How to Assess Students

Assessing students helps to determine what they are learning and what they are having difficulties with. Teachers that assess their students can help them reach their goals easier and faster. Assessing your students will also help to decide the best way to help students get the education they deserve.

Instructions

1. Create a project for your students. Give them clear instructions and a due date. Be prepared to record their performance in three categories--how the students generate problems, how they solve problems and how they organize their thoughts.

2. Assign a group project to the class. A group project will let you know if the students interact with others and how they participate in group settings. Add group interaction to the three categories you recorded in Step One.

3. Give an open-ended question test. Ask the students to explain their thought process in arriving at an answer. This can be done verbally or in a short essay. Add this part to the other categories you are recording.

4. Keep all your notations together for later reference. For each student, you should have a list of how the student generates problems, solves problems, organizes thoughts, interacts in groups and explains reasons for coming to conclusions.

5. Revisit the project or some form of the project later in the school year, and be sure to record the same notes. This will provide you with an assessment on how far each student has come and how much they still need to learn.

6. Review past state assessment tests for each child, and compare them with the progress you have tracked in your own assessment. Each state has assessment tests for students at the end of the year to determine what a student has learned. Reviewing previous test scores can give you an idea of a student's previous knowledge. Comparing it to your own assessment offers a glimpse of what kind of improvement you can expect.