Classroom Assessment

The primary distinction between internal and external assessment are the teachers. Teachers are expected to use classroom assessment as part of the job. There are a variety of ways teachers assess students in order to monitor progress, to grade performance and to modify instruction. But the manner in which teachers choose to assess students has a significant impact on the students' classroom experience. In many ways, the format and content of repeated quizzes and tests defines a students' experience of school and influences their view of the discipline.

Classroom assessment is a nonstandardized, localized process idiosyncratic to teachers' beliefs, knowledge and experience. The manner in which classroom assessment is constructed, enacted and utilized is teacher dependent. Classroom assessment requires teachers to make regular decisions and judgments about student learning on an ongoing basis. Assessment is the process of identifying, observing and interpreting cognition in order to designing and implementing classroom assessments. Teachers' conceptions of how students learn influence not only how they interpret students' work, but also the content and nature of feedback they provide (Delaware Professional Teaching Standard #8: Assessment). Prior to assessment design, teachers' should gather information through interviews, observation and testing. It is also important to create an environment in which students are encourage sharing their thoughts with their peers and are willing to be sensitive to the social fabric of the classroom (Delaware Professional Teaching Standard #5: Learning Environment).

External assessments also influence schools and classrooms, especially schools that serve students of poverty and other at-risk populations. School administrators and teachers should be familiar with the benefits and risks of external assessments. The practical reality is that the push for educational accountability, coupled with limited resources, will result in external assessments that cannot be replicating in classroom practices (Delaware Professional Teaching Standard #9: Professional Growth). External assessment will motivate teachers to prepare students for a successful testing rather than learning, restricting student involvement and enjoyment.

The question for those interested in improving formative assessment is not whether there are effects, but to what degree can these effects be minimized or leveraged