Evidence of Successful Teaching

In a traditional classroom environment, a student’s knowledge and understanding are typically assessed using a test or exam. After a child completes a unit of study, he is asked a series of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, or essay questions. These answers will be compared against an answer key and a score given that defines that child’s mastery of the material. Many homeschooling parents approach assessment with this same mindset. Instead of sticking with a system because it is comfortable and pervasive, however, homeschooling parents should look at both 1) why assessment is done this way and 2) what are some other options for assessment.

Objective, Easy to Administer, Easy to Score

Schools use testing to assess learning because it is objective, easy to administer, and easy to score. As a homeschooling parent, you have more flexibility to use subjective measures and more time to assess in creative, productive, and insightful ways.

Parents are generally comfortable with testing as a form of assessment. After all, this is the way most of us were assessed while we were in school. It is worth asking, however, whether this is really the best way to assess a child’s knowledge and understanding.

Evidence Of Successful Teaching

When looking for an alternative, the following questions are a great place to begin framing your thinking on the subject:

• “What is the evidence of successful teaching?”
• “How can I be sure that my child has gained understanding?”

• Explanation,
• Interpretation,
• Application,
• Perspective,
• Empathy, and
• Self-knowledge.

It is essential to move beyond asking whether a child knows the “right answer”. A student who really understands a topic should be able to explain information about the topic, interpret information related to the topic, apply skills, and look at the topic from a different perspective.

Below is a list of ways you can assess your child's understanding on a topic. This is not a comprehensive list but provides some helpful ways of thinking about assessment:

• Argue for or against something,
• Explain an event, fact, or idea,
• Interpret situations and texts,
• Apply what is known in a novel way, or
• Appreciate a different point of view

Two Practical Alternatives

You may ask, “How do I know if my child understands an idea or unit if I don’t give him a test?” There are many alternatives to the traditional test. Two practical alternatives that will be discussed here include daily questions and activities and products.

Many parents do not realize that assessments do not have to be limited to the end of a unit of study. Rather, they can and should happen every single day as you teach your child. Here are some examples of informal daily assessments of your child’s understanding:

• Asking questions about a book,
• Discussing why an experiment turned out a certain way,
• Solving a math problem, or
• Writing a sentence using a vocabulary word.

Each of these examples is an informal assessment of your child’s understanding, but many parents don’t realize this because there is often no “answer key”. In truth, the best questions we can ask our children are often open-ended questions that do not have a right or wrong answer. These questions not only encourage higher-level thinking, but they are also a powerful tool to aid in understanding whether true understanding has really taken place. This does not mean that we never ask our children questions with right or wrong answers, but that we try to use a variety of different types of questions. It is the daily interactions and informal checks that allow us to monitor our children’s understanding of instructional material on a regular basis.

Many educators believe that products and projects can be very effective methods of assessment at the end of a unit of study. With a product, your child is not just able to “memorize” an answer, but must know how to apply information, understanding, and skills gained in a unit of study. A product can be a much more informative assessment tool than a test. In a test, a child can either guess the right answer or get the wrong answer even though they know a lot of information about the question. In either case, a judgment is rendered that is incomplete at best and wrong at worst. A product allows a child to demonstrate a deep understanding in a way that a test can rarely do.

The use of products as an assessment tool more closely correlates to how your children will be assessed once they are finished with school. Your child will likely not grow up to be a professional test taker. Rather, they will be asked to solve problems and complete products on a daily basis.

Rubrics can be used to enhance the use of products or projects as an assessment tool. A rubric is a scoring tool for a piece of work. It lets the student know up front what is going to be measured and what counts.

Summary

Does this mean that children should never be tested? Of course not. There are many great reasons to take tests. Students will need to take tests to get into college, show proficiency for their state, and to enter graduate school. It is OK to administer tests because they can be objective and easy to score, as long as they are one component of a larger ongoing assessment plan that includes both formal and informal assessments.

My personal opinion is that formal testing should be delayed until the third grade. With young children we can gain a deeper understanding through conversation and activities on their developmental level. The mechanics of reading and writing, a shorter attention span, and lack of understanding a test’s significance can all limit a young child’s ability to take a traditional test. Observing the way your child solves a math problem or organizes the sentences in a paragraph can give you great insight into her ability and understanding.

Assessment is a daily and on-going part of teaching. As a homeschooling parent you are in a great position to assess areas where your child is excelling and areas where they need more practice.