Assessment

The essential purpose of assessment is to explore the extent to which students have developed competencies, not the facility with which they perform specific tasks. When the focus is on competence, the assessment question is, “To what extent can students demonstrate this competency?” When assessment is competency-driven, the task is the vehicle for demonstrating one or more competencies. Different students may demonstrate the same competency through many different tasks. They are able to choose.

​Formative Assessment
 The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by us to improve our teaching and by students to improve their learning. It is flexible, ongoing and more of an informal diagnostic tool. More specifically, formative assessments:
  • help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
  • help us recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately
  • focuses on individual success
  • opens communication and focuses on GROWTH not grades
Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value.  We put stock in our conversation and observation as we offer verbal or written feedback during the PROCESS.  Formative assessment is the bulk of our assessment.

  Summative Assessment
Summative assessment is more  of a formal, generally quantitative mode to measure (evaluate) the level of success or proficiency obtained at a specific time and is compared against some standard or benchmark.  They are structured and often used to normalize performance so they can be measured and compared.   Summative assessments are generally high stakes that evaluates the end result or a PRODUCT and produces a grade.  This type of assessment is designed to evaluate students at the end of your course or unit to showcase their learning. 
We have collated a series of grade and course specific specific assessment tools.  Please download the documents to adapt and use them.
Our focus for assessment has changed to  a concentration more on growth and progress.  We have generated some resources for you to explore and use to help with this new assessment paradigm.

 Informative Videos, Articles & Resources

Here are a series of informational videos to view about various assessment topics. ​