ASSESSING WRITING: A HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE - PART 2

The purpose of this podcast is to provide an overview of portfolios, checklists, and anecdotal records used to document students' growth as writers. These are some healthy alternatives to standardized tests, writing tests, and rubrics. Six points:

1. To be of use; however, these healthy alternative assessment strategies must reflect your values, philosophy, teaching style, and students (Calkins, 1994). In other words, your system needs to be yours. You can’t assess effectively using somebody else’s system. Thus, I will present some simple ideas here with the expectation that you will discuss them with your colleagues and use them to develop your own assessment system.

2. Your assessment system is not a permanent entity. Expect that it will evolve and change over time as you get more knowledge and experience.

3. An effective asse ...