Teachers,
There are a wide variety of assessments and assessment practices available to you to use throughout the school year. Some of these assessments are required for all students and some of these are available to you for use as you evaluate student performance and design classroom instruction. Each of the following assessment types are used throughout Murray County as a way to evaluate the impact of instruction and inform differentiated instruction for all.
Formative assessment, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment.
Summative assessment. The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Summative Assessment. Georgia Milestones is an example of a summative assessment; however, end of unit assessments are also considered summative.
Diagnostic assessment is a form of pre-assessment that allows a teacher to determine students' individual strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills prior to instruction. It is primarily used to diagnose student difficulties and to guide lesson and curriculum planning.
Benchmark assessments: Typically these assessmentsare formal, and may be computer-scored and administered. They provide teachers with information about which content standards have been mastered and which require additional instruction, identifying students' strengths and needs
Pre/Post Assessment. Pre/Post testing is a useful method for measuring the "value-added" by a program of study. Students are given a test or assignment at the beginning of a course or program. To evaluate the level of student improvement, a similar test or assignment is administered at the end of the course or program