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Can one snapshot possibly capture all that you know about your child?
Of course not!
A snapshot can capture a moment in time, but children are constantly changing. You would need a photo album to represent the highlights of your child over the years. And even then, your treasured collection is only a sample of all that you know about your child.
It’s the same thing with classroom assessment. The mark your child receives on a test or assignment is just a snapshot of their performance at that moment in time. It can’t possibly represent everything your child knows and can do, and it definitely does not represent their potential or their worth.
Your child is unique! You know that as a parent, and yet sometimes we want assessments to compare students with each other. Try to resist that urge! Rather than asking for the class average (as if there ever was an average class or an average student), ask how your child is doing in relation to the goals of the curriculum. Look for improvement in key skills that last throughout the entire year and will continue throughout their schooling and their life.
The best learning takes place within an environment where children feel confident and safe to take risks with their learning, and where mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow.
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Perhaps most important, be sure that a child never sees a mark they receive on a “snapshot” of learning as an evaluation of their worth. Well-meaning family members sometimes want to reward top report card marks. Instead, help them look for ways to celebrate learning rather than celebrating marks.
And what about large-scale assessments? Perhaps your child’s school uses some of these tests. In a recent webinar, Dylan Wiliam, an advocate for effective classroom assessment, recently posed this question: “Why rely on an out-of-focus photo taken by a complete stranger?”
Large-scale assessments can provide helpful information to the teacher, but don’t let these test results occupy too much space in the photo album!
The best learning takes place within an environment where children feel confident and safe to take risks with their learning, and where mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. When parents and teachers work together to create such environments, our children are truly set for success — in school and in life.
Sherry Bennett is executive director of the Alberta Assessment Consortium, an organization that advocates for sound assessment practices and contributes to the building of assessment literacy through research and inquiry.
