Because of the state of affairs in a country at the moment, I believe every single state has a state test that they give to measure how well the students,teachers, schools and states are meeting national standards.
I don't know how many people actually like state testing, but I do know that it can be used an effective tool in helping our students progress. Yeah, I just said that state testing can be effective. There are so many issues and arguments about state testing, but I will not get into it here!
Before your school year starts, it's likely that you'll get class lists (hopefully) AND if you're lucky, you may even get a print out of student's test scores from the previous year or years. If you happen to get that list, please please please look at it before the school year starts!
By knowing how well a student has done the previous year on a test, you will be able to anticipate what they need to work on and what they just need a basic review on. SERIOUSLY, this is huge. Imagine you walk into class on the first day of school, and you have a decent idea of where every student is at in your content area. There are issues with state tests, but they do give you a general feel of a student's progress.
Another thing I am going to say: Give your students a pretest. Make it on what they will be learning either the semester or throughout the year. And, again, type up the results.
My last year of teaching, I gave my students a pretest and I made a list, from highest score to the lowest score of all the students. Based on this knowledge, I then put students into teams.
And last, but not least with student assessments: tell them their scores. Pull them aside and have individual conferences with them. I gave students a print out of this: Student Feedback. This details test scores and shows students what they need to improve in. I've had several students that used to keep these in the front of their clear binders, displaying proudly their test scores!
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