This is from Tim Geerlings. Any suggestions for him are welcome:
I have LOVED watching all of the discussion about assessment this year. Thank you so much to all who have contributed!
I have an assessment question. My school is amazingly supportive of TPRS and how I teach. Kids and admin say they are loving the new Spanish teaching (which I try to make completely TPRS with a few other things thrown in because I can’t do pure TPRS for 7 hours a day). District policy says 50% of grade must be summative – specifically a “district assessment” that must be given at least twice per quarter. Any advice on how to practically give a summative test?
A couple of things to consider for the tests:
1. It has to line up with the instruction – as in, gauging comprehension, not rote memorization.
2. I want it to encourage kids to participate.
3. I also have 210 to grade and no planning period.
I am thinking of trying to barter out of the 50% summative requirement with admin, but I want to wait at least untill closer to the end of the year so that they have a larger sample of my work to build from. (They love it so far – I am lucky the previous teacher was both 100% textbook, 100% boring, disengaged, and often absent. So kids were very ready for something totally different.)