Assessment Systems: Why They Are Important

by Peggy Dutcher

Reprinted with permission from Newsline, December 2001.

Assessments and assessment systems are important for a variety of reasons, but the most important is that educators and parents should never base their decisions about student progress on one source of data. To accurately determine whether a student is progressing, every district and school should have a variety of formal and informal assessments from which to draw information.

Formal assessments include the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), Michigan’s Alternate Assessment (MI-Access), or other nationally published standardized assessments such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Brigance Achievement Assessment, Work Keys, and assessments appropriate for English language learners. Informal assessments include planned and organized teacher observations, daily classroom assessments, teacher logs and journal entries, parent input and observations, and running records.

These formal and informal assessments comprise an assessment system that draws important student information from a variety of sources. The input obtained from these sources can then be used daily to make informed decisions about how to help ALL students learn and succeed.

For an assessment system to be effective it must include the following two components. First, it must reflect teacher and parent expectations for students. Once teachers and parents decide upon the curriculum that they want students to learn, teachers need to design relevant assessment systems to measure whether or not students are learning as intended. Second, an assessment system must provide meaningful assessment opportunities for ALL students. Every student is important. Each deserves to be counted in Michigan’s accountability system, and each is entitled to effective mechanisms for appropriately measuring individual progress. The Michigan Educational Assessment System (MEAS) is an effective assessment system that ensures that ALL students are included. Local district and school assessment systems must reflect Michigan’s inclusive philosophy as well.

In addition, districts and schools are accountable for ALL students, including those with disabilities and English Language Learners (ELL). For that reason, educators must have tools to effectively evaluate programs and review progress. Creating assessment systems that have varied and appropriately designed tests for diverse student populations is one important way schools and districts can obtain the information they need to determine progress for ALL students.

Peggy Dutcher is Coordinator of State Assessment for Students with Disabilities, Michigan Department of Education. For more information, contact Peggy at Michigan Department of Education, Office of Educational Assessment, P.O. Box 30008, Lansing, MI 48909; www.michigan.gov/mi-access; phone (517) 241-4416; fax (517) 373-7504; e-mail dutcherp@michigan.gov.

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