Importance of Diagnostic Assessments
From my past experience as a student, I found that most educators seem to miss this crucial step. Just getting a brief synopsis of what your students know or don't know about the class can greatly impact they way you approach the material and how successful your students are in that class. Every class I teach, even if it's for the same subject, I teach differently depending on the types of students I may have that semester. What are your thoughts?
While content is standardized, an aware teacher should be able to recognize different traits in individual students to "tailor" the lessons so that everyone benefits.
I agree that diagnostic assessment is important. I teach accounting and some classes have higher levels of experience and many have student's with no experience. A diagnostic assessment at the beginning will give me an idea of who I need to focus attention on more in the beginning. It also gives me a benchmark for the learning that is occurring in the class. Better than that, it gives the students a benchmark. They are usually quite surprised when they complete the post assessment to see how much they have learned!
Jennifer,
What a great post! As educators, we do seem to not take the time to create a simple diagnostic instruments that can help us shape the best learning for all students It is also a way to determine changes in a course that needs to be made over time.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Harry,
Nice post. You are right. A good diagnostic assessment will allow you to provide individualized learning for students. You can help close the gaps that students may have that can be a barrier to learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Catherine,
That is such a great way to use the diagnostic assessment. Students need to know where they were in their learning and how far they have come. Grades don't show that!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
