Reflective Blog Post 4: Tests are the Only Objective Assessment On Student Learning (GCU TEC 538)

 Are Tests The Only Objective Assessments for Student Learning?

During this blog I will discuss whether test are the only objective assessment for student learning or if there are other resource that can aid in assessing student learning.

Tests

As educators we use tests to gage how well our students are learning and retaining what we are teaching them during class time. There are two types of test teachers use to assess student learning.  They are  Formative and Summative   assessments. Formative assessments help the teachers to see if a lesson is working or if the lesson needs to be  revised or edited.   It gives the teacher insight as to how well the information was received and learned.  Once the teacher has reviewed the formative assessments the teacher can reteach areas that the students have missed or have not gained sufficient understanding or mastery.  Summative assessment are given at the end of a unit or a lesson.  The summative assessments are assessing how each student did  on the whole unit or lesson.  This is final there is no revision, no reteaching and this is what could be called the only objective assessment on what the students have learned.  Such tests also include state standardized tests.  These tests gives the school, teachers, and students scores on how well the students have mastered each standard taught throughout the year. 

Watch this video of a fourth grader's opinion of Standardized testing. 

Alternative Options for Assessing Student Learning

Teachers use so much more than tests.  As an educator I look at the whole child.  I consider all of the class work, homework, projects, presentations, participation, and test to assess the learning of students.  As this fourth grade girl states so eloquently she is much more than a number on a bar graph.

 One of the many beauties of teaching is that I get to see growth in my student  from the beginning of the school year to the end.  Not all students are great test takers, nor do all students learn at the same rate.  Just using a test does not show all of the learning, skills, and information a student has acquired. To only consider the tests as the only objective assessment of learning short changes the students.  I am not alone in this belief.  A school district in Colorado has the same beliefs and has changed the way they assess student learning.  

Based on the information provided I encourage you to form your own opinion of the subject at hand.