Blog Post # 13

Previously in the semester I was reading a teacher's blog post on standardized testing, and how the scores do not reflect a student's true learning ability. It got me thinking about how a teacher might go about grading a student in a PBL setting. So for blog post 13 we are suppose to create a blog post assignment for our particular field of study. Instead of sticking to just general sciences I am going to broaden the driving question to all secondary teachers. How would you go about assessing a student's knowledge gained through a project based learning classroom? Start with these two resources to get a general idea of how some tackle this difficult task.
1.)Rethinking Grading in a 21st Century Project-Based Learning Enviroment
2.)How Do We Grade?
After reading these articles I have come to the conclusion that assessing an individual's gained knowledge is not easy in a PBL setting. Both articles have great points. The first stated that it is hard to switch up a grading system because parents will always try to translate what you do to a definite A-D assessment. In PBL that is not the case. In my opinion a child's progress can not be slapped with a definite grade. A teacher needs to wait for an end product to assess, whether or not a student has a grasp on the concept. By doing this I think standardized testing could also be retired. A teacher would be grading a student for the work done as a whole rather than just points during a semester. I also liked Varona's approach in his math class. He still has his kids do the lessons as a group but for the assessment he breaks them up and test them on the key concepts. In doing this he can still abide by the standardized grading system but does not have to deviate from the PBL plan. I think that the student should still be able to show what he or she can do through applying the knowledge. If standardize testing is still in effect I think this would be the best way to assess a student's gained knowledge in a PBL setting.