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Week 4: Literature Review

Carrie Creger
TED 690
June 27, 2019
National University
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Assessment is a pivotal piece of our educational system today, and one that

often becomes a highly debated topic among educators and parents alike. In the article;

Trusting Teachers’ Judgments: A Validity Study of a Curriculum-Embedded

Performance Assessment in Kindergarten to Grade 3, curriculum embedded

assessment is examined along with the question as to whether or not classroom

teachers are the best assessors of student achievement. Curriculum embedded

assessments “are defined as integrated parts of the learning experience that differ from

on-demand assessments, which are often external to the classroom. Curriculum-

embedded performance assessments are integrated into the daily curriculum and

instructional activities of a classroom” (P. 75). This is a stark contrast to standardized

tests. The question that is not uncommon among those in education asks; do teachers

have enough expertise to assess students accurately? Not only does this assessment

involve looking at the task at hand but also to take into account overall student

achievement and motivation. Although teachers are the people responsible to impart

knowledge and skills on students, but are these same people capable of just

assessment? The information gathered in this analyzation breaks this topic down by

examining a group of elementary students across grades K-5, in an urban school district

and focuses on their test scores, among other pertinent information that may impact

student performance such as socio-economic status. Scores from curriculum embedded

assessment along with scores from a standardized, individually administered

assessment were compared.

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Teachers are a significant piece of one’s educational journey and have a

tremendous amount of power when it comes to the planning and implementation of

learning experiences for students. Some argue that because teachers are the one’s that

spend such a significant amount of time with students and often have a true

understanding of the background of their students, this means that they would be the

best choice when it comes to assessment. On the contrary, it is believed by others that

because of this, some teachers may lack validity or reliability when it comes to true

assessment data (P. 74). Additionally, there are those that emphasize the reliability of

curriculum embedded assessment such as utilizing a set of questions in an exam or a

final paper as a way to analyze student learning, where others believe a standardized

test is the best way to measure true understanding. When students were assessed in

the particular school that is involved in this study, their results were tracked and logged

so that the results can be compared.

The information gathered from this study indicates that teachers are effective

when making conclusions regarding their students. “The results are encouraging and

support teachers’… to assess children’s achievement in the domains of literacy and

mathematical thinking in kindergarten to Grade 3” (P. 88). I believe these results are

founded due to the year long and intricate account recorded regarding student results

and other factors. Most teachers will not argue with the thought that they are accurate

and credible assessors of their students’ progress and this study verifies this idea.

There will always be critics that express distaste with certain assessment strategies and

may argue the validity of such choices. Each school site must do what they believe is

best for their students and for the specific needs of that population. Regardless of the
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type of assessment implemented or who will be completing the assessment, our job as

educators is to do what is best for each student and regardless of what other may think,

we must stand by these choices and continue to help encourage students to acquire

new skills and develop a taste for life long learning.

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References
Meisels, J. Samuel, DiPrima, Donna Nicholson, Julie, Xue, Yange and Atkins-Burnett,

Sally. Trusting Teachers’ Judgments: A Validity Study of a Curriculum-Embedded

Performance Assessment in Kindergarten to Grade 3. American Educational

Research Journal Spring 2001, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 73–95. Retrieved from

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8d51/504f77d4092429ced3ee665107e00abca

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