Blog #17: Assessment in Math Reflection

Assessment in Math Reflection

                Teachers should take great care when creating assessments for their students. They should expect to make numerous revisions to their assessments. After each time a teacher gives students an assessment, the teacher should use student work to determine if there are any problems or bias within the assessment and revise it if necessary. Assessments should be as objective as possible. Additionally, teachers should make sure the directions to the assessments are written very clearly and are as specific as possible. The key to an effective assessment is continuous reflection on the part of the teacher.

                There is also the issue of asking students to evaluate the work of their peers. Can students be as objective as possible when evaluating the work of their peers, if students are not experts in the concepts they are assessing? The general consensus of teachers is that students cannot be objective and therefore should not be asked to evaluate the work of their peers. If the teacher believes students will gain insight by assessing the work of others, teachers should only ask students to critique the work of their classmates and the teacher should be responsible for providing the numerical score based upon student feedback.