PSS reminded of students’ assessment standards

The Public School System officials and teachers yesterday were reminded about the standards to effectively assess the performance of students in the Stanford Achievement Test or SAT 10.

Visiting assessment consultant Jerry Lindahl held a presentation yesterday at the Board of Education Conference Room.

Lindahl is from Harcourt Assessment and the Psychological Corporation, Harcourt International. Principals, vice principals and teachers in the CNMI attended the event. Commissioner of Education Rita H. Inos led the presentation also attended by BOE board member Herman Guerrero.

Officials and teachers also from the public schools from Tinian and Rota were able to hear and witness the presentation as they were hooked up remotely through video conference equipment used by PSS for its distance-learning program.

Lindahl said the main goal for assessing the performance of the students is to improve student learning. Lindahl told the teachers and officials should measure student progress. “Make sure students don’t fall through the cracks,” he said. Other recommendations were: measure the program effectiveness, assess instructional effectiveness, guide curriculum development, allocate resources wisely, promote accountability, report to the community and show trends though they are not necessary solutions.

He raised some questions to the participants that would help them achieve their objectives. He said they should always ask about the vision they have for the students, the purpose for collecting data at the school, the data available and how they use that data.

Lindahl enumerated seven standards for teacher competence in the educational assessment of students: choosing appropriate assessment methods; developing assessment methods; skilled in administering, scoring and interpreting the results of both externally-produced and teacher-produced assessment methods; using results to make decisions; developing valid grading procedures which use assessments; communicating assessment results; and recognizing unethical, illegal, and otherwise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information.

Lindahl is a 26-year school psychology veteran who has been engaging in private practices and other academic outreach programs. He said it is not just the SAT 10 score that must be the focus of evaluation of the schoolteachers and officials, but the objective in evaluation is how the school can improve the student learning.