Chapter 4: Performance-Based Learning

This chapter was all about assessment, different types of assessment, and the purpose of assessment and how it should guice instruction. Performance based learning suggests that there are 3 important objectives that should be included in an optimal lesson for English learners. They are : 1) Content (knowledge or skills in subject area, 2) Learning to learn (knowledge, skill, or learning strategy that teaches student how to azquire or process information, and 3) Language (knowledgeor skill in some facet of English). The chapter discusses the TESOL standards , broad statements, which describe the competencies that English Learners need to become fully proficient in English. The presence of TESOL standards insures that the expectations and content of English language instruction are standard from one place to another.

Assessment is the process of determining current levels of a student's performance or knowledge. Ongoing assessment throughout a school year shows how a student is meeting standards or goals and clearly demonstrates progress made throughout the year. Assessment shows a student's strengths, areas of weakness, and should guide instruction. Outcome-based performance assessment provides feedback about what a student has learned and helps a teacher to adapt instruction to a student's changing needs. There are many different types of effective outcoem based assessments- they include rubrics, teacher constructed tests, portfolios, and teacher observation and evaluation. Assessment is also important to initially place English learners into a program and then it is important to show progress and redesignate learners who are making progress in learning English. As an SDC preschool teacher, assessment is critical to find the strengths and weaknesses of students, to determine current levels, to write goals for improvement in needed areas, and to adapt instruction. Much of our assessment in preschool is informal- observation , anecdotal notes, portfolio assessment, file folder games, etc . The students are formally assessed twice a year through teh DRDP. Assessment is any form is necessary to hold me accountable and to determine progress fo the students.

In the text' "Sheltered Content Instruction: Teaching English Language Learners with Diverse Abilities", the authors Echevarria and Graves state that " To best meet the needs of each of these students, it is imperative that a systematic process be followed to program and educate properly all students to their potential." This process includes gathering data, conducting assessments, and implementing the instruction in 1) native language knowledge, 2) English-language knowledge, 3) academic background, and 4) learning and behavior problems.

In sposton1's blog, it stated "Education today is all about assessment. Learning today is about performance on measurable outsomes." I agree. Standards based teaching is a good thing- to have certain measurable things that a student should learn in a school year. But, it becomes a problem when there are so many standards that there is not time anymore for other im portant subjects such as music, art, physical education, etc...The downside of standardized testing is that many teachers teach to the test and don't have time for anything else. Assessment shoudl guide instruction- and teachers should adapt instruction often based on their assessment of student learning.

In Viaverlia's blog, it shared information about specific recommendations for assessing English Language Learners. It stated that "The student should be tested in native language and English and a variety of techniques should be used." I think it is important to assess students in their native language to get accurate and reliable information about current levels. Jsut recently, I assisted in assessing an ELL preschool student in Spanish. This little girl really surprised us with how much she knew and understood. We would not have gotten an accurate picture of her had we tested her in Spanish. We also used a variety of methods of assessment to get a clear picture of her language abilities, including observation, language samples, interview with parents in Spanish, standardized test in Spanish, a home visit to observe her in a familiar environment. using a battery of assessment techniques and assessing her in Spanish gave us a much needed true picture of this child's abilities adn potential.