A Teacher's Views on Classroom Assessment

Mathematics Instruction is assuming a new direction that includes a new perspective on assessment. Instruction and assessment cannot be separated, since what is assessed conveys to students what is important, and how that learning is assessed must be congruent to the method and emphasis of instruction. Much of formal mathematics evaluation and grading relies on assessing a student's product, such as a paper-and-pencil test or homework. Informally, teachers assess students' processes just as much as, or more than, their products. When the process and product aspects are combined, mathematics evaluation might be described as perfonnance assessment, in which the teacher observes a student carrying out a process and evaluates the student's performance as well as the product. If the majority of mathematics evaluation is asswned to be a type of performance assessment, the challenge becomes to establish performance criteria including the specific behaviors, products, and qualities of a student's work.