Are Assessments Necessary?

Assessment, the word that has so much power in the world of education. It is what evaluates if teachers are doing an excellent job of teaching students the material and if students are understanding that material and showing it on paper and through data. State-wide assessments are what help schools gain distinguished school titles if their scores keep going up or getting state takeovers if they cannot. Overall, assessments are a big deal. As time goes by and assessments become an essential part in classrooms for teachers, administrations and the state, many question how much is too much for assessing students and making it a priority? Why is a school’s assessment scores the determining factor on how successful schools are doing? Let us take a look. 

Assessments have been used in the classroom for many years now. Whether it be informal, formal, or summative, assessments are what help teachers and school administrators know how much students know. Gail E. Tompkins (2016) quoted how “Assessment has become a priority in 21st-century schools. School district, state, and federal education agencies have increased their demands for accountability, and today, most students take annual high-stakes tests to measure their achievement (International Reading Association & National Council of Teachers of English, 2009) Teachers collect more assessment data now and do it more frequently, and they use the information to make instructional decisions (Tompkins, p. 74). This is an essential statement because by always having data and getting tested, school administrators can see if teachers are successfully getting information passed on to students and students can show what they have learned on the tests. Although state-wide testing is an essential time in the academic school year, assessments are also important to have in the classroom often because they serve as tools, teachers can use to measure student understanding and achievement.

However, I believe the best way to acquire data on student achievement is not to let the student know they are getting observed or tested. From personal experience and getting to work in groups and with students, many people do not like taking tests. The general idea of getting tested in any subject at school can cause students to feel stressed, anxious, nervous, and perhaps not do so well because of it. This can cause scores to lower, and thus not accurately represent what the students know. The students could study weeks in advance and still not do so well, most times when they take the test; especially when taking state assessments. That is why it is crucial as educators always to be informally assessing students without them knowing so you can get an overall idea of how they are doing without getting them all mixed up in emotions. It is why it is essential for teachers to informally and formally test students the whole year, and not focus solely on one big exam because then they can get more student data and build it up to see how much students have grown academically. Perhaps a pre- and post-test would be great to establish in the classroom. Having individual projects and take-home assignments would also be ways students can show what they know without having to complete an assessment in thirty minutes, looking down at a sheet of paper. Tompkins (2016) quotes how classroom assessment drives instruction, ensures that students are making adequate progress, determines the effectiveness of instruction, and documents students’ achievement. Every day, teachers use a combination of assessment tools to collect meaningful information about what students know and do (Afflerback, 2007; Kuhs, Johnson, Agruso & Monrad, 2001).

This connects too with state-testing such as the previous STAR test or now the SBAC test because school boards and the state government should consider perhaps not focusing on one test, but instead various tests throughout the year to acquire yearly progress from year to year. This would perhaps bring in more data and see how schools have progressed in the year. Lots of schools get criticized for having low test scores, but maybe the end of the year scores are better than when the school first began. Little things like these are ways the state people making these assessments can think about. Having previous educators or current educators help write the state assessments would be great because then people who have been in the classroom, know what students are learning and how they learn. So how can we teach our students to outsmart the test and be better test-takers? Assessment involves four steps—planning, monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting. Each step serves a different purpose, so teachers need to integrate all of the steps into their literacy programs (Tompkins, 2016, p. 75). 

By working together with teachers and school staff, the state can adequately educate teachers and staff the material students need to know per grade level. This way, teachers have the whole year to split the units and teach material that students will be tested on, but still, teach things students should know. Assessments should be built to help students with their learning versus being purposely created to fail students. Assessments, when appropriately used, help with checking in and seeing that all is going well. When assessments alone become the main priority in schools, something needs to get fixed. Students should be taught the information because it would benefit their learning in the long run- and not because they need to know it to pass the test. I am for educating teachers on how to successfully teach their students to succeed and less for teaching teachers how to teach students to only pass the test.