For most of my students assessment is the primary reason they choose to spend their days with me and people like me. I teach in a sixth form college and all the students are studying for high stakes final exams that will determine (in their eyes) the rest of their lives. This means that assessment is a big part of our lives.
Assessment is happening a lot of the time in various shapes, forms and purposes. There are internal and external assessments, formal and informal. External assessments can take the form of written exams, practical exams or coursework. Internal assessment can be formal or informal and (occasionally) covert. Sometimes what appears to be assessment can actually be retrieval practice and sometimes what appears to be retrieval practice can double up as assessment.
Purposes of assessment
- To allow students to identify areas they are weak
- To build confidence in students that they are progressing
- To allow parents to have a sense of how their progeny are performing
- To allow me as a teacher to identify individuals who may be struggling
- To allow me as a teacher to identify areas or topics which haven't been well understood by the class and may need revisiting
- To allow the college to monitor and identify teachers or subjects that may be struggling
- To allow the college to improve recruitment amongst prospective students
- For the college to justify its existence to OFSTED and DfE as well as local government sources of finance
- For "next destination" providers such as universities and employers to make recruitment decisions
- To give students a sense of achievement
Non assessment side effects of assessment tasks
- Gives students practice in experiencing formal tests
- Through retrieval practice help embed key terms and ideas
- Can build personal skills within the student such as self-discipline and organisational skills
The non assessment effects can be important. In my subject 20% of the final mark is related to programming coursework, but the experience of the project, the thinking and organisational skills it develops, has clear influence on students as well as embedding and sometimes clarifying concepts. I had a student write in the middle of their coursework documentation that they had suddenly realised what constructors were, a concept I had attempted to explain on numerous occasions but one he had to experience to understand.
Sometimes informal assessment such as a class Kahoot quiz can give more immediate feedback than a formal written test. Walking around the room looking over students shoulders chatting to them while they work can give a good feel of what students are struggling with and their misconceptions can be really useful. Sometimes the purpose of a written test can be purely to exercise retrieval and help embed ideas, the actual marks being ignored.
Ultimately though, my role as far as most students and parents are concerned is to ensure they get the best grade possible in the their A Level so they can fulfill all their dreams and that is what assessment is there for. They may be being optimistic.