Shepard, L. (2000). The Role of Classroom Assessment in Teaching and Learning. (CSE Technical Report 517). CA: CRESST/University of Colorado at Boulder.
Keywords:
assessment, self-evaluation, learning, teaching, scaffolding
Abstract:
Ideas from the past about inherited ability, tracked curricula, atomistic conceptions of knowledge, and “scientific” measurement, are beneficial to all students’ learning. Instead, Shepard suggests that form and content must be changed to better represent important thinking and problem-solving skills in each of the disciplines (observations, oral questioning, significant tasks, projects, demonstrations, collections of work, and students’ self-evaluations). Students and teachers should also collaborate in assessing prior knowledge, probing apparent misconceptions, and resolving areas of confusion. Students should engage in self-assessment to develop metacognitive skills by learning to apply the standards that define quality work in a field to their own work, and teachers should demonstrate their own willingness to learn by explicitly using assessment data to evaluate and improve instruction.
The author presents portfolios as a useful tool in assessment by which students can set goals, review their work, and develop criteria in selecting pieces, learning to evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and gaining experience in communicating their purposes and judgements to others. However, teachers should use a variety of assessment tools, depending on the context and skill/understanding intended.
Relevance:
Portfolios in art are useful in assessment.
Assessment is a tool to view instead of to judge student learning.
This article is written for preservice teachers.
Link to the direction of the new curriculum?
Quotes:
“To support generalization and ensure transfer, that is, to support robust understandings, “good teaching constantly asks about old understandings in new ways, calls for new applications, and draws new connections” (Shepard, 1997, p.27). (22)
“Traditional classroom practices, especially testing practices, and larger societal norms have created environments in which students may not be motivated to take risks, to try hard, or to demonstrate their intellectual competence.” (23)
“For example, if in classroom exchanges students are routinely asked to explain their thinking or to clarify terms, then eventually these habits are internalized and become a part of the thinking process as well as a social norm in the classroom (Hogan & Pressley, 1997). (28)
“… students should be made aware of the pedagogical rationale for the balance of assessments chosen–how do they as a set represent the learning goals for the class.” (48)
“… dynamic assessment can be used as the occasion to teach, especially to scaffold next steps.” (54)
“…assessments should be conducted int he social setting of the group…students are socialized into the discourse of the disciplines and become accustomed to explaining their reasoning and receiving feedback about their developing competence as part of a social group.” (54)
“Finally, students are given an understanding of the assessment process and evaluation criteria as a means to develop their capacity as self-monitoring learners.” (54)
“…the tendency of expert tutors to use indirect forms of feedback when possible was influenced by their desire to maintain student motivation and self confidence while not ignoring student errors.” (59)