Assessments That Build
Brain Cells
By Judy Willis,
M.D., M.Ed.
Albert Einstein said,
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Without
imagination and investigation of ideas our collective fund
of knowledge would languish. We do need assessments to
determine what students learn and understand, but we can
incorporate imagination in the creation of those
assessments to insure that students’ creative thoughts and
higher executive functions are incorporated into their
assessment experiences.
Traditional and especially standardized tests assess only a
few parameters such as rote memory, ability to follow
instructions, organization, and time management. Testing
that emphasizes those parameters gives students the message
that those are the primary qualities of thinking inside the
box that are valued most.
As functional neuroimaging has delved more into learning
research, evidence is mounting about which brain activities
are most associated with information processing and memory
retention. Strategies to increase successful learning can
be incorporated into the assessment process such that these
go beyond passive reflections of student memory and recall
and become active learning experiences that stimulate
dendrite growth, neurotransmitter release, and efficiency
of neuronal network communication.
For dynamic educators creative problem solving and critical
analysis can be given the value they merit by being part of
student assessment. The National Council of Teachers of
English position paper “On Testing” that stated, “ In light
of continued and increasing efforts to undermine progress
the profession has made toward authentic assessment of
students' real and vital engagement with language and
literature, NCTE needs to reassert its repeated opposition
to over-simplified and narrowly conceived tests of isolated
skills and decontextualized knowledge. The crux of this
concern has been the tension between the breadth of the
English language arts curriculum and the restrictive
influence of standardized means of assessing student
learning.”
Assessment
Over Time-From Macro to Micro
Yearlong Assessment: Although assessments ideally
take place during each class period and lesson, planning
the year’s major unit assessments while planning curriculum
builds authenticity into those assessments. Starting the
year with clear communication to students about the goals
of their studies and expectations for their assessments
sets a pattern that gives them the security that
accompanies predictability.
Strategize
from the start
• Gauge the assumptions students have about what is
expected of them and how they will be assessed. This can be
an open-ended discussion including their opinions about the
purpose of assessments.
• When teacher expectations are accompanied by sincere
acknowledgement that all students will be given the
opportunity to be successful, regardless of what test
scores and grades are in their records, they are inspired
with self-confidence and lower anxiety.
• When teachers help students feel safe and in control of
their potentials for success, they reduce affective filters
and reduce the test-anxiety that may have lowered test
performance in previous years.
• To insure that all students are aware of teacher
expectations provide samples of A, B, C, and D student work
from past years in a binder. The samples need to relate to
assignments similar in character to theirs, but not be the
same specific topics. In that way the students will have
the opportunity to emulate quality and creativity, not
content.
• Rubrics are powerful tools for promoting successful
performance and predictable assessment.
Spot Errors
in Comprehension With Daily Individual Assessments
This is where micro assessments and ongoing accountability
are important for accurate student learning. Experienced
teachers usually have some idea what their students’ grade
ranges (and more importantly- their subject comprehension)
are after the first several weeks of school. This is not
because they frequently check their grade books, but
because they assess student understanding during each
lesson – sometimes more than once.
There is a fine line between the stress of calling on
students when they are confused or uncomfortable speaking
in front of the whole class and the need to frequently
assess each student’s engagement and comprehension. There
is also the need for students to feel comfortable asking
for clarification so misinformation does not become stored
in long-term memory.
Children who have lower academic expectations for
themselves tend to ask for help less often. When you
emphasize goals of individual self-improvement, effort,
creative problem solving, and risk-taking, rather than
competitive comparisons of student ability, students become
more engaged and less threatened about participating. When
students focus on how well they personally have improved
rather than on comparing themselves to others they are more
comfortable asking for help.
Embedding on-going assessment into everyday curriculum can
be done by incorporating performance tasks into learning
activities. Ways to keep students engaged, incorporate
learning activities into assessments, and assure correct
understanding while doing ongoing assessment include:
• Students are given cards with questions when they enter
the classroom. The answers to their cards’ questions are
posted on answer cards that label the seats or tables where
they will sit that day. For example the card might say,
“What state is the northern border of Oregon?” The student
will search for the seat or table labeled “Washington.”
• Students simultaneously, at the count of three, hold up
the colored or white side of an index card when the class
is asked a yes/no or true/false question to signal their
individual opinions.
• Students have white boards, erasable markers, and cloths
(this often a treat for students). They write answers in a
few large words or numbers in response to questions and
hold them up simultaneously after being given adequate time
for all to write answers. This gives instant teacher
feedback as to who needs further explanation as well as
keeping students engaged.
• When students are working independently or in small
groups, teachers can move around the classroom listening to
student discussions and assess what part of the material
needs further explanation.
• Rather than have students store incorrect information
consider having students stop worksheets or math problems
done in class periodically and check answers that are
posted (after they first show you the paper so you see that
they did the work). If students know that they will be
credited for corrected errors as well as for trying the
work, they can mark the their errors in a different color
and later show that they made corrections in a different
color.
• Multiple answers: This assessment may take the form of
asking several students for their answers to the same
question even if the first student’s answer was correct.
Similarly, once an answer is given students can raise hands
if the agree or disagree.
• Summarizing is a valuable memory booster and a way to
assess the day’s learning.
♣ Students write down what they think was the main
point or concept of the lesson on note cards.
♣ The next day, the best cards are returned to the
students who wrote them and they read them aloud (for class
review) and post them on a bulletin board.
♣ Students who did not receive their note cards back
will understand that the may have missed part of the
critical point. It is their job to rewrite notes in their
notebooks or journals after listening to classmates read
the best ones aloud.
♣ If most of the students’ note card summaries are
incorrect it is teacher feedback that the lesson may not
have been as clearly communicated as intended and should be
retaught in another way to reach the objectives.
When assessments are incorporated in daily instruction they
become opportunities for both positive and corrective
feedback and can keep all students engaged in the lessons.
The addition of metacognition and post-assessment
conferences will give students additional strategies to
achieve success on standardized tests, and more importantly
in their academic potential and positive educational
experiences.
The best assessments will also prepare students for success
in the careers where their generation will find
opportunities. These assessments are the ones that
correspond to teaching that promotes creativity, analysis,
judgment, expert thinking, and complex communication.