Developing Effective Assessment practices through Collaboration with Students, Families, and Colleagues

Developing and implementing effective assessment practices in mainstream classrooms is a thoughtful process. When classroom teachers of English Learners (ELs) seek to design assessments that will yield valuable information to guide whole-group instruction and targeted interventions, the unique needs of ELs must be critically considered. The most effective, appropriate assessments are the result of a collaborative process that invites student, parent, and teacher input, and generates relevant data through authentic, longitudinal learning experiences. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES 3 Developing Effective Assessment practices through Collaboration with Students, Families, and Colleagues Developing and implementing effective assessment practices in mainstream classrooms is a thoughtful process. When classroom teachers of English Learners (ELs) seek to design assessments that will yield valuable information to guide whole-group instruction and targeted interventions, the unique needs of ELs must be critically considered. Davis Lenski, EhlersZavala, Daniel, and Sun-Irminger (2006) state, “Because assessment practices pave the way to making instructional and evaluative decisions, teachers need to consider all educational stakeholders (i.e., the students themselves, parents, administrators, and other teachers) as they plan to assess students from different cultural backgrounds” (p. 25). Hurley and Blake (2000) identified six principles that teachers should consider when assessing ELs: •Assessment activities should help teachers make instructional decisions. •Assessment strategies should help teachers find out what students know and can do.not what they cannot do. •The holistic context for learning should be considered and assessed. •Assessment activities should grow out of authentic learning activities. •Best assessments of student learning are longitudinal.they take place over time. •Each assessment activity should have a specific objective-linked purpose (p. 91–92). Therefore, the most effective, appropriate assessments are the result of a collaborative process that invites student, parent, and teacher input, and generates relevant data through authentic, longitudinal learning experiences. With this data, teachers make instructional decisions that support ELs in acquisition of both the content and the English language. Knowing this, the researcher determined a focus on deepening knowledge of students and participating in DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES 4 professional collaboration. The researcher, an Instructional Coach, and the Co-teacher (CT), began by gathering academic, linguistic, and demographic information about a focal group of ELs within a seventh grade Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective class. This information was gathered through collaboration with students, families, and colleagues. The researcher worked closely within her professional learning community to deepen the understanding and skills needed to meet the needs of the focal group of students. Using this knowledge, the teachers designed effective and appropriate formative assessments and used the assessment data to make instructional adaptations to meet the presented needs. The teachers designed a summative assessment that gave students an opportunity to authentically demonstrate their new knowledge, skills and understanding. All of these efforts resulted in a positive, productive learning experience for both students and teachers. The learning experiences were effective because they were designed based on the student needs and adjusted in response to the formative assessment.