Philosophy of Assessment

Assessment is a critical component of teaching and learning and is essential to ensure quality classroom instruction and learning for all students. The ongoing use of formative and summative assessments helps educators monitor student learning, provide intervention, adjust instruction, and improve curriculum programming. The feedback from assessments helps teachers, students and parents by communicating progress toward mastery of grade-level content and standards, highlighting strengths, and identifying possible opportunities for growth.

Local school districts should develop local assessment plans to ensure a systematic approach to assessment. A balanced assessment plan should address the needs of students and provide insight to teachers regarding what learning has and has not been mastered by students. Data from these assessments should be used to diagnose areas of strength and to customize instruction to address student needs.

Assessment takes place in many forms including traditional tests and quizzes, but it can also occur through other methods such as screenings, exit slips, performance tasks, surveys, and interviews. Formative assessments guide teachers in the next steps for learning, communicate student mastery of learning standards, help diagnose immediate areas where instructional programming can improve, inform classroom teaching, and predict future achievement. Summative assessments can also measure instructional quality, support the evaluation of educator effectiveness, measure program efficacy, and provide for comparison to other schools/districts.

This Assessment Plan attempts to:

• Summarize Osage R-3 School District’s comprehensive and balanced assessment program,
• Demonstrate how the district monitors achievement targets for a variety of purposes,
• Find what data are available and how to drive decision-making with regard to curriculum, instruction, and programs, and
• Support the district’s commitment to communicating assessment data, motivating students to do well on assessments, ensuring test security, and teaching test taking skills