How can assessments improve learning?

Research indicates that learning is significantly improved when assessments are used. An assessment refers to the activities undertaken by educators that provide quality information for educators to use as feedback or a guide in letting them know what needs to be modified in order for students to learn more successfully.

Teachers, similar to presidential or organizational leaders, must be wise in making decisions about what methods, tasks or forms of assessment will be utilized to determine if a project or activity is worth repeating. Selected tasks must be justified in terms of learning goals. For instance, the purpose of an activity and the learning aims are imperative. Students, just like citizens, should understand what a leader has in mind and why he or she proposes to accomplish a certain task. In addition, educators and other leaders in society should know that people who depend on them to plan wisely and follow through in meeting necessary deadlines, responsibilities and promised goals can become quite disheartened when their role is not taken seriously and their work ethic has faltered.

When providing assessments, students as well as any other stakeholders, should be provided with effective feedback regarding the progress of their work. They should experience active engagement in tasks that have been provided to them by those who are assessing the learning process. Many times, our beliefs about learning have a direct relation to the specific method of assessment that is selected.

It is always important that the learner possesses a clear understanding of the goal that is selected, the performance standards for meeting the goal, and the manner in which feedback is transferred to self-monitoring. Basically, the effect of an assessment in any form is that students or learners keep gaining wisdom and remain confident that they can contribute to their classroom or society in a productive manner. Therefore, students, organizational workers, and U.S. citizens should not give up when feeling defeated. They also should refuse to give in to the feeling of helplessness or hopelessness.

Meaningful learning is reflective, constructive, and self-managed. People are creators of their own intellectual structures.

People are expected to connect new knowledge with previously gained knowledge and apply that to new situations. People must organize, plan and utilize what information they receive in order to solve complex problems in school and in real-life situations.

Great educators and leaders make a habit of monitoring what is going on around them, what lesson is being taught, and what is expected from those who are following their lead.

There are two types of assessment: formative and summative. Formative assessment relates to the frequent check on the progress of a learning assignment. The use of varied instruction methods has been incorporated in school settings to better meet the needs of a diverse group of students.

Historically, assessments have been used to track students; traditional tests have been criticized as unfair to minority students. Moreover, this has been an issue for language minority students.

Dr. Sonya Rogers is a certified counselor who lives in Daphne. 

Her column appears regularly in the Daphne Bulletin and Spanish Fort Sun.