jeromedelisle consulting

TOBAGO WORKSHOP JULY 2013

AIMS, GOALS, LEARNING OUTCOMES

PHILOSOPHY & RATIONALE:

Assessment literacy is one of the weaker aspects of teaching-learning-assessment in many postcolonial developing contexts, including the high income small nation state of Trinidad and Tobago. Especially critical and urgent is the need for a new focus on promoting formal and informal formative assessment practice in the classroom, with assessment primarily designed to diagnose and improve student learning rather than simply to measure learning. This course privileges these aspects of classroom assessment while paying attention to the basics of assessment practice. Several models of formative assessment will be considered in confronting misconceptions and incongruent practices in Caribbean classrooms. Our research shows that conflicting postcolonial ways of teaching-learning and assessment can and do limit implementation efficiency and fidelity of formative, continuous, and school-based assessment.

AIM:

The programme aims to develop basic assessment competence in teachers following the guidelines provided by the Standards for Teacher Competence in the Educational Assessment of Students developed by the American Federation of Teachers, National Council on Measurement in Education, and National Education Association.

GOALS:

Develop skills in the basics of assessment, including knowledge of how to construct assessment items and tasks

Promote use of formative assessment in Tobago schools

Initiate diagnostic assessment in reading

Promote effective use of data for school improvement and instruction.

OUTCOMES:

Participants will be able to:

Interpret data from large scale assessments

Use formative assessment in the classroom in order to promote learning

Develop detailed specifications for items and tests

Develop meaningful assessment items and tasks to promote and measure learning

Implement the assessment of 21^st century skills