Philosophy of Assessment
Assessment is a critical component of any class structure, physical education included. Without assessment, one cannot truly measure growth. The overarching goal of the educational system is to progress in knowledge or skill and there is no better way to measure a students progress than by assessment.
Assessment can take on many different forms or functions. These forms or functions should, at a minimum, cover the state standards for the given subject matter. In physical education, the main objective is for the students to progress in both the acquisition of skills, as well as in their overall state of fitness. The goal for assessment in physical education is to measure how much a student has progressed or developed over a given amount of time.
This can take form in several different ways. The most important aspect of assessment in physical education is the physical, performance based test. This would reach the psychomotor domain. An example of this would be the mile run. Students must perform the mile run, with their time being their score on the assessment. Again, an important part of assessment is development, so the main goal for the students would be improvement in their mile time over the course of the class.
Another form of assessment in physical education would be a written test, which would reach the cognitive domain. The object of this test would be to test the knowledge of the students about game rules, class procedures, fitness information, etc.
Whether through performance based assessment or written assessment, it is imperative that educators use assessment as a tool to measure student learning and development.