Assessment is a process of gathering information that reflects how well a student, classroom,

school, or school system is doing against a set of purposes, learning criteria, or curricula
(Ontario, 2010)
Assessment is valuable and often challenging, it is the key to unlocking what has been
learned. According to me assessment is an ongoing process whose goal is understanding and
improving student learning. The more we know about students and their experiences during
the learning process, the better we can meet learning needs and establish a positive learning
environment. Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what
they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities but values,
attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the
classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of
methods. It should aim for a more complete and accurate picture of learning and therefore
firmer bases for improving our students' educational experience.
My thoughts about assessments resonate with Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010 “Assessment is
an integral part of the teaching-learning cycle that can provide authenticity, motivation and
feedback to the learner” and Gagnon, 2010 says “The high-quality assessment process can
provide tremendous opportunities for students to discover their learning styles, learn how to
learn, develop skills, dispositions, academic content knowledge and build twenty-first-
century skills and enrich their overall educational experience” (Professional Development
Resource. (n.d.))
The effective approaches to assessment that we are using in our milieu are:
 assessment for learning
 assessment as learning
 assessment of learning.
These phrases are used instead of the older terms: diagnostic, formative and summative.
 Assessment for learning
Assessment for learning involves teachers using evidence about students' knowledge,
understanding and skills to inform their teaching. Assessment for learning determines
what students already know and what they need to learn. This is also referred to as
‘diagnostic assessment’.
It is also an ongoing assessment also referred to as ‘formative assessment', it usually
occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify student learning and
understanding. It assesses a student’s comprehension and understanding of a skill or
lesson during the learning and teaching process. The goal is to monitor student
learning to provide timely, descriptive and constructive feedback. This feedback helps
me as a teacher to determine what students know and can do, where students need to
go next and how best to get them there.

 Assessment as learning
Assessment as learning occurs when students are their assessors. Students monitor
their learning, ask questions and use a range of strategies to decide what they know
and can do, and how to use assessment for new learning. Students reflect on their
learning and set goals for themselves. It also involves self and peer assessment.
 Students assess their work, and the work of their peers has many benefits. It promotes
student understanding of their learning and provides opportunities for critical analysis
of their efforts encouraging them to become more autonomous learners.

 Assessment of learning
Assessment of learning assists teachers in using evidence of student learning to assess
achievement against outcomes and standards. Sometimes referred to as ‘summative
assessment', it usually occurs at defined key points during a unit of work or the end of
a unit, term or semester, and may be used to rank or grade students. Assessment of
learning determines the accumulation of knowledge/ skills that students have gained
from their learning.
Other effective approaches to assessment:
For me, the approach of assessment is about meaningful learning and not just achievement.
The approach of assessment should be towards the growth of the learner. As teachers, we
should think about the conditions for learning that we are responsible for creating. Designing
meaningful assessments, flexible and adaptable assessments, just like a “one size fits all”
approach does not work with instruction, the same is true for student assessments. Our
evaluation and feedback should reflect student ability and potential.
Well said by Lockwood and McLean “If the assessment is to be a positive force in education,
it must be implemented properly. It cannot be used to merely sort students or to criticize
education. Its goals must be to improve education. Rather than 'teach to the test,' we must 'test
what we teach.'” [ CITATION Jam96 \l 1033 ]
1. Criteria based approach to assessment:
I teach MYP Design in IB. MYP assessment requires teachers to assess the prescribed
subject-group objectives using the assessment criteria for each subject group. To
provide students with opportunities to achieve at the highest level, we develop
rigorous tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies. MYP assessment uses a
“best-fit” approach in which teachers work together to establish common standards
against which they evaluate each student’s achievement holistically. The criteria-
based approach of assessment is very effective as it promotes a deep understanding of
subject content, promote the development of critical- and creative-thinking skills,
support and encourage student learning by providing feedback on the learning
process, promote positive student attitudes towards learning. It promotes formative
assessments leading to summative assessments. [ CITATION Ass05 \l 1033 ]
2. Content, process, and product approach of assessment:
In a nutshell what this means: content is what you learn, the process is how you learn,
and the product is how you show what you learned. Content is what you’re learning.
It could be anything that you can think of in a curriculum. It’s the objectives, the
goals, or what they’re supposed to be learning. The process is how you learn it.
Different students learn content differently some learn by doing (tactile), learn by
listening (auditory), some learn by watching (visual) or learn by touching
(kinesthetic). And then the product has to do with how they show their learning. I use
a plethora of tools keeping in mind content & learning styles through which students
 can demonstrate what they have learned also called an alternative assessment
technique. (Seth, 2016)
In design class, I use a lot of strategies for assessments which are alternatives to tests
and papers. Here are a handful of ideas: Graphs and charts, Portfolio, detailed
drawing, mind mapping, creating videos/ podcasts/ presentations, writing
articles/ blogs, debates, discussion, questioning, models, posters, interviews,
open-ended questions. Anything that shows the learning that has taken place can be
the product of learning.
An alternative assessment allows the student to demonstrate the depth and scope of
what they have learned rather than being limited to just a few responses on a
traditional test or exam.

Conclusion:
According to me, we as teachers should always strive for creating assessments that determine
why are we learning what we are learning? Assessment got to be as simple and effective as
possible, should be ongoing, should be able to provide timely feedback. The types of
assessment tasks that we ask our students to do determine how students will approach the
learning task and what study behaviours they will use. Our assessment practices need to
incorporate a variety of assessment methods and tools, have well-defined assessment criteria
and include students in the assessment process through various forms of self- and peer-
assessment.
References:

Assessment and exams. (2005). Retrieved from ibo.org:

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/assessment-and-exams/
James E. McLean, R. E. (1996). Why We Assess Students And How. SAGE Publications.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010) Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and
Reporting in Ontario Schools. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Professional Development Resource. (n.d.) Retrieved

http://preserviceteacherresource.weebly.com/assessment-role.html

Seth Perler. (2016, February 14). An Excellent Way to Evaluate Curriculum [File].
Retrieved from (8:24)