Course Description

This course investigates the principles and design of standards-based assessment and instruction for English-language learners and their relationship to identifying students' strengths and needs in English language/literacy development and academic achievement. This course covers the roles, purposes, and types of formal and informal assessment that inform teachers in planning effective, differentiated instruction; monitoring English learners' progress with respect to a given standard; and issues of norming, test reliability, validity, and cultural and linguistic biases with respect to children of diverse backgrounds.

I truly enjoyed taking this course because it helped me to think of unique ways to assess knowledge in mathematics.  In general, mathematics is thought of as a very pencil-to-paper subject where the most typical types of assessments are written quizzes and tests.  I learned from this course multiple ways to assessment students both informally and formally.  I learned the importance of giving students feedback through formative assessments conducted during the learning process.  In this section of the ePortfolio, you will find a SIOP Lesson Plan that I designed and implemented as well as a reflection on that lesson.  I’ve also included my final exam response questions and several sample discussions.  I particularly enjoyed the Week 5 Discussion where I discussed forms of assessment like Exit Tickets and created a presentation rubric to use in my classroom.