Assessment at TX

Assessment plays an important part in helping teachers, children and parents, recognise progress, understand needs, and to plan activities and support. This week and next, we are having a focused assessment fortnight and I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a bit more about the assessment process at TX, and the difference between tests and assessments.

Test - a critical examination, observation, or evaluation
The word 'test' suggests there is a pass or a fail.  At 18 years of age I took my driving test.  I failed the first one and then passed the second.  I failed because I did not meet the standard required to drive safely by myself.

Assessment - to determine the rate or amount of something
The purpose of assessment is to provide information to the assessor.  A gardener will assess how well his vegetables are growing.  He will look at the temperature, how much water is being given, how much sunlight the plants are exposed to.  If there is too much or too little of something, he will alter the conditions to make the plants grow better.

Teachers are constantly assessing the children (like the gardener) to ensure the conditions are right for each individual to learn and grow.  As you can see from the photos, we are using different types of assessment this week (both online and on paper) to measure the progress the children have made and identify how we can help them make further progress.  There is no pass or fail.