What makes a good assessment good?
20/11/06 12:22 Filed in: Good assessment | Basics
Using assessments can help your students increase their application of a biblical perspective to course content, particularly if the assessments are good assessments. So, what makes a good assessment good?
Before I answer that question, please identify 3-4 characteristics of a good assessment. Please do this right now. Before reading any more….
Good. Now that you have identified 3-4 characteristics of a good assessment, keep reading.
Shortest answer: CAWR (Welsh for “giant”)
Shorter answer:
(1) Connect: An effective biblical perspective assessment requires students to connect course content and a biblical perspective or (preferably) course content, their lives, and a biblical perspective. (Please remember that connecting course content and a biblical perspective does not mean having students develop object lessons or associate Bible verses with a topic.)
What does this look like in Social Studies 5? Write a one-page essay about the following: Based on what the Bible teaches about war, would you have fought in the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists? In your answer, explain what the Bible teaches (cite two Bible verses). Next, use what the Bible teaches to evaluate reasons colonists fought in the war. Conclude with what you would do and why.
(2) Assess: An effective biblical perspective assessment assesses student learning—not student faith. Students are sensitive to this and may feel that being assessed on how well they can use a biblical perspective means being assessed on how good a Christian they are.
To address this, design assessments that assess how well a student can apply a biblical perspective of money—not if they are committed honoring Jesus by implementing it. Or design an assessment in which a student has to explain the plan of salvation to a hypothetical person—not the extent to which the student is committed to Jesus.
This is similar to how other assessments are handled. For example, if a student does a 12-minute run for a fitness test, the score is not affected by the degree to which the student is committed to running. If a student takes a reading test, the score is not affected by the degree to which the student is committed to reading. Assessment should assess learning, not motivation.
Assessing student learning also means assessing what was taught—another way to make clear to students that their faith is not being assessed. Target teaching valued-added content, which includes new content and/or connections between course content and a biblical perspective.
For example, teach students the just war theory and ask them to apply it to a war that they studied in class. Teach students about what it means to be created in God’s image and have them apply this to substance abuse issues studied in class. (See sidebar “Being Christian Does Not Equal Being Proficient.”)
(3) Worthy: An effective biblical perspective assessment is worthy of being taught to. With an effective assessment, there is no danger of over-teaching to the assessment—just like there is no danger of over-teaching to a band concert, an Advanced Placement test, or a basketball game.
Our seniors, for example, give a 30-minute presentation of an analysis of and biblical response to a social issue—we teach to this assessment and we find that we cannot over-teach to this assessment.
(4) Rigorous: An effective biblical perspective assessment is rigorous. It’s challenging, engaging, and requires appropriate thinking levels. Biblical perspective assessments should be showcase assessments.
For example: Write a 750-word reflection on the power and prevalence of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, and how Christians are to think about and respond to them. Support your answer from literature, history, current events, your experience, and the Bible. In your essay, be sure to include at least two quotations from Night, an analysis of the biblical principles of how God intends for people to treat other people (using at least three quotations from the Bible), and at least one general action people can take and one specific thing you can do.
Before I answer that question, please identify 3-4 characteristics of a good assessment. Please do this right now. Before reading any more….
Good. Now that you have identified 3-4 characteristics of a good assessment, keep reading.
Shortest answer: CAWR (Welsh for “giant”)
Shorter answer:
- Connect
- Assess
- Worthy
- Require
- Connect course content and a biblical perspective or (preferably) course content, their lives, and a biblical perspective
- Assess student learning
- Worthy of being taught to
- Require upper-level thinking
(1) Connect: An effective biblical perspective assessment requires students to connect course content and a biblical perspective or (preferably) course content, their lives, and a biblical perspective. (Please remember that connecting course content and a biblical perspective does not mean having students develop object lessons or associate Bible verses with a topic.)
What does this look like in Social Studies 5? Write a one-page essay about the following: Based on what the Bible teaches about war, would you have fought in the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists? In your answer, explain what the Bible teaches (cite two Bible verses). Next, use what the Bible teaches to evaluate reasons colonists fought in the war. Conclude with what you would do and why.
(2) Assess: An effective biblical perspective assessment assesses student learning—not student faith. Students are sensitive to this and may feel that being assessed on how well they can use a biblical perspective means being assessed on how good a Christian they are.
To address this, design assessments that assess how well a student can apply a biblical perspective of money—not if they are committed honoring Jesus by implementing it. Or design an assessment in which a student has to explain the plan of salvation to a hypothetical person—not the extent to which the student is committed to Jesus.
This is similar to how other assessments are handled. For example, if a student does a 12-minute run for a fitness test, the score is not affected by the degree to which the student is committed to running. If a student takes a reading test, the score is not affected by the degree to which the student is committed to reading. Assessment should assess learning, not motivation.
Assessing student learning also means assessing what was taught—another way to make clear to students that their faith is not being assessed. Target teaching valued-added content, which includes new content and/or connections between course content and a biblical perspective.
For example, teach students the just war theory and ask them to apply it to a war that they studied in class. Teach students about what it means to be created in God’s image and have them apply this to substance abuse issues studied in class. (See sidebar “Being Christian Does Not Equal Being Proficient.”)
(3) Worthy: An effective biblical perspective assessment is worthy of being taught to. With an effective assessment, there is no danger of over-teaching to the assessment—just like there is no danger of over-teaching to a band concert, an Advanced Placement test, or a basketball game.
Our seniors, for example, give a 30-minute presentation of an analysis of and biblical response to a social issue—we teach to this assessment and we find that we cannot over-teach to this assessment.
(4) Rigorous: An effective biblical perspective assessment is rigorous. It’s challenging, engaging, and requires appropriate thinking levels. Biblical perspective assessments should be showcase assessments.
For example: Write a 750-word reflection on the power and prevalence of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, and how Christians are to think about and respond to them. Support your answer from literature, history, current events, your experience, and the Bible. In your essay, be sure to include at least two quotations from Night, an analysis of the biblical principles of how God intends for people to treat other people (using at least three quotations from the Bible), and at least one general action people can take and one specific thing you can do.