Assessment Is A Dirty Word

Is assessment a dirty word or is all in the mind? Is the way we assess making teachers feel it is another task that can be marked off the tick list and pupils feeling they are not capable of achieving? Pollard & Tann warned that:

'Assessment can be enormously constructive in teaching and learning and also enormously destructive' (cited Smith 2003: P4)

This is due to how and why assessment is undertaken. True assessment should be looking at:

• To support learning;
• For review, transfer and certification;
• For informing school improvement and public accountability.

It appears that the last two have been given more weight to the detriment of the first due to the view of assessment being for accountability. Testing and record keeping has taken time away from quality interactions between teacher and pupil where:

'classroom assessment has become disconnected from learning.' (Smith 2003:P8)

Do I fall into the category of the above. I have to admit yes. ALl too often testing is at the end of the concept in ICT or a topic in Science and my assessment is purely looking to see who grasped it and who did not. What do I do next - go to the next stage. Now I do not do this all the time, for example, in Maths my assessments inform me whether we are ready for the next step, who needs additional support and who needs challenged more.

It appears that the final mark rather than the process is more important where there are cases of learning being matched to tests rather than encouraging thinking and developing understanding. This can have a detrimental effect to under achievers who constantly can not gain high results. This is greatly obvious in a class of a very capable children and a few underachievers. Some children will never achieve the same as their peers because the test does not meet their needs it meets the needs of the taught curriculum.

The other pit fall is that the whole process becomes a competition with peers rather than a personal improvement. In a school where achievement is classed as being the best then the competition to be best seeps into all areas of the curriculum where children are always comparing results with others rather than against their own.

To prevent this comparison with others, teachers should ensure that quality feedback is given about how the child can improve their work rather. (Black & William). B & W advocated that formative assessment is an answer to this problem where they found that the low-attainers benefited the most and the attainment spread reduced.

The pitfalls of assessment can result in a divided class where the underachievers never feel they can achieve resulting in demotivation.