guidingquestion4



How have you applied a variety of strategies and educational technology tools to strengthen assessment in classrooms and schools? How might the involvement in the assessment process by families and other professionals be enhanced using technology?

	I speak from my health and physical education experience when saying that multiple assessments throughout the school year are needed for accurate measurement of skills and knowledge. In my domain the most commonly used tests are the Connecticut Fitness Assessment and the Presidential Fitness Challenge. Although I mainly use the CT Fitness Assessment I encourage my students to visit the Presidents Challenge website for activities with their families. These assessment tools are used to track the fitness of all students in grades 4, 6, 8 and 10. Teaching in a k-8 school allows me the opportunity to test all students in grades 4, 6, and 8. The CT Fitness Assessment tests the students in these grades for flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. For this test there are different standards for both boys and girls. Although this test is a mandatory test in physical education in CT it is not the only means of how my students are tested. I use a variety of testing tools to evaluate my students in physical education. Examples of this would be pre and post testing in different skills. Follow this link to badminton post test (Appendix M). Another tool I use each day is a simple effort scale 1-5, with five being the best (Follow link to document). This allows me to give a grade each day on the effort they put into physical education class. These grades, along with the test grades, are all entered into my Grade Quick computer grading system to produce a detailed report. Pre-assessments are generally overlooked. Pre-assessments allow me a window into the students' skills and gives me a general idea where they need to go and how to get them there. From discovering what their children know a teacher can determine what they need to be taught (Short, 1991). Standardized testing for me is just one tool that I use in my strategy to evaluate my students. In our state, CMT�s determine if you have a successful or failing school. When a failing school is discovered who is responsible for that? The teachers! Good or bad all teachers in a system are held accountable for their district's scores. There are strong advocates building a sense of need for teacher accountability, which translates almost entirely into score and standardized tests ( Kohn, 2000). One other tool that has been introduced to me is called Star Chart, and this chart is used to analyze data about a specific school setting. I used this tool to evaluate Pomfret Community School and was very surprised with the results. In health education, the guidelines that I follow are defined by the state in the Comprehensive School Health Education Plan: Guidelines for coordinated approach to school health. This tool allows me to put together a curriculum that gives my students a general overview of good health. The project my grade eight students complete on a health related topic including a PowerPoint slide show helps me assess their skill and knowledge in the subject area. Follow this link to grade eight slide show (Appendix K) and also a student slide show on Eating Disorders. I also use standardized tests to evaluate progress in each unit, but a more useful tool for me is how the students actively participate in class, and my view of how they are receiving the information. This is a very subjective manner in which to evaluate, but it is almost always in line with the standardized test grades the students receive. With respect to the diversification of a classroom, there are many sites that teachers can access to obtain resources that are scientifically based. One resource that I found interesting was the Equity Index which has a number of resources available that are grouped by cultures, congenital diseases, age, and gender. Another resource is a chart for Classroom Diversity that was used in EDU-577. As I review the courses that I studied, there was one book that stood out to me. This book was Life in Public Schools (McLaren, 1989). In his book he talks about �Hidden Curriculum� and the things we subconsciously teach our students. I see this when I see or hear students say or do something the way that I would. This goes to show that all teachers do have some impact on children; hopefully more good than bad. Cuban, L (2003) Why is it so hard to get GOOD schools? New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Kohn, A. (2000). The case against standardized testing: Raising the scores, running the schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Mclaren, P. (1989). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. White Plains, NY: Longman, Inc. Schwartau, W. (2001). Internet & Computer ethics for kids (and parents and teachers who haven�t got a clue). Seminole interpact press. Sort, K., & Burke, C. (1991). Creating curriculum; teachers and students as a community of learners. Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann Educational Books, Inc. State Department of education. (2008). Test Administrator manual; Connecticut fitness examination. Retrieved June 3rd, 2009 from http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2618&q=320980

		Guiding Question 1 Guiding Question 2 Guiding Question 3 Guiding Question 4 Guiding Question 5 Guiding Question 6 Ericson's Ed Tech Portfolio Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws