What's in a assesment?

In my kindergarten class, my CT expressed to me that she cannot formally assess the students on a daily bases as she would with older students because most of the activities that the students do, even though they are worksheets, because most of them just allow the students to draw or practice their handwriting or numbers. They only time my CT is able to formally asses the students is when she is getting ready to report grades for report cards. She informed me that the principal, although she is currently head of three schools, goes through each and every one of the students report cards because she likes to know what is going on with the students and how well the teachers are doing in their classrooms. By doing so, my CT take a small group of four students at a time and measures their reading skills by having each student read the “kindergarten words” on a page of the book she provides them with and their math skills by having them count by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s up to a expected number. The students know that the formal assessments are what their report cards are based off of but the students do not seem to worry about the outcome which is of course a great thing.

I'm still working on learning how to properly produce formative and summative assessment but its harder for me because I have been working with lower elementary and middle school students and their needs are much different.
Suggestions for successful assessments are highly appreciated!

Reflecting on Education: Current Experience

My placement is in a Kindergarten classroom that varies between 5-6 year olds majority low class and working class with a variation of African American, White, and Hispanic children. My CT is a white woman in her early 30’s who has finally started back teaching steady after having a few children of her own so her perspective is a bit different then some of the other instructors I have worked with recently. The classroom is a busy beehive but has a structure to it that keeps the children constantly moving yet very structured. My CT presents every lesson with discussion and repetition. There are always worksheets or writing on a dry-erase board to help keep track of discussions. She chooses students to answer question based on their behavior (hands raised, sitting quietly) and students answer questions which usually require some time of explanation to display understanding yet the children don’t usually interact with each other during learning time. "this sequence is referred to as the teacher-i-student response teacher evaluation or IRE. IRE prevents the exchange of ideas among students and inhibits them from building meaning together." While I don’t see this as a problem because the students are in kindergarten and may respond to group work differently, it could potentially serve as a opportunity for students to become more socially comfortable and engage their minds to things they hadn’t thought of before.

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The Movie "Waiting On Superman" sparked much debate and uproar within parts and educators alike. I myself did not know of the seriousness of the situation pertaining to the movie and it has caused me to do more research and I'm starting to obtain my own thoughts on the lottery system situation at hand. What do you think?