At NCCL assessment is seen as a valuable means of knowing how best to help students
progress academically. For this reason we carefully observe the children as
they work and mindfully listen as they speak. We consider not only the final
product of their work but the means by which it was accomplished. This informal
evaluation is done continually as the students go about their daily activities.
Assessing a student's understanding is very
complex. There is no way to simplify it to one letter or numerical grade despite
what many would have us believe. In fact, such systems often result in the
grade replacing learning as the goal. It can become a symbol for what a student
is or is not.
Instead, here at NCCL, we talk much about how
the students approach their school work: Are they curious? Persistent? Attentive?
Organized? Reliable? Independent? Where do new understandings come easily?
Where are there struggles? Is a student progressing in relationship to others
her age and most importantly in relationship to herself?
This type of evaluation allows us to see each
student as an intriguing, multi-faceted human being. It helps us to stay with
a child as he struggles to gain understanding and to continually set new challenges
as he progresses. This approach supports our philosophy that learning is an
on-going endeavor rather than one prescribed and evaluated at any one point
in time.
We meet frequently with the students to discuss
how they are doing and over the years help them learn to self-evaluate. We
assist them in setting both short and long-term goals. Twice a year we meet
formally with parents and end the year with a written progress report.
by Marilynn Magnani
