Lauren, Marcie, Sheila, and Sam's views on assessments

After reading through everyones views it seems as though we are all on the same page. For starters Shelia and I both work with the same assessment, ELAS (early learning assessment system). I spoke more on the focus on how ELAS is provided by the state and does not really give you time to teach, just makes sure you are documenting evidence to meet the age by age requirements. As Lauren mentioned Routman in her view she quoted him stating, "assessment promotes learning." I agree with this statement, but unfortunately i would have to say i do not think that ELAS leaves room for that. After going on a tangent about not having time to 'teach' i realized i failed to mention the accuracy of this assessment, but when i read Sheila's i saw she made mention of this.
Sheila mentioned how she received a student from a different school in her district and after going over the scores that were given to this student from the other teacher she realized she did not agree with the other teacher. The problem here is the other teacher might have scored this little girl on what she knows she can do rather then what the evidence proves. With ELAS there is no right or wrong answer its based upon the age by age accomplishment so what one teacher might think is a 3 the other might think they are a 4. Which is exactly what happened in Sheila's case.
I myself was in a year long case study this past school year to see just how accurate this assessment is. Not only was I in this case study this past school year, I was also in it the previous year in another Abbott district. This study is based on a group of teachers who are being trained (yet again) and those who are not (control group). Over the summer the state then goes over all these scores to see who was better off, the study group or the control group. So my question here is if so many teachers are questioning this assessment and now so many authorities from the state are questioning this assessment, why do we continue to use it?
Where as Sheila and myself are constantly assessing throughout the day Sam feels as though she does most of her assessing closer to the conference time with the parents other then that she states that her school "does not do very formal assessments." Her school uses portfolios as a way of assessment. This is where a student has the opportunity to to place his/her work at his/her own will. The teachers also have the right to add to the child's portfolio. This portfolio stays with the child as they pass to the next school year.
Sam and I agree on the teacher's assessment with working with the parents. Having the parent's involvement creates a positive outlook, which in return creates positive feedback from both parents and students. This also give the students the opportunity to work with their parents and involve their parents in their school community.
To sum it up i think Lauren said it best when she said, "assessment is important to monitor students development. It helps to keep a record of students progress." These are very important to keep in mind while assessing this way you don't loose track of what you are doing, and what you are doing is 'teaching.'