Chapter 9

When I first began teaching, assessment wasn't really important to me as I'm sure it wasn't with other first year teachers. I was more focused on other things such as classroom management and lesson planning. Today as a fifth year teacher, I am beginning to pay more attention to assessment. One thing I don't realize is that many times I AM assessing my students; through observations and anecdotal notes. As a teacher, my goal is to use a variety of assessments to fit my students learning styles and that one way of testing isn't always ideal for some students. Many times they do have the knowledge, it's just a matter of finding the right testing method to elicit that knowledge. One thing I learned and realized from this summer's assessment class is that many of the assessments such as the SBA's aren't a realistic measurement of our students' strength and that they only test for certain knowledge. Our students have a wealth of knowledge and strengths in other areas such as knowledge of the land, culture, songs, and traditions of the Yup'ik people. Our Yup'ik Immersion Program has a big problem when it comes time to assessments. They are required to test the students' in English tests such as AIMSWeb, IPT, and the Lower Yukon Standardized Tests even though they are teaching in Yup'ik. What a disadvantage! It'n no wonder we always fail in tests! We are being set up for failure!