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Hello everyone,

As a future teacher, I was wondering how we know that the assessments we create as teachers are actually working? Sure we can come up with a test or different ways to evaluate our students, but how do we know the assessment is actually working with our students know and what level they are at? Compared to the students passing assessments just because they are memorizing material or are failing because the assessment is too hard. What is the best way to check the assessment is best for students?

It sounds like you are thinking of assessments in summative terms.  Summative assessments are used to measure student learning vs. established academic standards.  This can be as simple as asking them to explain to you what they know about X.  It takes a lot of time to listen to eveyone in the class, so most of the time we use some other format, like writing or multiple choice.  These introduce problems because they are measuring things in addition to content knowledge, like the students reading or writing abililty.

Formative assessments measure students progress during instruction.  These are what we use to check for understanding and modify our teaching.  If students don't do well on a formative assessment it's because the instruction is not working--time to modify.

There are literally thousands of other things to think about!  Take some good courses, read a lot, and practice your craft!