Title: How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning - Educational Leadership
Headings: How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning
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How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning
Make Assessments Useful
For Students
For Teachers
Follow Assessments with Corrective Instruction
Give Second Chances to Demonstrate Success
Similar Situations
The Benefits of Assessment
References
KEYWORDS
Requesting Permission

Content: Occasionally, teachers respond, “Don't students have responsibilities in this process? Shouldn't students display initiative and personal accountability?” Indeed, teachers and students share responsibility for learning. Even with valiant teaching efforts, we cannot guarantee that all students will learn everything excellently. Only rarely do teachers find items or assessment criteria that every student answers correctly. A few students are never willing to put forth the necessary effort, but these students tend to be the exception, not the rule. If a teacher is reaching fewer than half of the students in the class, the teacher's method of instruction needs to improve. And teachers need this kind of evidence to help target their instructional improvement efforts. Follow Assessments with Corrective Instruction
If assessments provide information for both students and teachers, then they cannot mark the end of learning. Instead, assessments must be followed by high-quality, corrective instruction designed to remedy whatever learning errors the assessment identified (see Guskey, 1997).