Different types of assessment

The other day in class we were working on different types of evaluation. In this post, first of all, I will explain some of them and then, I will give my opinion about which I believe are the best when we assess children. Are you ready?

To begin with, one of them is the ongoing assessment which refers to the fact that we need to take into account the learning process of students and provide them with continuous feedback. One very similar to this method could be the formative assessment, since it also takes into account the process. Another way of estimating children’s learning  is the  backwards assessment which consists on teachers, at the beginning of each class, ask children what they have learned in the previous lessons and notes what they remember.However, there is another way to appraise, opposite to those we have seen before, which is the summative assessment as the objective of it is to evaluate students’ learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing the results against some standard requirements. In this case, teachers usually have rubrics, which are grids with some items to take into account, although these can be applied in other types of assessment.

Finally, it is also important mention that educators can let children do the evaluation of themselves in some activities (self-assessment) or in pairs (peer-assessment). Speaking for myself, the ones I would like to use in class as a teacher in the future would be the ongoing assessment or formative assessment, due to the fact that I believe that through this model, we can be aware of the progress our students are doing and the process being followed. We can also be conscious of the difficulties they need to overcome and see all the efforts they are making. To my mind, I don’t agree with the model that just focus on the last results because if we only take into account the final marks it might not be fair for these students who always make an effort but the day of the final test they do an insufficient exam.

In addition, I am also very keen on diagnostic assessment which is the one where teachers ask students what they already know (previous knowledge) of a specific subject, so they can organize lessons competently. Finally, I appreciate the peer-assessment because through this way I am convinced that peers can help one another and as they are at the same level they can understand each other better. However, I contemplate that for a useful and meaningful assessment, we need a key element and this is called FEEDBACK. Thanks to it, we can get students to know  what they have done well and which aspects they can improve, and we can also motivate them to get it, promoting its strengths. For me there is a clear difference which is that, on the one hand, the purpose of assessment with feedback is to increase quality. However, on the other hand, the objective of summative assessment is to judge quality, so as a teacher definitely I prefer the first option. 

At the final point, before finishing, I would like to mention a video related to what I said above the assessment between partners. This video, titled Austin’s Butterfly, clearly shows that children can appraise themselves or in peers, even if they are in first or second grade, in primary school, because they can analyze the results. Of course, teachers previously have to guide pupils and give guidelines about how to do it meaningfully and  always with respect. I encourage you to watch the video because it is so worth!

Greetings and see you in the next post of tips for future English teachers!