Introduction

You have spent the last three weeks "digging in deeper," and we are sure that you have realized that there's still plenty more to dig. The terminology is probably "second nature" by now: if you haven't been dreaming about standards, domains and benchmarks, then you've certainly been talking and thinking about them :-)

Now it's time to move on to introduce you to another essential "piece" of the puzzle.

In this unit we will focus on classroom assessment. The unit assumes that you have a basic knowledge of what assessment is and how it is used. But if you would like to refresh your knowledge, there are many references to articles and books that we have compiled - just click on Resources on the left-hand menu, and go to the resources for Unit 4.

Since this is a fairly broad topic, we will devote two units to classroom assessment, and deal with a variety of issues that are necessary for understanding classroom assessment and how it relates to the Standards. We will deal with writing objectives, alternative assessment, creating rubrics and finally, writing your own assessment tasks with scoring criteria.

Objectives

At the end of this unit, you will be able to

	explain and analyze Section Three: Classroom Assessment in the
	Standards for Pupils of English.
	write objectives for your lessons.

Due dates for activities

This unit is worth 15% of your final grade.

Unit 4 will last from March 26 - April 11.

Unit 5 will be posted on April 12 and will last till May 6.

Unit 6 will be posted on May 7 and will last till May 27.

Grading Procedure

Detailed assessment procedures are included within the activities.

We will start our foray into assessment by looking at Section Three: Classroom Assessment in the Standards for Pupils of English and trying to understand their importance in relation to assessment and assessment procedures.