Assessments -- What's the point?

     Pre-assessments, post- assessments, formative assessments, summative assessments, state mandated assessments, common assessments, the list goes on for the buzz words around assessment in education.  Many wonder if we are over-assessing our children.  So what is the point of all this assessment? Why are there mandated assessments? What purpose does assessment serve the children?  That is ultimately the question that we should always be asking when it comes to questioning educational decisions.
     Assessment in it's best form is the heart of the classroom.  Assessment is how teachers know what students know and how they make decisions about instruction.  When teachers are making decisions about what to teach, they use the state standards as their base, but ultimately their students are the driving force in where instructional time is spent.
     Many units of study begin with a pre-assessment.  This automatically gets a bad rap because of the "a" word attached to it.  But this is a way for teachers to figure out what students know before they begin teaching.  Nobody wants to waste time, least of all teachers, who are constantly trying to make time where there is none.  So a pre-assessment informs teachers of student strengths and what they need more practice in.  It's not anything that induces anxiety or fear.  It's not time-consuming.
     In the elementary world, the units of study then proceed and teachers check in with students daily in many different ways to "assess" their progress towards mastery of the learning targets (what they are aiming to learn).  Sometimes these "check-ins" look like tests.  Other times they are more like a one or two question "exit slip" as students are wrapping up their day.  These all lead teachers to make more decisions about what needs to be taught next.  At the end of each unit there is usually an assessment, which also informs teachers and students of how well they mastered the learning done in that unit.  But the learning doesn't end there!
   In short, assessments are a tool for teachers and students to monitor the learning they are doing.  Taking the state tests out of the equation, most of the assessments our students are taking are being used by teachers to determine if they are ready to move on or if they need more practice in different skills.  Unfortunately, grades often drive the anxiety that comes with assessments.  Grades are a by-product of assessing, not the true purpose... but that's a whole other can of worms, a blog for another day.