Cathy Vatterott began her ASCD Conference on Teaching and Learning session, "Not Your Mother's Gradebook: Transitioning to Standards-Based Learning," by asking participants to think about the reasons that conventional tests may not be the best method to assess student learning.
Participants shared that
- Tests can be rigid, covering only specific goals and objectives as taught in a particular textbook.
- Tests lack formative assessment.
- Some students are not good test takers. Some children will do poorly no matter whether it is a commercial test or a teacher-made test.
- Some tests are timed, and some students do not do well in a timed situation.
Next, Vattertott asked attendees to answer this question: On a typical high school geometry test,
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