In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students (McMillan, 2014). There are many external factors that can have a negative influence on a child being assessed. According Gonzalez (2012), poverty, discrimination, and lack of equity and social justice in assessment and teaching practices have been demonstrated as the key factors making these negative influences.
Diana Vs. CA State Board of Education was the first to show these negative external influences students are experiencing when being assessed (Donald MacMillan, 1988). Prior to the case of Diana v. CA State …show more content…
I agree that these three skills need to be improved to assist our students better. First, we must improve teacher training in classroom-based assessment, so we can move away from the more traditional quiz and test assessment models. By training the teacher in these new techniques the teacher will be able to assess more often in a manner that the students may feel more comfortable answering questions and providing feedback on the information they have learned. Second, if we use the students first language in linking academic competencies we can help reach the students in a more effective manner by adapting instruction to their needs where it be more visual representation or reading material that is more appropriate to their appropriate ESOL level. In addition, to represent the student’s cultural status in classroom-based assessments we could be more selective of the reading prompts and materials we use in our …show more content…
More research still needs to be conducted on the internal and external factors affecting the assessment of language proficiency and its relations to cognitive and academic literacy in diverse students. We need to continue looking into the relationship between the home and schooling factors as well as the teacher training in assessments. Teachers who have suitable training can use the classroom-based assessments as tools that can help the students reach their full potential. As educators it is our responsibility to not only advocate for our “ traditional white American student” but for our multilingual/bilingual students, including the large group of Latinos, to have an equal and genuine opportunity to succeed academically and have access to higher education and the middle class America in the 21st century (Gonzalez,
Diana Vs. CA State Board of Education was the first to show these negative external influences students are experiencing when being assessed (Donald MacMillan, 1988). Prior to the case of Diana v. CA State …show more content…
I agree that these three skills need to be improved to assist our students better. First, we must improve teacher training in classroom-based assessment, so we can move away from the more traditional quiz and test assessment models. By training the teacher in these new techniques the teacher will be able to assess more often in a manner that the students may feel more comfortable answering questions and providing feedback on the information they have learned. Second, if we use the students first language in linking academic competencies we can help reach the students in a more effective manner by adapting instruction to their needs where it be more visual representation or reading material that is more appropriate to their appropriate ESOL level. In addition, to represent the student’s cultural status in classroom-based assessments we could be more selective of the reading prompts and materials we use in our …show more content…
More research still needs to be conducted on the internal and external factors affecting the assessment of language proficiency and its relations to cognitive and academic literacy in diverse students. We need to continue looking into the relationship between the home and schooling factors as well as the teacher training in assessments. Teachers who have suitable training can use the classroom-based assessments as tools that can help the students reach their full potential. As educators it is our responsibility to not only advocate for our “ traditional white American student” but for our multilingual/bilingual students, including the large group of Latinos, to have an equal and genuine opportunity to succeed academically and have access to higher education and the middle class America in the 21st century (Gonzalez,