"The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Information gathered through assessment helps teachers to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses in their achievement of the curriculum expectations in each subject in
each grade. This information also serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall effectiveness of programs and classroom practices." (The Ontario Curriculum Science and Technology, pg. 22)
The Ontario curriculum is designed in such a way that evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations, although all curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction and assessment. (See Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, p. 38.)
For as long as I have been creating resources for science and technology, teachers have been asking me how to assess what students have learned. Having been an Ontario teacher for over 30 years, I have developed a repertoire of assessment and evaluation techniques based on my lived experiences with students. When they are working I am making observations, giving them oral feedback and checking that their written work is accurate and complete.
As teachers we record our observations on checklists and use rubrics for major projects and notebooks. Each time I teach a new topic in science and technology, I use the student notebooks and their Let's Create! and Let's Inquire! tasks as part of my triangulation of data but I wanted to create an assessment piece that would help tie all of the parts of my assessment data together.
Enter my NEW editable assessment of learning tests!
These tests:
- address both what students learn and how well they learn;
- are based both on the categories of knowledge and skills and on the achievement level descriptions given in the achievement chart on pages 26–27
- accommodate students with special education needs, consistent with the strategies outlined in their Individual Education Plan;
- accommodate the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction;
