The bridge between teaching and learning
Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning, according to assistant principals in curriculum and instruction at Ettalong Public School.
Writing in the school newsletter, Mr Aaron Johnston and Ms Renee Robertson said that it was important because of the "uncomfortable fact" that "students do not learn what we teach".
"It is only by assessing that we can figure out whether what our students learned was what we wanted them to learn.
"That's why formative assessment is at the heart of every teacher's practice.
"Assessment no longer always takes the form of a final assessment at the end of a unit and can be ongoing and observational."
Assessment was used "to tell us where a child is functioning, to help plan instruction and to help evaluate the success of instructional intervention".
"The idea is, we should start from where our students are, not from where we'd like them to be."
SOURCE:
Newsletter, 7 Jun 2024
Aaron Johnston, Renee Roberston, Ettalong Public School