This chapter of Teaching Young Adolescents was focused on assessment. I appreciated that the authors pointed out the specifics of each type of assessment, and how to implement them correctly. I think that it can be easy to overlook the mechanics of an assessment, but this chapter made me realize that it is very important with regards to making it as effective and valid as it can be to demonstrate what students have learned.
Another thing that I took from this chapter is that it's important to use varied assessments, not just the same assessment consistently for every topic, unit etc. This way, students can express what they know in different ways, and perhaps if they are weak in one area of assessment they can still achieve because of the variations.
It is very surprising how much thought is needed into making authentic assessment questions. A part that really stood out to me was what exactly teachers want to assess from their students, and the differences between reliable tests and valid tests. When an educator chooses a certain question to be on a test, they are in a way determining the level of thinking they want to test their students, whether it be higher-level or lower-level. I agree with you that in order to gain a more authentic gauge of student progress, assessment questions need to be diverse, not all just multiple choice or True/False.
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