The Assessment Dilemma - please join in
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Posted by Ann on March 25, 2007
Comments: I’d like to canvas my Phono-Graphix/Essential Education colleagues out there on what they think about ‘the assessment dilemma’.
It seems there is a general confusion and misunderstanding amongst teachers, parents, specialist teachers and educational psychologists (both in the UK and the US) about the purpose of assessment. Everyone it seems has a different agenda when it comes to putting a child forward for an assessment – I won’t go down the road of listing all the reasons, we all know what goes on. However, I think it would be really useful for professionals to agree a common agenda for assessment. It is too easy to fall into the trap of: assessment = test > label.
I’m coming to the end of an (excellent) course accredited by the BPS (British Psychological Society). It has a rather clumsy title which at first made me laugh ‘Certificate in Competence in Educational Testing’ – by default it implied I was incompetent before!
As I progressed through the course I realised that the title is actually spot on! Throughout the course great stress has been laid on the opposite of all the previous preconceived ideas I had about ‘testing’. Assessment does not equal administering a battery of tests. It should have a purpose which is clear to all involved (including the child) and should aim answer a specific question or questions about the child. It starts with a positive hypothesis which is then tested. It should reveal a child’s strengths and weaknesses so that expert teaching can take advantages of the strengths and build up the weaknesses. It should lead to practical recommendations which support the child through what probably will be a relatively short period of time. It should not produce a label that can be applied to the child from now on until eternity. Perhaps most important of all - the report is not the child!! This sounds marvellous and all the lovely people I met along the way were zealous in their belief that anyone in the position of assessing a child, in any context, should have these ideals at the forefront of their mind.
Perhaps, like in reading instruction, there is a sea change in the air. The fact that this course exists – demystifying the world of educational psychology and training humble teachers – may be proof of this.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water – assessment applied well can be very useful. After all we all use the Read America tests in this way.
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