If students need to learn to perform mathematical operations, they should be assessed on mathematical operations. They specify and give concrete meaning to valued learning goals. Assessments indicate to students what they should learn. Mathematics assessments can make the goals for learning real to students, teachers, parents, and the public.Īssessment can play a key role in exemplifying the new types of mathematics learning students must achieve. This view led to assessment that reinforced memorization as a principal learning strategy. Similarly, the mathematics curriculum was seen as a fragmented collection of information given meaning by the teacher. The student was assessed on something taught previously to see if he or she remembered it.
Consistent with this view, assessment was often thought of as the end of learning. In the past, student learning was often viewed as a passive process whereby students remembered what teachers told them to remember. To satisfy the learning principle, assessment must change in ways consonant with the current changes in teaching, learning, and curriculum. Instruction and assessment-from whatever source and for whatever purpose-must be integrated so that they support one another. However, still worse than such periods of conflict would be to continue either old instructional forms or old assessment forms in the name of synchrony, thus stalling movement of either toward improving important mathematics learning.įrom the perspective of the learning principle, the question of who mandated the assessment and for what purpose is not the primary issue. Neither situation is desirable although both will almost surely occur. Instructional practices may move ahead of assessment practices in some situations, whereas in other situations assessment practices could outpace instruction. 4 During a period of change there will undoubtedly be awkward and difficult examples of discontinuities between newer and older directions and procedures. Some have resorted to "double-entry" lessons in which they supplement regular course instruction with efforts to teach the objectives required by the mandated test. Studies have documented a further complication as teachers are caught between the conflicting demands of mandated testing programs and instructional practices they consider more appropriate. Instruction and assessment-from whatever source and for whatever purpose-must support one another. In 1990, 46 states had mandated testing programs, as Tradition has allowed and even encouraged some assessments to serve accountability or monitoring purposes without sufficient regard for their impact on student learning.Ī portion of assessment in schools today is mandated by external authorities and is for the general purpose of accountability of the schools. Less obvious is the applicability of the principle to assessments created and imposed by parties outside the classroom.
The applicability of the learning principle to assessments created and used by teachers and others directly involved in classrooms is relatively straightforward. Time spent on assessment will then contribute to the goal of improving the mathematics learning of all students. With this knowledge, students and teachers can build on the understanding and seek to transform misunderstanding into significant learning. 1 As an integral part, assessment provides an opportunity for teachers and students alike to identify areas of understanding and misunderstanding. Primary among them is that assessment should be seen as an integral part of teaching and learning rather than as the culmination of the process. This principle has important implications for the nature of assessment. This fundamental concept is embodied in the second educational principle of mathematics assessment.Īssessment should enhance mathematics learning and support good instructional practice. High-quality mathematics assessment must focus on the interaction of assessment with learning and teaching. ASSESSING TO SUPPORT MATHEMATICS LEARNING
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