Student Assessment and Data Literacy

Many schools today have made standardized benchmark assessments a focal point for student learning. Becoming literate in assessment data can take some time, but it is a crucial skill for raising student achievement. Understanding and utilizing benchmark assessment results can have a major impact on the students&s; success. High-stakes standardized assessment, often used for accountability, has major consequences for stakeholders in education, mainly students and teachers. Teachers often rely on informal assessment and feedback techniques that yield little information, neglecting the majority of students. Formative assessment is an incredibly powerful tool for teachers and students in the learning process. The effective use of formative assessments can be overwhelming for new teachers and even those with experience. A portfolio features a collection of students&s; work/progress over the course of a given timeframe. Each student could have a folder dedicated to their online portfolio, where teachers include the cover sheet and pictures or scanned versions of the student&s;s artifacts.