Assessments
Okay, we've almost completed our grand adventure. We feel comfortable with planning a physical education lesson, and even instructing the lesson, but how do we assess student achievement in physical education? This topic has been greatly debated over the years, with educators asking the question, "Can we even grade student's athletic abilities?" The answer is yes. Like any subject in school, educators must anticipate that there will be a large range of abilities, however, all students can learn to be active. Fundamental movement skills can be broken apart and taught in very simplistic ways, therefore, they can also be assessed in simple ways. There are many resources and supports in place to ensure that teachers are comfortable with assessment. Throughout this portion of our adventure we will examine different assessment tools, as well as a variety of resources available to assist teachers in the assessment of physical education.
Types of Assessment
Like any classroom subject, there are three types of assessments that can be used to assess student achievement in physical education. Bridget Webster, a grade 5/6 teacher in the Waterloo Catholic Board describes these three assessments.
Diagnostic AssessmentDiagnostic assessment is also referred to as "assessment for learning" and is the first type of assessment that you would do with your students when preparing to learn a new skill. Diagnostic assessment is a way for the teacher to learn what skills the students already have and what areas the teacher should focus their instruction on. The results from this assessment are not used for grades on a report card.
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Formative AssessmentFormative assessment is also referred to as "assessment as learning" and is done continuously throughout a physical education unit. The purpose of this type of assessment is to assess the progress of student learning throughout the unit. This form of assessment provides teachers with the information they need to create an inclusive program that meets the needs of all students throughout the unit. The results gained from these assessments do not count towards grades on a report card.
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Summative AssessmentSummative assessment is also referred to as "assessment of learning" and is used to assess the skills that the students have gained by the end of the unit. Teachers will create a summative physical education task which allows students to demonstrate the specific skill they have been working on and teachers will assess students based on a series of performance criteria. These results will be used when deciding final grades on a report card.
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For more information regarding the three types of assessments and how the can be successfully implemented in a physical education class, check out this great slideshow from Bridget Webster.
How do i Implement these Assessments? Any teacher knows that the first step in successful assessment is to establish appropriate success criteria. You need to know exactly what you are going to be examining to gauge if students are successful or not. As a physical education teacher, assessment is not simply broken down into dyadic categories of successful or unsuccessful. There are many small components that are required for one single skill to be successful, and these small components must be assessed individually. Establishing success criteria can be a difficult task, but it is a critical component of successful assessment.
The image to the right outlines specific performance criteria (success criteria) for the fundamental movement skill of catching a ball. As you can see, the seemingly simple task of catching a ball can be broken up into six different assessment areas. Many resources exist to help support teachers in breaking apart the fundamental movement skills and identifying the success criteria for assessment. One very useful document which has been mentioned before is called "Fundamental Movement Skills: A Manual for Teachers" and is listed to the side. Another useful resource is the OPHEA Learn to Move Series which contains multiple lesson plans directly related to 15 different movement skills. Each lesson plan contains performance criteria for the skill and assessment strategies. 
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Fundamental Movement Skills
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resources for assessments
phys. ed. review
assess LinkOK, so most of you know I'm a tech guy. About 6 months ago I stumbled across a Tweet from JB Starkey about a Kickstarter project he started that analyzes student motor skills. When I investigated further I was like "Finally!!!" I have been waiting for someone to come up with a product like this for years. I have used the Xbox Kinect in my classes for a number of years now and I love how it can put you right in the game.
Basically this is an assessment program that records a student's performance then analyzes the performance to give an overall score. Watch the video below and then I'll be back to talk about it more... |
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partner assessmentFirst off, these assessment came about by a tweet by Michelle Reiser on Twitter. I took her idea and "made it my own". Thank you Michelle! I have always wanted to do partner assessments. With that being said, I had all the pieces in place. I took my "Rhyming Skill Cues" from this website (see link on the side bar), I already had the dry erase pockets that students can write on and wipe off when finished (see my post under "Bright Ideas" from this website on the side bar), and I had a program to create them all (Comic Life 3 app on the iPad).
Basically students are paired up by me and watch another student play a game or perform a skill in class. After several attempts, students sit down and discuss the results from one observing another. Students then switch and repeat. Below are the ones I have created so far. Stay tuned for more throughout the year. |
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game performance assessment instruments
g.p.a.i.
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assessment ideas in physical education
shape america
enter & exit reflection
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