Narrator: Whether you're a kid, a parent,
a teacher, or just someone who pays attention to the news,
you've been probably been hearing about
assessment in schools lately,
for example, standardized tests.
So what's it all about?
This is Andre.
So much of the attention on assessing Andre's learning
usually goes to the state tests
that he and his classmates are required to take each year.
But these are snapshots.
They take up a small fraction
of kids' class time in schools.
These snapshots are very important.
For one thing, they're one of the best ways
we can check how well we're doing
at helping all students get ready for college and career,
especially students from groups who have,
historically, been left behind.
But we need to remember that this only one point in time
during a student's entire year
and it's only one type of assessment.
It's what educators call a summative assessment.
It helps us evaluate how well students learned
at the end of a certain timeframe.
For a more complete sense of how kids are doing in school,
we also need to rely on the expertise
of our classroom teachers and other educators.
We rely on our teachers to do
effective formative assessment.
That's a term for teacher techniques
that are nimble and in the moment
and help them find out where a student's at
with their thinking and their knowledge.
This helps teachers and students decide what's next.
This kind of assessment happens all the time
as a part of teacher's regular practice.
All information is data and some of our most helpful data
is the qualitative stuff that teachers and students gain
through formative assessment practices.
Schools also periodically use interim assessments.
When used strategically, interim assessments
help monitor who's on track and adjust along the way.
At the end of the day, being strategic
with all three types, formative, interim, and summative,
is the way schools make a big impact on student learning.
This is a strategic assessment system.
All three types of assessment work together
so everyone can get a better picture
of how Andre and his classmates are doing in school
and how we can help every child stay on the path
to graduating ready for college and career.
You can learn more about strategic assessment
at the Department of Public Instruction website.
(upbeat music)