Guided Response: Review several of your classmates' posts and respond to at least two who do not share your opinion of testing. Defend your own opinion with evidence from the videos or from other scholarly resources. Be sure to respond to any queries or comments posted by your instructor.

Melissa Cagno 120 words

Does testing matter?

I believe that testing matters, but it shouldn't be solely relied on when assessing a student's performance. Testing is a useful tool to measure how much a student knows and what they have learned over the year. But other factors should come into play when assessing a student's performance including, his assignments throughout the year, observable understanding in the classroom, etc.

Are assessment and measurement a valid tool for teaching and learning?

"The primary purposes of educational assessment have traditionally been to gauge student progress, to measure learning, to evaluate the learner's qualifications, and to guide decisions about student placement (LeFrançois,2011)." Measurement is part of assessments and measures how well the student performed on the given assessment. So I feel they are both a valid tool for teaching and learning!

How are the Common Core State Standards assessment shifts different from high stakes testing? How are they similar?

"High-stakes tests are those that have significant consequences for teachers, students, and schools. These consequences are related to the selection of students for programs, teacher certification, college admission,graduation, and determining school accountability(LeFrançois,2011)." Common Core standards are a list of standards each student should know by the end of each year. Both Common Core State Standards and the high-stakestesting goal is to help students reach certain standards in education. So high stakes testing assesses what the students have learned, and common core standards are guidelines for teachers to ensure students learn what they should by the end of each year.

Do you think these assessments will be able to better evaluate student needs? Why or why not?

I feel the common core standards assessments will be better at evaluating student's needs. Common Core focuses more on the overall performance of the student in their day to day instruction. While high-stakes testing puts a lot of pressure on everyone and is based only on how the student performed that day.

How important is a formative assessment (ongoing) in the new era of Common Core State Standards assessments?

Formative assessment is testing that done first at the beginning of the school year and then continues at different times throughout the school year. This evaluation allows the teacher to see where each student's knowledge is and how they are progressing throughout the year. Also, it ensures that teachers are following the common core standards for their grade.

Why is the use of formative assessment an important method in diagnosing your students' needs to create effective instruction?

With Formative assessment, the students take an assessment at the beginning of the year to see where their knowledge on the particular subject is. That allows the teacher to create her lesson plan on the needs of her students and where they should be per the Common Core Standards.

References

LeFrançois, G. (2011). Psychology for teaching (11th ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Common core state standards initiative. (2016). Retrieved August 5, 2016, from http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/

Rosalyn James 120words

Does testing matter? Are assessment and measurement a valid tool for teaching and learning? Explain and provide your reasoning.

Testing, assessment and measurement are very important part of teaching and learning. Pre and post assessment are needed to gather information to see what are the students' strengths and weaknesses and any gaps that need to be filled. Assessment is necessary because it helps the educators know the students' progress (or lack thereof) throughout the process. Assessment does not have to always be in the form of formal testing, but can be as simple as checks for understanding.

• How are the Common Core State Standards assessment shifts different from high stakes testing? How are they similar? Do you think these assessments will be able to better evaluate student needs? Why or why not?

Common core state standards focus more on the formative testing. High stakes focus more on the summative testing. The difference is that formative testing focusses more on testing along the way while the summative testing focuses on the big test for the grade at the end. Both of them seek to evaluate student progress, but formative works toward the end goal while summative is the end goal. I do think this type of testing would better evaluate student need because it will help to better monitor student progress along the way and address their needs for further instruction along the way.

• How important is formative assessment (ongoing) in the new era of Common Core State Standards assessments (see Frequently asked questions about the Common Core Standards) to gain a greater understanding of this new initiative)? Why is the use of formative assessment an important method in diagnosing your students' needs in order to create effective instruction?

I really do not understand this question because of the open parenthesis. If the question is whether formative assessment is important, I think it is for all of the reasons I have explained. Diagnosing students' needs is effective because it helps the educators know whether they are moving too quickly or slowly, whether the students are actually grasping the material and monitor progress.