Jennily Martinez-Rodriguez
ECE – 230
September 5th, 2021
Tiffany Ralston
Introduction
Pre-assessments motivate and encourage a growth mindset in students. In mathematics, they can enhance learning support and good instructional practice. The pre-assessment on math subjects will be in the form of a questionnaire.
Example of a Pre-Assessment
What are some of the challenges you face when tackling a math problem?
What is it about math that interests you?
What is it about math that disinterests you?
What do you struggle with in math?
Do you prefer solving equations or solving word problems?
What can I do to help you understand math better?
Summary
The intention of the questionnaire above as a pre-assessment was to see the thinking and analytical process of the students, which will reflect what needs to be done to contribute to successful performance. According to the pre-assessment results above, the three students assigned for the assessment appeared to be deeply engaged in the instructions, very polite, and compliant. According to the pre-assessment, they have shown significant improvement in how they understand and analyze questions. The recent scores have increased considerably as compared to the last pre-assessment resulting in minimal academic progress.
One of the student’s areas of weakness was interpreting and critically analyzing a question before answering. However, during this assessment, they scored better marks as compared to their same-aged peers. Given these scores, it is not surprising that they were determined to improve on their math grade. Administering these probes will build their confidence when solving math problems. As they continue taking up more mathematical challenges, their decoding skills will continue to improve on their grades in math. Continued pre-assessments will enhance their learning in different ways. However, these three students need careful investigation before a decision is made on the effectiveness of this pre-assessment.
The information from the pre-assessment will help in future instructional planning for the students by ensuring the learning objectives and the instructional strategies need to position so that they complement one another closely. Teachers should trust the results from the pre-assessment because of their direct connection to classroom instructional goals (Oo, Alonzo, and Davison). The results of the pre-assessment are immediate and easy to interpret at the individual student level. To use the classroom pre-assessment results to improve how the math teacher discusses math problems in class. However, for these three students, teachers must change both their perception of pre-assessments and their interpretation of results based on the strengths and weaknesses they portrayed as they were working on the math questions. Specifically, they need to see the pre-assessment results as a fundamental part of the instruction process and as vital for helping the three students learn and understand mathematics.
Even though teachers play an essential role in communicating with students about pre-assessments, parents are equally important. Communicating to the parents of these three students about the pre-assessment results is a crucial step in assisting them in understanding the academic growth of their children, the strong and weak points, and what to do to play a role in goal setting and overall give them a role in improving their children’s learning and academic performance. Therefore as a teacher, there are ways in which parents can communicate the pre-assessments and the results better. To communicate the results to the parents, a teacher can have them often meet at the school to discuss their children’s academic progress. Also, teachers can explain why they felt there was a need to have an assessment. Teachers should ensure that they share with the parents the tests being administered to their kids and how the results will improve their academic performance. Additionally, the teacher can point out the academic strengths and weaknesses of their children and how they can help handle the concerns beyond a classroom setting, especially if the pre-assessment results point to a particular thing a parent can do.
Reflection on the Importance of the Pre-Assessment Process
Pre-assessments play a critical role in students’ learning, their will to learn, and how teachers instruct during lessons. Pre-assessments are lodged in the learning process because they are associated with curriculum and classroom instructions (Chen and Bonner p.385). Teachers and students work towards attaining curriculum outcomes, where pre-assessments are imperative in informing instruction, guiding, and motivating the students while keeping tabs on their progress, improvement, and achievements. The importance of pre-assessments is that they help teachers gain insight into what students comprehend, which helps plan and guide instructions, thus presenting impactful feedback to students. Further, teachers will use different pre-assessment processes and strategies such as questionnaires and letter identifications, among others, for classroom pre-assessments and integrate them to complement the pre-assessment purpose and academic needs of individual students. Pre-assessments are also crucial because they help students be assessed to be conscious of how they learn while using the awareness to improve their learning. Additionally, pre-assessments inform students, teachers, and parents of educational achievement at a particular curriculum point to plan the needed interventions and support the continued progress and improvements.
Assessments should yield evidence and conclusions that are fair to all students assessed. To avoid inequities during the pre-assessment results, teachers should ensure that the assessment process is unbiased and impartial by providing contexts equally familiar to all the students. In order to accommodate different diversities, the students with different diversified perspectives should be given room to review the assessment tools to avoid leaning towards students of a certain data. In doing so, the data collected after a pre-assessment process will uphold ethics and make appropriate accommodations for the assessed students. Accommodations, especially for students with disabilities, should also be considered by teachers before a pre-assessment process. A teacher should ensure they have specialized instructions to be fair and unbiased.
Conclusion
In conclusion, pre-assessments are effective in motivating students to address their weaknesses to improve their academic performance. In addition, these processes and strategies enable teachers and parents to formulate strategies that will make these students feel motivated in learning.
References
Chen, Peggy P., and Sarah M. Bonner. “A Framework for Classroom Assessment, Learning, and Self-Regulation.” Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 27.4 (2020): 373-393.
Oo, Cherry Zin, Dennis Alonzo, and Chris Davison. “Pre-service Teachers’ Decision-Making and Classroom Assessment Practices.” Frontiers in Education. Vol. 6. Frontiers, 2021.