Assesements+Intended+to+Improve+Student+Achievement

By: Kelly Jackson
When an assessment is given the results are used to test the knowledge of materials a person is expected to know versus the knowledge that they do know. After any given assessment the results are used to establish the amount of materials that a student needs farther assistance on. This information is then used to plan and teach materials that need to be reviewed in order to improve student achievement, even though this sometimes isn't effective to everyone, especailly the one's who have the concepts down, "...helps low achievers more than other students and reduces the range of achievement while raising achievement overall."(Black & Wiliam, 2010) This requires the student-teacher relationship to be strong because the teacher needs to know the level in which each student is on so that they can make adjustments to their teaching methods to help all students improve. This is also known as formative assessment and has become important nationally.

"Teachers need to know about their pupils’ progress and difficulties with learning so that they can adapt their own work to meet pupils’ needs — needs that are often unpredictable and that vary from one pupil to another."(Black & Wiliam, 2010) Assessments can be given in many different ways that allow a teacher to be informed on the material that needs to be taught, "including observation and discussion in the classroom and the reading of pupils’ written work."(Black & Wiliam, 2010) There comes difficutlies with assessments as with anything. Teachers are sometimes inconsistent and misjudge certain aspects of learning, "...there is a tendency to emphasize quantity and presentation of work and to neglect its quality in relation to learning."(Black & Wiliam, 2010) When a students work is handed in and the teacher grades it, the wrong answers are always looked at first to determine the grade, sometimes this is focused on too much. "The giving of marks and the grading function are overemphasized, while the giving of useful advice and the learning function are underemphasized."(Black & Wiliam, 2010) There needs to be balance in how work is corrected so that it doesn't lower the pupils self-esteem, because the pupils self-esteem can be used to improve formative assessment which will raise standards of achievement. Black, Paul & Wiliam, Dyan. (2010). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. //Phi Delta Kappan//, //91//(9), 81-90. Retrieved from []