"Assessment needn't be standardized testing...it does, however, need to be formalized to some degree...

I remember an education professor once explaining how she trained ed students in assessment...They were to write down "What matters?" to them, to their kids, in their learning...Then they were to figure out how they would know that their kids had attained whatever the skills or concepts they had deemed important...

On the one hand, this sounds like a very informal type of assessment instrument...but if you _really_ think about what matters in your teaching, it can be a very powerful and rigorous format for assessment.

Assessment drives curriculum....it is a self-check that keeps us revising our lessons, learning from our kids, and improving all of our education :)"

Lynne Sueoka
Hawaii

1. A rubric template and sample rubric
2. Assessment resources from the Aiea Complex Electronic Solutions workshop in Hawaii (1998)