Assessment Benefits and Barriers: What Are You Committed To?

Overall, the workshop was designed to encourage middle school physical education teachers to review their current assessment practices and learn efficient ways to promote physical activity and implement assessment in their program. The clear connections that these practitioners made between assessment and the grading process included such statements as "helps with the grading process," "maps out improvement," increases "self-esteem," "accurately measures skills and understanding," "provides documentation," and "sets forth expectations." The notion that assessment serves as a learning process for students, peers, and teachers was highlighted by Veal (1995), who said, "When assessment is part of the teaching and learning phase of instruction, its primary purpose should be to provide feedback to students and the teacher" (p. 15).