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Pre-assessment
Hello, all. We just did some school Learning Improvement Plan reflecting and we had some lingering questions about pre-assessment. Many of our common math assessments currently imply that you should be able to read to do math. How might everyone be approaching “pre-assessment” or diagnostics? I’ve got some ideas, and am totally aware this can’t be “simplified”. Just thought I’d through it out there for discussion.
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2 Replies
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Hi Robin,
While there is never any hard-fast rules that we can live by, I’d argue that you don’t need to know how to read to do mathematics. By sitting with students in small groups, you can interview them to get at their mathematical thinking.
Wondering if you wouldn’t mind reminding us of what grade level you’re working with?
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>I totally agree. I teach grade 7, but the reflecting was driven by some lower-elementary and French immersion colleagues. So much of math is communicating and verifying your thinking. I’m wondering how often we get bogged down by the assessment tool more than all the possible options to for students to demonstrate their thinking. In general, considering these possibilities is a big shift in teaching, learning, and assessment in all areas (think Tomlinson and differentiated instruction and assessment), but I’d say especially in Math.</p>
