"Research and Perspectives on Classroom Assessments."

The purpose of assessments is to prepare students for their lives during the 21st century. Are we as teachers doing that as we create our assessments? At times teachers view assessments only as a tool to determine "have students learn what I have taught them?" or "Do they know the facts that I have presented to them?". Assessments are so much more than that. Assessments should support the learning of the students. In fact, "Assessments and instruction in the classroom should go hand in hand in service to promote student learning!" (BK)

When we create assessments, the goal of the teacher ought to be that he creates a meaningful learning opportunity for their students to learn and grow. We are preparing students for their lives in the 21st century and we ought to be using assessments to help equip our students with the skills necessary for their future lives. What skills should assessments be preparing students with? Students should learn to be self reflective, self managing, critical thinking, collaborative, and creative!  

Assessments should prepare students for future learning. The entire process of assessments (which is a long and  complicated one) should be for the students growth. When assessments are meaningful and include questions that challenge students to have higher order thinking skills, we are truly helping out our students. The traditional assessment allows students to learn facts and questions that have only one answer. Although the student is learning...are they really improving? I would argue even that this type of assessment might not even being doing much of anything to prepare students for the 21st century. A good assessment is one that has questions that are MEANINGFUL.  A good assessment might be an assessment that challenges the students to explore for themselves and discover new realities or concepts they have never considered. A good assessment uses real world scenarios that encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills and analysis skills. Finally, a good assessment is one that allows students to improve their thinking and problem solving abilities while the assessment is still taking place. 

This is the challenge that teacher face. The challenge to create meaningful assessments that prepare students for a life that will be filled with future learning. Students will be navigating a world filled with knowledge and a world filled with knowledge that will be created and new. In order to be successful in the 21st century, our students must know how to continue to learn and grow as new knowledge continues to come out.