Assessment for Student Learning Essay

Introduction

Instructional setting facilitates a rich and complexity environment that promotes the ability for students to perform well. In view of the instructional setting of the class in the study, students have the ability to exercise both individual and group learning due to the arrangement design that provides adequate space for a teacher to freely access all the students in the process of giving instructions or explanations. Furthermore, the fact that the students have class suppliers just behind them makes it easier to have access to any material requirement the teacher may request of even in the middle of the lesson. A further analysis on the instructional setting that facilitates efficient learning for these students is the availability of the word wall that displays vocabularies in the current units which makes it easier for them to learn and fully understand.

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Analysis of Summative-Assessment Data

From the data provided in the results, it is evident that most of the students have exceeded the objective score, implying that they have demonstrated their ability and knowledge and skills in the English language test as set by the teacher. It is so since a total of 18 students who have scored beyond average while the remaining 12 failed to reach the goal. However, with the high number that succeeds to pass beyond the expected mark, this shows that students are entirely familiar with the performance ethos and further understand that the tests are meant to weigh what they have grasped in the lesson. As for the remaining 12 who did not meet the objective score, it implies that they may have a problem with the teaching style or even dislike high-stake tests since this gives them anxiety and the reason for the performance and cumulative scores. Furthermore, the reason behind the 12 failing to reach the objective mark can be blamed on the fact that the students had a disability in the language, thus failing to comprehend the questions and answer appropriately. For instance, Grace Jenkins, who has a disability in language does not meet the goal mark of 70 and ends up scoring 42. In this case, the reason for this score can be because Jenkins has low self-esteem given the problem of communicating or lack of adequate skills to answer language questions. To ensure that Jenkins's performance improves to the average standard or even above, it is, therefore, the duty of the teacher to increase the motivation of the girl and in return build her self-esteem which would make her actively involved in other exercises with other students. An act that will positively improve her ability to understand English language far better (Ornstein, & Lasley, 1990). Additionally, the teacher can adjust the way she or he teaches the students and adopt another effective way that will best be helpful for Jenkins. However, the issue is different with other 11 students who do not have any language disability yet they failed to hit the objective marks. All the same, the students could have experienced various problems that negatively affected their ability to perform as expected. These issues can be looked at by the teacher by calling each student and discussing the issues separately, thus offer assistance that will better their performance in the following tests.

Evaluation of Student Measurement Instrument

The "English Summative Assessment" is appropriate instrument to measure the students' performance given the fact that the test fully touches on various aspects of literature and figurative language as earlier on mentioned in the lesson plan. For instance, in view of the lesson objectives where the teacher expects students to show their competence by distinguishing the difference between figurative language and literal, students to identify examples of figurative language and further identify the seven types of the figurative language, the assessment has entirely narrowed on all these objectives in all parts. The first part in the assessment requires students to identify the type of figurative language used in the provided sentences, implying that the teacher wants the students to have full knowledge what figurative language is and the existing forms too. The fact is so in the sense that unless a student knows what a simile, hyperbole, metaphors or even alliteration are, he or she cannot give the correct answers to the questions provided. Arguably, in view of the section where the student is expected to make three sentences and further listing the type of figurative language, it implies that the student will have to distinguish the literal and figurative language to develop the right phrases.

Ostensibly, the "English Summative Assessment" can be termed as the best measurement instrument given the type of questions set, the level of expectation and even the simplicity of the language used while developing the test. In view of the standards where students are expected to embrace a variety of strategies to evaluate, interpret, comprehend and appreciate texts, the assessment fully provides this platform where unless the student applies these strategies, he or she cannot give correct answers. For instance, part one of the assessment which requires students to choose the correct type of figurative language expects students to have fully understood the concept of figurative language by either interacting with each other or asking the teacher where they did not understand in class. Furthermore, the standards expect students to know language structure and conventions, figurative language and even genre I order to evaluate a text. Basing on this fact, it is evident that the part that the students are expected to write three sentences with examples of figurative language tests on this knowledge. A student who has the ability to develop a sentence that is grammatically correct regarding punctuation and spelling can create the three sentences required of him or her and with the knowledge on the types of figurative language get the points. Discursively, the curriculum and instruction plan which requires the student to be in a position to review and even assess knowledge of figurative language concepts from the previous lesson before being introduced to new terms has been looked at in the assessment. For instance, all terms such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, alliteration, personification, oxymoron and even onomatopoeia have been tested on students' knowledge. From the objectives, standards, and curriculum in the lesson plan, it is evident and conclusive that the "English Summative Assessment" is an appropriate measurement instrument that shows the students level of understanding of the topic and the reason for their performance.

Alignment of Curriculum Content

Summative assessments measure the ability of the students to be put down what he or she has learnt in class. The process helps teachers to fully understand the areas that the students are comfortable with as well as those that needs further explanation through different teaching techniques. In this case, the curriculum content in the "English Lesson Plan" aligns with the assessment results in various ways. Given the performance of students, in this case 18 having passed the set scores shows that the teacher employed much of the curriculum content in identifying the students' skills vital in the lesson. For instance, the curriculum content requires that the teacher reviews and assesses the figurative language through a graffiti activity. This implies that in the groups, the figurative language is fully discussed in depth with every member providing the little knowledge he or she has in the process of analyzing the topic of study. In this case, student s better understand the figurative language terms that they had initially handled in the lesson as well as in their homework. Through the group work, those students who could have had a problem understanding the teacher can have the freedom to ask fellow students to explain the concepts of figurative language in a simpler manner. From this fact, it is the reason why most of the students passed the assessment as recorded in the summative- assessment results. Arguably, the curriculum content requires a teacher to review literal and figurative language through simple methods like the use of cartoons to explain the concept of figurative. Using such strategies that are interesting to the students best explain technical content that seems difficult to be explained in mere words. Therefore, the students' performance as visible in the assessment results could have been motivated or rather facilitated by the teaching strategy in the curriculum content. Furthermore, through comics, students' thinking and remembering skills are boosted in the sense that they were able to remember what they were taught since comics make a lesson interesting (Goodson, 2013). When the students enjoy the lesson, they are able to remember the content they are being taught hence, a good performance just like in the assessment results. It is furthermore a fact that the results align with the curriculum content in the sense that the teacher provides students with a copy of class exercise to ensure that each of them completes phrases explaining the literal and the figurative ones. Similarly, in the assessment practice, the student is tested on the same concepts he or she has learnt in class, implying that the exercise is only a repetition. It is therefore factual that the performance of the student is highly motivated by what the teacher did in the curriculum content.

Curriculum Modification Recommendation

Despite the fact that the curriculum content aligns with the good performance of the students as visible in the results, it is still evident that 12 of the students have recorded a below average performance after failing to meet the performance score. In this case, it implies that the curriculum content needs to be modified in accordance with the students' profile given the fact that the students come from different backgrounds. The changes, therefore, need to be enhancing, accommodating, adaptation and overlapping for all student backgrounds, for a comfortable learning environment that will not only further boost the performance of the 18 who had already passed the objective marks but also the 12 who failed to reach the target. In this case, it is recommended that in creating group discussions, the teacher considers merging students from different backgrounds and with different ability in language to curb the bridge between good performers and poor performers. Furthermore, through this strategy, students will be free to understand each other's background and hence develop ways that they can discuss a concept more and understandably, which will best facilitate excellent performance for all learners regardless of their performance (Dahllof, 1971). For instance, when putting together, a faster learner and a slow learner in the same class, the student with the ability to learn fast can help explain the point or concept to the other slow learner in a language that makes the point easier. Additionally, the recommendation above is evident to bring accommodation to all students regardless of their origin, and this makes it easier to achieve the set scores as well as educational goals. The fact that students, in this case, come from different backgrounds means that the teacher has to employ the best strategy to make English language simple. The best way to teach this student in this case is to introduce an assistive technology that explains any problematic concept for English Language Learners. Initially, the curriculum content had shown that the teacher uses comics in explaining figurative language terms. This strategy alone does not make complicated terms easier for students whose first lang...