Susan Watson, literature teacher at Verona Area High School in Verona, Wisconsin, talks about the value of informal assessment while working with small groups of students. Excerpted from the videoseries, Schools That Work: The Research Advantage, videoconference #4, Alternatives for Measuring Performance (NCREL, 1991).
"I really enjoy doing the small group discussion stuff that we do in class. I feel like I get to know each kid better, instead of collecting a batch of written tests and marking the answers that are wrong and figuring a grade at the top, I get to spend time once or twice a week in small group setting, instead of one teacher delivering to a group of twenty-five students. That personal involvement is real valuable to me as an educator."
This Critical Issue Summary was researched and written by Andrew Porter, director, Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Date posted: 1995