Running head: ASSESSMENT CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Assessment Critical Analysis

Emily Veeser

University of La Verne
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Abstract

Formal assessments are used widely in classrooms and are an effective way to gather information

about students academic progress. However, assessments do not need to always be formal tests.

Often times teachers can incorporate informal assessments into the classroom. Informal

assessments should be used in combination with formal assessments to see students skills.

Informal assessments allow students to express themselves without the stress and anxiety that

can come with formal tests. Valerie Hernholm uses many formal assessments which are

beneficial but there are many benefits of including more informal assessments.
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Assessment Critical Analysis: Informal Assessments

In education, English language arts is a highly regarded subject beginning in kindergarten

all the way up to college. Many schools consider English to be the most important subject for

students to learn. Students need to learn how to spell, write, read and converse using appropriate

English. It is no surprise that English instruction starts immediately in kindergarten and students

are learning more English skills each year they are in school. In Valerie Hernholms second

grade class, they focus on reading comprehension, vocabulary development, spelling instruction

and other language arts concepts. These students are formally tested weekly each Friday. By

having weekly tests, teachers are able to understand how students are progressing. However,

administering these exams weekly can be time consuming and overwhelming at times for

students. A beneficial alternative is to incorporate informal assessments that still require the

student to show their skills, but lowers their affective filter and allows creative expression.

To begin with, spelling tests are used weekly to assess students ability to spell and sound

out words effectively. These spelling tests are formal assessments that occur each week on

Friday. Throughout the week, students practice their spelling words at home and in school.

Hernholm also uses their practice throughout the week as an informal assessment. While these

tests are beneficial, it can also vary on the class. Hernholm has several weekly tests on Friday

which can be overwhelming for a student. However, spelling tests are important for

understanding how a student is progressing. While formal spelling tests are beneficial, there are

other ways to assess students spelling skills. A modification a teacher can make is incorporating

ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge informally. These informal assessments can

lower a student's affective filter and will allow the student to show their knowledge in a less
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formal way. It is important to have a combination of both informal and formal tests. The formal

tests provide physical evidence of students ability, while informal assessments allow students to

provide a rationale.

An informal way of assessing students spelling skills is hosting a weekly spelling

meeting. In an article written by Wright (2000), she suggests using weekly spelling meetings as

a new way of teaching spelling and assessing students spelling. The meetings involved finding

different words and strategies for spelling words. The weekly spelling meeting made the content

relevant and was a new approach to traditional spelling tests. This inquiry based approach aided

students understanding of the sounds of words, spelling strategies, collaboration, and so on,

allowing students to take risks with their spelling because the expectation was not to perform

100% on spelling tests (Wright, 2000, p. 223). Inquiry based learning leads to problem solving

and higher level thinking skills. In order to modify traditional spelling tests to inquiry based

tests, a teacher could incorporate spelling meetings every other week to provide an additional

way of assessing students. These weekly spelling meetings will help students gain a deeper

understanding of spelling and different strategies.

The other weekly assessment used in Hernholms class is a reading comprehension

assessment. For those reading comprehension tests, Hernholm either reads a book of her choice

or chooses worksheets from the internet. Typically, she finds handouts online that have a reading

selection and test questions. She gives students the reading material and the reading

comprehension questions. Students have about 30 minutes to read the material and answer the

questions. If they finish early, they read a book at their desk quietly. The reading comprehension

questions are scored and provide Hernholm an understanding of how well students are reading
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and comprehending the information. While these reading comprehension tests are valid, they are

exceedingly repetitive and limiting. Its crucial to incorporate different strategies to teach and

assess comprehension. In order to modify these reading comprehension tests, teachers can

incorporate class discussions about text. By having these discussions, it requires higher level

thinking skills and social skills. By having students discuss as a class and in small groups, they

will share their ideas, gain new perspective and deepen their understanding of the text.

Teachers will see the many benefits of incorporating more literature discussions. By

having whole class discussions, then small group discussions, students understanding will be

richer and the teacher can informally assess students by walking around and listening. According

to an article written by Dougherty (2016), research evidence indicates that providing a

small-group interactive read-aloud intervention will increase performance in comprehension,

general language abilities, vocabulary, and phonological awareness for children with literacy

difficulties (p. 629). By engaging students in discussion with their peers, their understanding

will be deeper and their comprehension skills will increase. A combination of both formal and

informal reading comprehension tests and discussions is ideal. These two tests can be used to

gauge students ability to read and comprehend the information. According to an article written

by Hall (2012), as students read texts and have the opportunity to apply comprehension

strategies, they can further develop their content knowledge and strengthen their reading abilities

by participating in discussions (p.311).

In conclusion, assessments are essential to understanding how a student is progressing so

the teacher can plan effective instruction. In Hernholms class she uses weekly assessments to

see how well her students are grasping information. While these tests are effective, for some
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students it can be overwhelming. In order to make modifications to these assessments, teachers

can incorporate more informal assessments. There are many informal assessments that can be

used in combination with formal assessments. Often times, informal assessments can be just as

effective as formal ones. For example, inquiry based learning involves discussions, verbal

answers, and observations which can be used to assess what a student is comprehending. While

Hernholm has an effective way of assessing her students in English language arts, if she

incorporated more informal assessments it would lower students affective filter. By limiting the

amount of formal assessments, students would feel less pressure and would have more

opportunities for discussions which can lead to a deeper understanding of the subject.
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References

Dougherty Stahl, K. A. (2016). A New Priority: Comprehension Intervention in the Primary

Grades. The Reading Teacher, 69(6), 627631. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1454

Hall, L. A. (2012). Moving out of silence: Helping struggling readers find their voices in

text-based discussions. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties,

28(4), 307-332. doi:10.1080/10573569.2012.702037

Wright, K. A. (2000). Weekly spelling meetings: Improving spelling instruction through

classroom-based inquiry. Language Arts, 77(3), 218-223. Retrieved from

http://0-search.proquest.com.leopac.ulv.edu/docview/196854171?accountid=25355