“The main purpose of the assessment is to help the province, school districts, schools and school planning councils evaluate how well students are achieving basic skills, and make plans to improve student achievement” (BC Ministry of Education).

    According to Brown and Hopper (2006), physical education classes are too often measured by psychomotor competence in game play and skill testing. Therefore, students who make an effort but are not typically skilled may receive lower assessment scores. By using alternative assessments in physical education classes, teachers will be able to determine how much learning has taken place in a given amount of time, judge or evaluate the quality of that learning and make decisions for improving instruction.

    Ways to assess are: game performance testing, activity logs, personal journals, interviews, portfolios and teacher, peer, and self-observations with performance checklists.

   

    Problems that can arise from assessment are: when and how to assess, an emphasis may be placed solely on achievement, and it may provide little information on how to improve knowledge, performance, or fitness level.

    Key principles to keep in mind when assessing are: understanding and knowledge can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, all of which are valid, the process of learning is as important as the outcomes themselves, diverse learning goals require diverse assessments and high-order learning requires inventive assessment not possible with traditional methods.

    Here are examples of pre- and post-task assessment forms and peer game play assessment forms used in a lesson:

                Self-assessment Form                       Peer-assessment Form

    In order to create an environment that continues to enhance a student’s learning a teacher must adapt and learn from their students. By continuously assessing and evaluating your performance as a teacher and the students’ understanding of concepts and skills, modifications can be made which would help facilitate their learning more effectively.

Reference:

BC Ministry of Education. Retrieved on April 3rd, 2009 at http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/assessment/fsa/

Brown, S., & Hopper, T. (2006). Should all students in PE get an 'A'? Game performance assessment by peers as a critical component of student learning. The PHE, 72(1), 14-21.