Post 8 - About Assessment and Russian Dolls

14 Feb

Let’s start at the beginning. Why do we assess?

Because, dammit, we want to understand how to help our child, right? As parents with kids with challenges, we are often faced with a bar-age of information and facebook advice about what assessment we actually need in order to be eligible for the school supports. This then directs us and our resources - trying to jump through those hoops. Eligibility, for funding, for in-class supports or just to validate and affirm to the powers that be that our child does have needs.

Many of us have spent thousands of dollars jumping those hoops, only to find that they mean little in the scheme of things, get lost or collect dust. I am actually not surprised anymore, or disappointed, when I see those horrific old brown folders come out , busting with papers that no teacher has ever really processed. Why not? Because that is exactly what research says will happen with tests done in the way we are doing them. They will collect dust. Here’s a headline:

Testing our children, does not work , if it is not within an ECOLOGICAL APPROACH. We need to change our testing approach so that it is useful for the school context.

There are many different types of assessments. When I first embarked on a journey of supporting my children, I believe I encountered them all at some point in my journey as a parent : See if you can tick off which ones you have covered in your context:

Diagnostic assessment is a form of pre-assessment that allows a teacher to determine students' individual strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills prior to instruction. It is primarily used to diagnose student difficulties and to guide lesson and curriculum planning.

Standardised assessments are formal assessments that have been designed to measure a child's abilities compared to other children his or her age.

Static Assessments are tests standardised testing procedure in which an examiner presents items to an examinee without any attempt to intervene to change, guide, or improve the child's performance (retrieved here).

An Ecological assessment is a comprehensive process in which data is collected about how a child functions in different environments or settings. Sometimes, students eligible for special education perform or behave well in some environments but have difficulty in others.

So which assessment works?

No specific assessment is enough.

Essentially, the evidence and research shows that the zooming out approach is most effective in sustaining progress and success. We need a variety of data, within context.

Sadly, few educational services offer this approach . We do.

More tomorrow about the Ecological Approach that frames the IncludeME Way.

The word 'assessment' comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’. This suggests that assessment should involve sitting with the learner. Assessment in its original form relates to something we do with and for students and not to student. (Green, 1998).

Useful Links should you want to read some more about assessment and the Ecological Approach.

Cowie, B., & Khoo, E. (2018, February). an ecological approach to Understanding assessment for learning in support of student Writing achievement. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 3, p. 11). Frontiers.

Leslie, L., & Jett-Simpson, M. (1997). Authentic Literacy Assessment: An Ecological Approach. Addison Wesley Longman, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036; Website: http://longman.awl.com.