Assessment

PHILOSOPHY OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment is the act of evaluating, appraising, and/or estimating the features, qualities, performances, and needs of individuals, programs, and institutions.

Educational assessment in the New Canaan Public Schools shall embrace the following principles and values:

The ultimate purpose of assessment is to support and enhance student learning.

Every student is a complex individual with a broad spectrum of abilities, skills, and knowledge.

Assessment shall focus on all key areas of student learning and development: core academics, intellectual ability, the arts, social responsibility, and physical fitness.

Assessment shall consider a wide range of relevant performance information, formal and informal, standardized and non-standardized.

Assessment shall be based on valid standards such as grade level expectations, appropriate reference groups, and individual aptitudes.

Assessment shall be systematically linked to analyses of teacher and school system performance and instructional improvement.

Assessment data shall be communicated to students, parents, and community on a timely basis.

Information on how to understand and use assessment data shall be provided regularly to the educational community.

Adopted by the Board of Education
April 5, 2004

New Canaan Performance Assessment Updated Definition

A performance assessment requires students to engage in a clearly stated, authentic activity that will demonstrate that they have learned specific skills and can apply them in a real world situation, to the extent possible. The task will elicit high order thinking skills and affords students the opportunity to self-reflect and self-assess. There is clear alignment between the learning objectives, the task, and the tool that is designed to evaluate student performance. Associated rubrics are aligned with unit enduring understandings, essential questions, and performance standards.

Created by Curriculum Leadership Council, PD Team

February 2010