iAssess
Component: Assessment - Authentic assessments are an integral part of the media program. Authentic can be defined as a variety of formal and informal meaningful strategies that engage students in inquiry and production to communicate and demonstrate what they know. These can include:
- Conferences/Interviews - Asking questions specific to a students' task so that guidance and feedback can be provided (can be formal or informal)
- Journals - A written reflection of the research process and content of the research (causes students to focus)
- Portfolios - Samples of student work that are collected over a period of time to demonstrate the learning that has taken place, a documentation of student growth based on learning goals
- Rubrics - A scaled set of criteria that clearly defines for the student and the teacher what a range of acceptable and unacceptable performances looks like
- Checklists - A guide that helps students attend to all aspects of the research process that is given to students at the beginning of an activity
- Self-Assessments - Reflection of the research process and student work done by the student (journaling)
- Action research and the resulting evidence-based practice is used to validate components of the instructional program.
Ways in Which iSearch Model Supports Assessment - Uses a variety of authentic assessments (journals, portfolios, conferencing, etc.) that can be formal and informal
- Supports various learning styles
- Media specialists collaborate with teachers to help design and use assessment techniques to monitor students' information-seeking process. They can recommend and model a variety of products including Web pages and video, and help students learn to create them on their own. Formative and summative assessments can be used to assess student performance on various projects.
- Assessments can take place in the media center, in the classroom, and even in the students' homes.
An ongoing process that occurs before, during, and after instruction where the primary purposes are to inform and improve instructional decision-making processes and to improve student learning by sustaining higher levels of thinking and true understanding.