Fairness Assessment

Fairness in assessment is something that most teachers at least that I have had took seriously, with the acception of one teacher. I always thought that I got a fair grade on my work. There is a problem with fairness on assessment for some teachers though because they hold stereotypes that in most cases are not fair to the students. The teacher will use that against them like the whole idea of "Boys will be boys" and "Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice." When it comes to grading actual work like projects, oral presentations, tests, quizzes etc. the best method to use for fairness is a rubric. That way not only you as a teacher will know what the criteria is going to be for each assignment, but you can also have a copy for the students when they are old enough and for the parents of the younger students. This will also help students get better grades when it comes to more formal types of assessment that are not tests and quizzes. It will give them an outline of what they need to have in their paper or project. This will also help you when it comes to conferences with the parents or students, because you will be able to clearly show them why they got the grade that they did. When it comes to assessing students themselves the best thing you can do is get information on the student by talking to him or her one on one. This will allow them to feel comfortable around you without them having to worry about what the other students would say. In some cases you can talk to other teachers who have had the student or talk to a principal or counselor. Fairness in assessment is very important because if were to all pass judgment or listen to or create stereotypes on a student we would never really get to see or know their full potential.

Anni