Welcome to Educational Measurements Principles and Practices for

Welcome to Educational Measurements Principles and Practices for Effective Standards-Based Instruction

What is Assessment? What do you think? l Assessment vs. Testing l

Assessment is a Process l Of gathering information l Of evaluating the information l Using the information to modify and drive instruction It is a comprehensive evaluation made up of many components It can & should span an entire semester/year

What is a Test? l It occurs on a specific day l It is a snap-shot of the student’s ability l It is only one component of the process

Test are Tools which can be: l Appropriately used l Unintentionally misused l Intentionally abused l Well designed l Poorly designed The usefulness of the test varies depending on the persons/purpose

As a Teacher, you must know how to: l Design “good” tests l Use tests as a tool for lesson modification and to increase student performance l Interpret test results

Assessment Vs. Testing

A look at The Educational Reform Movement Prominent for the last 25 years Called for the development of tests and assessment-based accountability Programs (50 states & district of Columbia)

1960’s l The beginning of looking at the testing process l Questioned the purpose/validity of testing tests were used to suppress minorities

1980’s l. A great increase in Standardized Testing which was driven by the release of the report by the NCEE - A Nation at Risk 1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education

2002 l NCLB - No Child Left Behind Act Made testing/assessment base accountability programs a requirement in school systems

The Goal of NCLB Intended to raise overall achievement, but especially for economical disadvantaged youth. Controversial High Stakes Testing Test scores should never be the sole basis for high stakes decision making

Where Are We today? We have moved from traditional testing to authentic based assessments.