Pre and Post Tests: Are they worth it?

In my opinion, both types of tests are necessary to assess student learning. In terms of pre-testing, it allows teachers to understand what students know and what they might still be confused on. Prior knowledge is crucial in order to build on skills. If you do not have an idea of where to start with your students, they may become more confused and lost in terms of the lessons being taught. This could lead to frustration and less motivation to succeed. In my fieldwork experience, my class created a pre-test to assess our students' knowledge on the lesson we were about to teach in order to discover what we should focus our lessons on and what topics we should only slightly go over because students have a very good understanding of that topic. This was super helpful when going into the classroom. Post-testing is also a very helpful tool. By testing students at the end of a lesson or unit, teachers can establish how well students actually grasped the knowledge presented to them. Post tests also allow teachers to decide where to go next. For example, if I continued to teach in the 5th grade classroom, the post tests would allow me to decide what topic was best to teach next to create the best understanding in my students that I could. Both types of testing must work together to assess student knowledge without constant wonder of what students must learn.