Abstract
The INTASC Standards provides a framework for teaching that entails eight principles for the professional educator. The focus of this paper centers on Principle Six: “The educator understands and uses formal and informal strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.” This paper asserts that this is the most important principle for the professional educator to demonstrate proficiency in. This paper also discusses the importance and benefits of student evaluation in the improvement of academic programs.
Introduction
This paper aims to address the requirements of Assignment 2.2 in Walden University’s EDAD 7200-8040 Foundations course. In particular, this paper will consider Disposition 6: “The educator understands and uses formal and informal strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner” (Walden University, 2012). The thesis for this paper is that Disposition 6 is the most significant disposition for the professional educator to demonstrate proficiency in.
According to McGlothin (2009), student assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for continuous training and educational improvement. More particularly, a student’s assessment results can become the bases for continuous improvement in an academic institution’s educational efforts. Student assessment can be used as a means of involving the students in the educational process. McGlothlin (2009) also suggested that various assessment methods must be used in order to obtain sufficient feedback that will enable the measurement of student learning and curriculum success. He further suggested that student assessment methods can be either direct or indirect (McGlothlin, 2009). Direct methods involve the student providing evidence of learning that an educator can assess. On the other hand, indirect methods allow the student and those related to the student to reflect on the student’s level of learning, thereby providing the educator with perceptions of learning attainment. The results obtained from these assessment methods can provide important insights into professional development and student learning (McGlothlin, 2009).
Similarly, Büyükkarcı (2014) indicated that there was a general consensus on how assessment was a necessary part of teaching as it enabled educators to judge their students’ level of knowledge or skills, to rank them for exclusion or selection, to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, to measure their improvement over time, and to motivate them. Student assessments also enable educators to obtain the feedback that will help them determine how much or how well students are learning. The assessment results then enable educators to determine how best to deliver learning, obtain evidence of their delivery’s effectiveness, and use that information for improving.
According to Büyükkarcı (2014), student assessments can be either summative or formative. Summative assessments are used to give students a grade at the end of the course. They can help educators organize their courses but do not have an effect on learning. On the other hand, formative assessments consider all of the activities undertaken by both the educators and the students in assessing the student’s performance, in turn providing feedback that would enable the educators to change the learning and teaching activities they provide their students. These are considered formative because their results are used to adapt the teaching methods to meet the students’ needs. Formative assessments aim to help students improve their learning and intend to promote student attainment. As such, Büyükkarcı (2014) recommended that educators employ formative assessments rather than summative assessments whenever possible.
On the other hand, the results of qualitative assessments based on the educator’s observations on both the lecture and laboratory portions of upper division science courses showed that the use of the case study approach in the classes led to increased student ownership of the learning process, increased student confidence, improved critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the material (Yurco, 2014). In this case, a more effective technique for teaching a difficult course would have not been developed if it were not for the student assessments that the teachers conducted.
In the same regard, an analysis of fifty studies, which was conducted by the CDC (Bratsis, 2014), showed that classroom-based physical activity led to improved student test scores. In particular, eight of nine studies showed that classroom-based physical activity was associated to academic performance indicators, such as language-arts test scores, reading, and standardized math (Bratsis, 2014). The results also showed an improvement in classroom behavior (Bratsis, 2014). These findings imply that it is important for educators to not only ensure their students intellectual development but their social and physical development as well.
Conclusion
The employment of the correct and effective strategies for evaluating student performance is the most important disposition for a professional educator to develop proficiency in. These assessment strategies enable the continuous process of learning and provide insight into professional development and student learning. Student assessments enable educators to determine the portions of the curricula that are effective and those that are not. These enable modifications to be made on teaching and learning methods and processes, in turn leading to improved results. These emphasize that the educator plays an important role in their students’ learning as they must be able to select the best assessment methods, conduct these assessments correctly, and make the most out of the results.
References
Bratsis, M. E. (2014). The missing piece: Classroom-based exercise. Science Teacher, 81(2), 14.
Büyükkarcı, K. (2014). Assessment beliefs and practices of language teachers in primary education. International Journal of Instruction, 7(1), 107-120.
Fakoya, A. A., & Yuka, L. (2014). Discordant notes and scores in students' performance.
International Journal of Language Studies, 8(1), 89-108.
McGlothlin, C. W. Jr. (2009). Assessment of student learning: Direct and indirect methods that work. Journal of SH&E Research, 6(1), Feature Article 1.
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Yurco, P. (2014). Student-generated cases: Giving students more ownership in the learning process. Journal of College Science Teaching, 43(3), 54-58.
