Scattered Scarlatti

Red Flag # 2:

A second potential slipping point for a teacher and assessment creator is timing. Whether it is the timing needed for students to execute certain items or the timing of tests relative to outlying cosmic factors (snow, prom, fire-drills etc.), timing is perhaps the greatest bane of assessment creators.

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Solutions:

A) First and foremost: CHECK THE SCHOOL CALENDAR!!! It would be quite a pity to assign a test for a day when students had a day off. Likewise this can help one avoid scheduling tests on days where your class is 15 minutes shorter because of an assembly, or days when 1/3 of your students are missing because there is a softball game. Foresight is the solution to many of life's potential cliffs. 

- Personal Life Mistake

B) There is no sure-fire way to avoid designing assessments that will never run over the time you intended them to run. You can't exactly give a student a test just to time them on how long it will take. One of the best solutions to this particular red flag is to plan accordingly, providing students with ample time to achieve the task they will need to achieve. Set a reasonable expectation for your students and be sure you are capable of doing all you require within the given time frame, if you can't do it, how can you expect your students to do it? 

- Class and Peer Discussions

C) Lastly, demonstrate flexibility. If time has run out, become creative in your solutions: allow students to finish at lunch or another time or have students answer the final questions on another day. HOWEVER, do not let this become a thing of habit. Students will know if they can always 'not finish' your tests to get extra time to study. Be reasonable with them, and take careful note so you will be more accurate in your timing on future assessments.

-Stiggins and Chappuis, pg. 116