Lesson Nine: Be Careful of what you are Assessing

I was lucky today to be a part of another student-led conference. I am always really excited to sit in on these because the idea of the student led parent teacher conferences is a new idea to me although it has been around for a long time. I like that the student is able to showcase the work that they are proud of as well as taking responsibility for their learning goals. However, as I was sharing with a student’s parents about his success with the nutrition content matter, his father shared with me that the student had already taken this content as a part of his scouts program. This immediately raised the question in my head, am I truly assessing what the student has learned, or the experiences their families are able to provide for them. I am not sure yet what this means for me as a teacher or how I can change my assessment designs, but it is definitely an important component to consider when designing assessments for your students.