Philosophy on Assessment

Assessment is crucial to physical education because it enhances student learning,

provides parents a measurement of how well their child is progressing in class, and self-evaluates
objectives for students; in other words, assessment is not only beneficial to a child and their
parents, but it is also a great way for teachers to self-evaluate their own teaching. Assessments
should always be modified to a specific purpose and should be reliable, valid, and fair. Recently,
teachers have been teaching to the test instead of using a tests to gage student learning and
theyre own teaching. This is a trend that must stop because ultimately, school is becoming an
assembly line in which teachers are trying to produce the same type of student; in this model,
children often fall under the category of smart or not smart when in fact each and every one
of us has unique traits that should be utilized. Ultimately, assessments can be tailored to show the
strengths and gains student make throughout a given school year and this should be a goal of
assessment.
At this point, understanding why we assess is much more than just for accreditation.
Faculties who are successful in their teaching continually strive to become more reflective in
their practice to improve. Good teaching requires more than simple transmissions of information,
but instead requires conscious self-reflection. In addition to this, faculties must set goals, monitor
progress, and make adjustments in their program to improve student learning. Ultimately,
assessment provides feedback and therefore allows for enhancement of student learning in any
educational setting. After understanding why a physical education department would assess, it is
important to understand when assessment should take place. While some may think assessment
should take at the beginning, end, or a combination of the two, assessment should occur
continuously throughout a unit and the school year. For example, assessments in the middle of a
unit can not only track student progress, but it can also give a great idea of how well someones

child is progressing throughout the unit. Ultimately, assessing throughout a unit can provide
valuable feedback for students, parents, and faculty.
After understanding the basis for assessment in physical education, it is important to
understand what types of assessment should be presented in the physical education setting.
Although traditional assessments are extremely beneficial when assessing the cognitive domain,
students can greatly benefit from alternative and authentic assessment in the physical education
setting. Although alternative assessment can also assess the cognitive domain, they are very
useful in testing the affective domain as students can work with peers to achieve a common goal.
In addition to this, authentic assessments are extremely useful when testing the psychomotor
domain and rubrics can be used to help teachers keep track of student progress throughout these
types of assessments. Although paper-pencil assessments can be very effective, technology is
extremely useful, especially at the middle school level. For instance, I have used my iPad
throughout the teaching modules for visuals and this has proven to be extremely beneficial to
student learning as students study images much longer and take in the details. In reference to
assessing, video projects, power points, and other forms of technology are great ways for students
to become more involved with unit-material and provide a great alternative assessment that they
enjoy. All-in-all, many types of assessment can prove to be effective in physical education and
should be used!
With all of this being said, it is extremely important to remember that assessments should
be aligned with objectives, which in-turn should be aligned and work-towards achieving national
and state standards. In conclusions, the importance of assessment in physical education is not
just for accreditation purposes. Assessment provides students and parents a clear explanation of
student progress when aligned properly with learning objectives, in addition to providing self-

evaluations for teachers which reassure that the material being taught is developmentally
appropriate.
Reference:
Stanford University. "Assessment: FAQ." Www.stanford.edu. Stanford University, n.d. Web.
<http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/irds/assessment/faq.html>.