The Overarching Purpose of Assessment

The overarching purpose of assessment is to support student’s learning. As part of assessment for learning, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback and coaching for improvement. Teachers engage in assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be independent, autonomous learners who are able to set individual goals, monitor their own progress, determine next steps, and reflect on their thinking and learning. 

Teachers will obtain assessment information through a variety of means, which may include formal and informal observations, discussions, learning conversations, questioning, conferences, homework, tasks done in groups, demonstrations, projects, portfolios, performances, peer and self-assessments, self-reflections, essays, and tests.

As essential steps in assessment for learning and as learning, as a teacher candidate, I have to remember that teachers need to: 

• plan assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction; 

• Share learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of learning to ensure that students and teachers have a common and shared understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses;

• gather information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end of a period of instruction, using a variety of assessment strategies and tools;

• use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress toward achieving their learning goals;

• analyze and interpret evidence of learning;

• give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning;

• help students develop peer and self-assessment skills.