E31 - "The beauty of assessment"

The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast

Perhaps the title of this episode doesn’t fully correspond to your feelings about assessment; regardless, classroom assessment is something we need to face up to! 💯 In this episode, Shey and Anna unpack their relationship to assessment. Listen and learn what teachers are saying about summative and formative assessment and to review some of the key concepts of assessment.

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References & resources

• Carr, N. (2011). Designing and Analyzing Language Tests. Oxford University Press.
• “Making Meaningful Assessments.” AmericanEnglish.org.
• “A Brief History of the SAT, America’s Most Popular College Entrance Exam.” BestColleges.com.
• “The History of the SAT.” Manhattan Review.
• Rosalis, J. & Walker, T. (2021) “The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing.” National Education Association.

Further listening:

• For an alternative form of assessment, listen to Episode 27 – Why we ♥ project-based learning.
• For our discussion of flexible deadlines, listen to Episode 7 - Building Rapport on Day 1.

Questions for Reflection:

• What is your relationship to assessment?
• How do you balance validity, authenticity, reliability and practicality as a teacher?
• How do you make formative assessment truly valuable for your students?