Thoughts on Assessments

Understanding that there are two main types of assessments: formal and informal, I understand that there are different variations and degrees to which these can be considered. When thinking of informal assessments the first thing that comes to my mind is a portfolio type of assessment. When thinking of formal testing, I make correlations to state assessments, but these are not the only forms there are. A formal assessment can be from a spelling test all the way to a high stakes test assessment.
As an educator, I constantly find myself assessing student learning, both formally and informally. I do this mostly to see who has mastered the taught skill and what we need to work on next. Assessments can be a waste of time if nothing is done with the results. For example, if I give a test, grade and just write the grade down in my book, that assessment was worthless. There was not any feedback given to the student and the students does not even know what skills/objectives were mastered and which ones they need to work on. What I usually do after giving a test is an item analysis. This is when I list every question and list the students that had it correct or incorrect. With this information I am able to see where we are as a class and if there are specific skills that the students had difficulty with or easily mastered. I then use this to drive my instruction in whatever area I am focused on.
When reading the Routman text I agreed with there not being any single test to measure what a child knows. Just as children learn through different modalities, they also express their knowledge and comprehension through different ways. Allowing students to evaluate themselves and each other is a great tool. Often times students are harder and more obvious with the specifics they are looking at. Allowing them to evaluate themselves gives them the opportunity to know what they need to focus on and what they clearly understand.
We have to continuously assess our students through different modalities in order to drive our instruction. This will give us the opportunity to assess the child as a whole rather than use one assessment to judge the child. The hardest part of assessment is using the information from the assessment to drive the instruction. Although this is the most difficult part, it is the most beneficial. If we know exactly where a child is when we assess them, we can use that information to help them move to where they need to be. Assessments should be done on a daily basis, both formally and informally. This is because students move at different rates and we need to be aware of all the changes so we can better assist them.