Running Header: ASSESSMENT OF LEARNERS

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment of Learners

Rachel Chadwick
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNERS

Introduction
Assessment is an integral part of instruction, primarily because it helps determine
whether or not the goals of education are being met. In this, students are asked to
demonstrate their understanding of specific content knowledge, which then gives the
teacher a profile of each students learning. This information is valuable in forming
groups for remediation, further instruction, or acceleration. Evaluating how the standards
of the lessons are being met by looking at assessments should ultimately raise the
questions of Are we teaching what we think we are teaching? Are students learning
what they should be? and lead to the continued growth and development of each student.
Rationale
The first item I selected for this artifact is the assessment that I gave my students
at the end of two weeks worth of instruction on revising. This content is something that
was not new to my students, but built on the foundation that they already had received up
until this point. Understanding each part of the writing process is a skill that is addressed
throughout third grade, but specifically elaborated on at different points during the school
year. I had the opportunity to provide the instruction for revising in the writing process,
and administer a formal evaluation or assessment of students progress.
The first part of this revising assessment includes short answer. I had students
define what it means to revise ones writing, asking them to state the three main goals of
revising that we covered, and then explain why it is important for good writers to revise
their writing. The next page had students show, dont tell when it comes to revising
sentences. I explained that the ones listed in the boxes were at a kindergarten level, and
they needed to create them into third grade sentences by adding details, action verbs, and

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strong adjectives in order to show the reader what was going on in the sentence. Finally,
the students had to revise an entire paragraph by changing or adding certain parts to
better elaborate the main idea. This had been scaffolded the week prior, where I first
modeled how to revise sentence by sentence, then later had groups of students practice,
followed by having them complete revising activities on an individual level.
The second item I selected is the data record from the assessment. Based on the
assessment I gave, over half of my students had complete mastery of the revision process,
and were able to define and give examples of what revision means, revise six sentences
by showing, not telling, and successfully revise a paragraph using transition words,
details, and different sounding sentences. There were a couple students who still struggle
significantly, while the rest know how to revise their writing at a minimum. I found that
most of the mistakes involved explaining the term revision and what it meant in writing.
Although the results show that my students can apply the concept in practice form, I
believe that there is still a disconnect in their ability to explain its purpose on paper. This
will be something that I will address again before moving on to the next stage of writing.
I selected these artifacts because I wanted to include an example of how I assess
the learning of my students and then use the data to determine their progress in meeting
the grade-level objectives. The class that I am teaching is a gifted cluster, where roughly
one-fourth of my students are identified gifted. In my instruction, I want to challenge
my students in ways that push them to think above what is generally standard for a third
grader. For this reason, I designed my assessment to stretch the understanding of my
students and give them the opportunity to showcase many of their creative abilities in
writing.

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNERS
Reflection
Based on the assessment I gave my students, I believe that this artifact
exemplifies my own understanding and implementation of the standard revise writing
for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information (ELA.3.7.2). With this

particular assessment, it was my way to evaluate the progress that my students have made
in taking what they know about revising and applying it through formal means. The use
of assessments teaches myself as an educator the varied levels of understanding that exist
in the classroom and the responsibility of equitably meeting all students at their readiness
level. For many, this readiness level may be well above what is normal for the rest of the
class, which gives me an opportunity to match both my instruction and assessment to
reach different learners.
Because every student has been given different gifts, strengths, and abilities, it
was helpful for me to see what direction to head with each individual while on their way
to complete mastery. From examining the results of this revision assessment, I feel it is
important to address the purpose of instructional content before any learning takes place.
Waugh and Gronlund speak to this role of instructional objectives in assessment, saying,
If the students are made aware of the objectives at the beginning of instruction, both
teacher and students are working toward common goals, and instruction and assessment
are both part of the same process (Waught & Gronlund, 2013, p. 35). In conclusion, I
want to better maximize my students wide range of abilities by integrating a focus and
meaning for their learning that they can more effectively translate to future assessments.

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNERS
Resources
Waugh, C. Keith, & Gronlund, Norman E. (2013). Assessment of Student Achievement.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.