IP&T 301 Week 3

1.) Some examples of formative assessment would be homework assignments, journal entries, and teacher observation. Examples of summative assessment would be written tests, projects, presentations, and portfolios. Formative assessments can be used as a summative assessment...for example a portfolio of students' homework and journal entries throughout the unit can be used as a summative assessment at the end of the unit.

2.) Standardized achievement tests assess students' current knowledge and understanding while aptitude tests assess students' capacity or potential to learn in the future. Both tests can be either criterion-referenced or norm-referenced.

3.) I don't think Alexandria should be too alarmed yet. While the scores may have fallen slightly from the previous year, like Mr. Whitney said, they are still within the average range. The school should definitely look into implementing some changes to help students achieve higher scores for the next year, but I don't think any radical changes are necessary just yet. If the trend continues and test scores get lower and lower, than there would be cause for concern.

4.) I feel like I understand how to interpret test scores now. This will help me as a teacher when I'm explaining test results to students, parents, and school administrators. It will also help me as a parent to not freak out when my child only scores in the 65th percentile or to brag that my 7-year-old has a 6th grade reading level because his GE score is 6.3. After reading Module 6, I more strongly support the use of frequent and varied assessment. I want to use many forms of informal, formal, and authentic assessment to better understand what my students know and to give them more opportunities to feel successful.