The Elementary Math Learning Stations Day: A Performance Assessment for Elementary Teacher Education Students

Abstract

First paragraph: The performance assessment given to teacher education students in an elementary mathematics methods class at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois was to create a mathematics learning station for ethnically diverse, urban children in grades 3-4-5 that would demonstrate the interrelations of mathematics at different grade level bands. As Richard Stiggins explains in his book Student-Involved Classroom Assessment, “With performance assessments, we observe students while they are performing or we examine the products they create and evaluate the level of proficiency demonstrated.” (Stiggins, 1997, p. 184) In NCTM’s publication, Making Change in Mathematics Education, they make a viable case for performance assessment: “Proponents of reformed assessment use qualitative as well as quantitative data, and they focus more on describing student progress then on categorizing individuals or predicting future success. Thus there is a move away from a reliance on multiple-choice tests and toward an increased use of performance assessments, open-ended questions, group projects, portfolios, journal writing, oral reports, and observations.” (NCTM, 1998, p. 99)