supporters of this style of testing claim that it is the best way to track nationwide student progress and keep the same educational standards across the country. 

However, one of the criticisms of current standardized testing is that because they are high-stakes, they create a lot of stress for the students taking them. This may create invalid results if the student performs worse on the test under stress.

While the debate around high-stakes standardized testing heats up, their effects are being felt by students and teachers as well as their schools and communities across the nation.

The Suggestion and Ways to Improve High-Stake Assessment

The ways to improve high-stake assessment are :

First, we must know that every pupil have their own different intelligence, standardized-test is not fair to every student. 

Assessment for the student not support to be standardize, but should be diversify. 

Thus, every capacity of the student will be developed well.

Second, the focus zone of the parents, teachers, school or the government should be more on the growth of the student, but not on the test.  

What we always get wrong were,

" How many marks did you get for the exam?"

" What grade are you?"

" Are you in the Dean's list?"

But, we never ask,

" Did you satisfied with you own result?"

" What will you do next?"

A very famous Chinese's proverb said that,

One may distinguish himself in any trade.

 Every trade has its master.

 In any profession there is some one who excels all the rest.

Every profession produces its own leading authority. 

Therefore, a good result not means that the personality of the student is good; A bad results not means that the personality of the student is bad. Result doesn't means anythings.

The growth of the student is most important than the result, so, try to encourage the student more, while the student feel value. The student's physical and mental will be more robust.

Bibliography

Taylor, D. (1 February, 2014). Part 2: High-Stakes Testing Opting Out : The Type of Tests . Retrieved from Parents Across America: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/part-2-high-stakes-testing-opting-out-types-tests/

Vanderbilt University. (2015). Why do you think Ms. Flores describes the testing as “high stakes?”. Retrieved from The Iris Center: http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/hst/cresource/q1/hst_04/#content

YANOS, T. F. (24 May, 2013). The Rise of High-Stakes Standardized Testing. Retrieved from IndyKids: http://indykids.org/main/2013/05/the-rise-of-high-stakes-standardized-testing/

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment are used for a wide variety of purposes in school and education systems.

Assessment has been separated in three types, which as the table shows below,

In the following six weeks, we will discuss different type of assessment in education, which are listed here:

 

1. High-stakes assessment
2. Pre-assessments
3. Formative assessments
4. Summative assessment
5. Interim assessment
6. Placement assessment
7. Screening assessment.

Every week the discussion of the assessment will including:

The definition of the type of assessment

The purposes of the assessment and how it is conducted

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

The suggestion and ways to improve the assessment

STAGES OF ASSESSMENT PROCESS

The meaning of assessment is the gathering of information to make critical decisions about a child. There is a variety of ways are used to collect assessment information, including observation of the child, visiting with the family, checklist and rating scales, informal test, standardized and formal tests.

Assessment information is very effective for identifying the child as qualified for special services, planning instruction, and measuring progress.

Early intervention take a very important role. At the young age of a children, there are necessity with special service. (Janet W. Lerner ,2015)

From child-find to program evaluation, there are six stages in the assessment process.

Source: J. Lerner, B. Lowenthal, R. Egan (1998). Preschool Children with Special Needs: Children At-Risk and Children with Disabilities. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, p. 67

Stage 1: Child-Find/ Case-Finding

Preliminary stage, called “Child-Find”, refers to procedures composed to locate those young children who might require early intervention services and programs. This stage is compulsory because many parents still don’t understand that service are available for young children, some parents may not realize that their child has a developmental problem. Sometimes, family may disavow that a problem exists because of strong cultural beliefs and traditions.   

Among the strategies that are used for locating young children in the community who may need special services are:

         

•  Building community awareness through public agencies and organization

•      Setting up a system for referrals

•    Canvassing the community for     young children who need screening.

•   Maintaining local publicity and   contacts with sources of referral

Stage 2: Developmental Screening

Developmental screening is a rough method for obtaining general information about a child's development and detecting any potential problems.

The screening is not intended to be a comprehensive diagnosis, but rather provides a first quick look at a child.

Screening procedures are typically used with large groups of children.

Screening tests should be brief, inexpensive, have objective scoring systems that are valid and reliable.

It is important that families understand the purpose of screening procedures and be informed about the results. When the screening indicates that a young child has potential problems, it is critical that the child receives a more comprehensive diagnosis.

Stage 3: Diagnosis 

Diagnosis is a more intensive evaluation than screening. Information is obtained through observation, interviews, case history, and informal and standardized tests. The examiners strive to determine the nature of the child's difficulties, the severity of the problem, and the child's strengths and weaknesses. This information becomes the basis for determining eligibility for special education services.

The diagnosis is conducted by members of a multidisciplinary team. For example, if the screening indicates that the child has language difficulties, members of the multidisciplinary team could include a speech/language pathologist; a specialist in hearing, such as an audiologist or otologist, to evaluate hearing loss; and a psychologist to determine how the child's development related to language acquisition. A family interview would provide additional information about the case history, language performance at home, and the primary language of the family. Information collected through the diagnosis leads to decisions about the nature and severity of the problem and assists in planning intervention.

Stage 4: Individual Planning of Program and Intervention

If the diagnosis indicates there is a need for early intervention, the next stages involves assessment for the planning of programs and interventions. To closely link this stage of the assessment to the actual curricula of the child's early intervention program, curriculum-based or criterion-referenced instruments and procedures are used. The areas considered in the planning process for preschool children include:

• Sensory/physical development

• Language and communication         abilities

• Fine and gross motor development

• Cognitive abilities

• Adaptive or self-help skills

• Social-emotional development

Stage 5: Program Monitoring

After the child is placed in an intervention program, it is important that the child's progress in monitored frequently. Multiple checks include observations, developmental checklists, and rating scales.Collect data on a regular basis and analyze to determine mastery of targeted skills.

Note progress in meeting goals and objects on the child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).

Determine the effectiveness of the invention and changes that are needed in the intervention plan.

Stage 6: Program Evaluation

It is also important to evaluate the intervention program itself. Program evaluation is objective, systematic procedure for determining progress of children and the effectiveness of the total intervention program. It may be necessary to make needed changes and modifications in the intervention program.

Bibliography

Lerner, J. W. (2015). Stages of the Assessment Process. Retrieved from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/stages-assessment-process