Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 28 - EDUCATION
Part LIX - Bulletin 103-Louisiana Health Education Content Standards
Chapter 3 - Teaching and Learning of Health Education
Section LIX-307 - Assessment

A. Standards involve statements about what students should know and be able to do. Included in this process is the construct of assessment. Health education assessment reflects the process of accumulating evidence about students' levels of competence in the area of health. Inferences can then be made based upon the evidence ascertained. The primary goal of assessment facilitates learning, rather than the documentation of learning. It is critical for health educators to assess individual performance. Such assessment should:

B. Formative assessment by instructors has proven to be the most effective form of assessment for improving student performance. While many educators are highly focused on state tests, it is important to consider that over the course of a year, teachers can build in many opportunities to informally assess how students are learning and then use this information to make beneficial changes in instruction to meet student needs. This diagnostic use of assessment to provide feedback to teachers and students over the course of instruction is called formative assessment. It stands in contrast to summative assessment, which generally takes place after a period of instruction and requires making a judgment about the learning that has occurred (e.g., by grading or scoring a test or paper).

C. At a time in which greater demands are likely to be placed on assessment than any other time in United States education history, there continues to be escalating discomfort with traditional forms of assessment, including multiple-choice, true-false, matching machine-scored tests. With this in mind, assessment practices must support instruction of health education and student learning.

D. Alternative assessment can take many forms, such as portfolios, discussions and debates, event tasks, case studies, student logs, and role-playing. Such assessments can include:

E. Rubrics are the scoring criteria by which student performance is judged. They are used most often with alternative assessments such as portfolios, event tasks, and student performance but can actually be used for other types of assessment as well. They should be written by the health educator before instruction begins and shared with students as the unit or project is explained. Because students have the criteria early, they have a standard by which they can judge their own performance, thereby providing feedback during instruction.

F. The Louisiana State Health Education Standards focus on both alternative assessment options and traditional ones in order to forge a more complete picture of student learning. An assessment strategy that is balanced will best assess the objectives of the K-12 health education program.