Florida Assessment Standard Test Order Instructions: Chances are you have administered a test and it did not yield the results you expected. Perhaps a small percentage of students demonstrated mastery of the standard(s).
Imagine the test results were disappointing, think about:
• Your audience
• The original assessment
• What alternative measures could have been used
In a word-processed document:
• Cite the Florida Standard(s) being tested
• Provide one test item from the original assessment
• Describe an alternative approach to assess the standard that the original test item addressed
• Discuss your rationale(consider VAK, your audience, and the alternative assessments outlined in course)
Standards cited
1. LAFS.4.RL.1.2 The student will determine the theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; and will be able to summarize the text.
2. LAFS.4.RL.1.3 The student will describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Florida Assessment Standard Test Sample Answer
Assessing Standards
In Florida, students take the Florida assessment standard test that is a suite for reading and writing to measure the students’ performance. The Florida assessment test outlines what the students should know at the end of each grade. This test is aimed at testing the standards in English language course. The students are required to determine the theme of a story drama or poem from the details in the text including the characters responses to different challenges, and make a summary of the script .they are also required to discuss in depth a character event or to set in a story drawing specific details from the text.
One of the key test items that were tested is reading and writing in the English language. This requires students to read and comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity, which helps them to grasp the message the writer intends to pass. Reading gives the students an opportunity to internalize their thoughts and opinions, as they will be required to put down in writing. Students recognize the text details that enable them to create mental characters and should apply the information to create a caricature of the character setting or event (Harper & de Jong, 2009). Reading also challenges the students to become investigators to be able to describe characters in depth using the character traits displayed in the text. They are required to use investigative strategies to explore characters or events individually. The culminating event will be a comprehensive summary of the text occurrences.
As indicated by the results of the first assessment this mode of evaluation is not as effective as expected. This is because some students were unable to demonstrate mastery of the standards and as stated by Harper & de Jong (2009) alternative ways of learning and assessment methods are needed. Traditional pen and paper tests are only effective in testing some skills such as listening but are insufficient when testing productive skills such as writing and speaking. The proficiency-oriented nature of language learning requires a variety of assessment options. Authentic and performance-based assessment is an alternative assessment which integrates traditional academic content with the knowledge and skills using a variety of expertise including real-world situations.
For a test to be authentic, it should connect in some way to the real world circumstances and problems. The assessment option also requires students to come up with a response and demonstrate the application of the knowledge in authentic context. It involves some performance relating to real life situations, and it is process oriented.
Florida Assessment Standard Test and The rationale for Alternative Assessment
My first reason for incorporating alternative assessment is that it goes beyond the evaluation of knowledge, to multiple goals of developing skills such as creative thinking, problem-solving and summarizing (Harper & de Jong, 2009). It also involves students in tasks, performances, demonstrations, and interviews reflecting on everyday circumstances. Apart from providing teachers with feedback for monitoring students, it also focuses on students’ strengths enabling the teacher to have a more accurate of the students’ abilities and inabilities. Alternative assessment method also meets the students’ different learning styles by offering a broad spectrum of evaluation possibilities. Finally, yet importantly, this assessment method allows s students to collaborate among themselves through group discussions. Although most schools focus on individuality, the real world encourages people to ask questions, discuss, get help and feedback. Denying students the right to work as a team diminishes the authenticity of the achievement (Harper & de Jong, 2009).
Florida Assessment Standard Test Reference
Harper, C. A., & de Jong, E. J. (2009). English language teacher expertise: The elephant in the room. Language and Education, 23(2), 137-151.
