Scarsdale Public Schools

Student assessment is the process of evaluating students’ abilities and achievements.  It is an ongoing continuous and daily activity in every classroom, and it is integral to effective teaching.
 
Student assessment in the Scarsdale Public Schools includes both classroom assessment and standardized testing.  While in some minds “standardized testing” is synonymous with “student assessment,” student assessment actually encompasses a variety of ways to determine how students are progressing in their learning.  

Classroom Assessments  
Student assessment begins in the classroom. Each teacher evaluates students informally every day, observing their responses to questions, classroom contributions, interactions with other students, and acquisition of specific skills and concepts. The teacher uses these informal observations to answer these questions:, “Are the students learning the specific skills?  Have the students understood the concept I was trying to teach?”  If the answer is “NO”, the good teacher looks for another way to illuminate the skill and concept, either for the whole class or for the individual student. If the answer is “Yes”, then the teacher can move on to new skills and concepts.

Periodically, teachers augment these informal student assessments with more formal measures. Teachers use two types of formal assessment: 

• One type of assessment measures students’ ability to answer well-structured, unconditional questions (e.g., true/false, multiple-choice, short answer, essay questions, or math problems). 
• An alternative type of assessment evaluates students using a variety of indicators and sources of evidence, for example: 
  • Performance Assessment - a teacher’s evaluation of the process students use to solve a problem or complete a project demonstrating their knowledge and skills, as well as the evaluation of the product they create. 
  • Portfolio Assessment - involves teacher evaluation of a collection of samples of an individual student’s work showing progress over time. 

 Another way to characterize assessments is by purpose: 

• Assessment OF Learning is a summative measure of what a student has learned after instruction has ended, such as: unit test, mid-year exam, final exam.
• Assessment FOR Learning is a formative measure of what the student already knows and does not know so the teacher may plan future instruction accordingly, such as with STAR.
• Assessment AS Learning occurs when the assessment is the learning activity, such as the 5th grade Capstone project, an activity or project designed to also be a measure of learning.  These are also known as performance assessments and typically include a scoring rubric.