SERVE’s Model for Classroom Assessment:
(2)Gathering Evidence in a Variety of Ways
The second component of the Classroom Assessment Cycle concerns gathering quality evidence from multiple sources to show what the students know and are able to do.
Teachers should gather evidence about student performance or progress toward established learning targets in a variety of ways. For example, state test results, individual reading conferences, written retell, and literature circle dialogues are all types of evidence that could be collected around the key reading targets of comprehension, oral fluency, skilled at strategies, higher order thinking applications, and motivation to read. Each of these sources measures the targets in different ways and therefore can help assemble a complete picture of and verify a student’s reading prowess. Using all of these methods can insure that decisions about student achievement are never made based upon the use of only one measurement. Victoria Bernhardt emphasizes the use of multiple measures.
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However, simply using multiple measures is not enough. The measures must be appropriate for the target. For example, to assess oral fluency in reading, a student must read aloud and older students may also be timed. Oral fluency cannot be assessed through the use of questions on a worksheet. Someone must hear the child read to verify the level of oral fluency demonstrated.
Multiple, high-quality, and appropriate assessment methods, therefore, give a more complete and accurate view of the achievement of each student and establish each student’s progress toward achieving stated targets. It may be helpful to think about assessment methods as falling into categories.
1. Paper and pencil tests or assignments
2. Oral questioning individually or in a group
3. Teacher observation
4. Student performances
5. Student products or projects
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“With student achievement, more than one method of assessment allows students to demonstrate their full range of abilities. Collecting data on multiple occasions allows students several opportunities to demonstrate their abilities. One measure, by itself, gives useful information. Comprehensive measures used together and over time provide much richer information” (Bernhardt, 1998). |
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