IPT 301 Week 3

Formative assessments are used to improve learning while it is still in progress and can include homework assignments, group activities, and quizzes. Summative assessments evaluate the progress and instructional methods at the end of a unit. These can include a written test with short answer questions and an essay. I suppose that you could use elements of your formative assessment such as quiz questions as part of your summative assessment later.

Standardized aptitude tests test future potential and capacity to learn and are often used for admission to particular classes or courses. Standardized achievement tests assess current knowledge and can give information about strengths and weaknesses of students. Some tests provide results that are both criterion-referenced and nor-referenced. However, the norm-referenced would probably be more suitable for an aptitude test because when considering placements you would want to compare the students to each other. On the other hand, for achievement tests, you would probably use criterion-referenced because you want to see what they know in specific domains rather than comparing the students.

I do think that it is important to help the students do their best and perform to their top potential. However, I do not think that Alexandria needs to panic and focus so much on preparing for the tests. These tests should be based on what the students learn in their everyday classroom instruction and cannot really be prepared for in any other way than effective classroom teaching. Also, the test scored didn’t drop by a considerable amount and with such a diverse group of students, I don’t think radical changes need to be made at this point.

As a teacher, these modules can definitely help me learn about how I can use assessment properly to make decisions in my instruction. It reiterates the fact that assessment is very important in effective teaching and needs to be used to make changes in curriculum and to know what your students are getting and what they need additional instruction on. Also, I need to understand the different types of assessments that may be given to my students and what their purposes are. As a parent, it would be good to know this information to see how my child may be tested and the different things the test scores may be used for.