Culminating Views on Assessment

What Is Assessment, Really? In my high school English classroom, I aim to make assessment more than a grade. I believe that effective assessment should be an ongoing conversation between teacher and student. When it works well, assessment helps me understand what students know, where they are growing, and what kind of support they still need. More importantly, it helps students recognize that their voice matters and that they play an active role in their own learning. I define assessment as the purposeful gathering of evidence about student learning in ways that promote both academic growth and instructional reflection (Brookhart, 2017). Whether students are analyzing a poem, constructing an argument, or revising a personal narrative, assessment is how I connect daily instruction to meaningful objectives. It should never feel like a disconnected event—it should feel like a part of the learning process. When I plan assessments, I begin with the big picture. I consider the standards, of ...