Assessment Basics

Assessment is an information gathering process that enables teachers to make decisions about students' learning and the direction instruction needs to take. The primary purpose of assessment is to inform teaching and improve learning.

What is Assessment?

Unfortunately, depending on whom you ask, the answer may be very different. For many years assessment in school has been incomplete, providing only a very limited picture of a student’s total knowledge. Assessment has been largely diagnostic, used to identify weaknesses prior to teaching, or summative, used to measure learning after teaching has taken place. These types of assessment are still important, but hopefully, assessment today is much more than tests, rubrics, and giving grades.

Assessment must also be formative, an integral part of instruction. It is an information gathering process that enables teachers to make decisions about students’ learning and the direction instruction needs to take. It gives feedback to students that allow changes to be made to improve performance. The primary purpose of assessment then is to inform teaching and improve learning.

Much of the confusion teachers feel about assessment comes from mixing it with evaluation. Evaluation differs from assessment in that evaluation is the gathering of information to rate, score, grade, judge, or document. Actually much of what is being called classroom assessment is really classroom evaluation, and the power to monitor and adjust on the part of both the student and the teacher is lost. Good teachers must do both: assess and evaluate.

Evaluation alone judges one brief snapshot of what students know or can do. A complete assessment plan must include multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning and attainment of standards using a variety of assessment tools.

Teachers must move away from thinking of themselves as merely evaluators. Teachers must become assessors. To think like an assessor does not come easily or naturally because most teachers assess the way they were assessed (evaluated, really) in school. Teachers must begin by asking themselves what evidence will be necessary to assess the core knowledge that has been targeted. The next step is to fully understand the principles of assessment to create valid and appropriate assessments that give teachers and their students important information to monitor and adjust teaching and learning.

Types of Assessments

When choosing types of assessment, it is important to have a variety of assessment tools. It is critical that the type of assessment you choose matches the core, knowledge, and criteria being assessed.

Assessment falls into two categories and four types:

Types:

Selected Response

Multiple choice, matching, and true-false tests are examples of selected response assessments. These are the conventional, The students are asked to select or give the correct or best answer. They are easy to administer and easy to score. Grades are usually expressed numerically. The score is highly reliable provided the test questions are valid. The test scorer’s possible bias is non-existent due to the nature of this kind of assessment (only one possible correct answer). Selected response assessments are useful when assessing students grasp of information and facts (declarative knowledge).

Things to consider when constructing a test:

What is the primary purpose of the test?
What core, knowledge, and thinking skills will it address?
How much will each question or section of the test be weighted?
Does the test address what has been taught?
Does the test have a balance among types of test items?
Will the test be engaging to students?
Will the test be challenging, yet not frustrating?
Is there only one correct answer for each question?

After you administer a selected response test attention has to be given to the validity of the items on the test. Carefully review test items. If there were particular items that most students answered incorrectly, go back and examine the question. When reviewing the items, think about the following:

Did the test item fail to assess what had been taught?
Was there a flaw in how the test item was worded?
Did the problem occur in delivery of instruction?
If many students chose the same incorrect answer, could there be more than one correct answer?
Are there misconceptions related to the concept being tested?

Constructed Response - Short Answer | Products | Performances

Short Answer - These require that students generate a response by filling in a single word or a few sentences. The students may be asked to label a diagram or map. They may be asked to show the work or steps they went through to get an answer. The answer is not in front of them to be chosen. These are effective for assessing declarative and procedural knowledge.

Products - Product assessments take place over an extended period of time. They are things that the students “produce”. These assessments can be documents or artifacts that have been created by the student. They may include, but are not limited to, essays, research papers, learning logs, journals, poems, reports, portfolios, science projects, etc.

Performances - These assessments are longer and require a greater amount of time to complete. They may take place over an extended unit of study. The students may be keeping a journal, constructing or keeping a portfolio of written work.

Performance and product assessments require students to analyze and apply knowledge to perform designated tasks. These tasks promote student engagement, a deeper understanding of the content being studied, and the opportunity for students to apply what they have learned. Product and performance assessments are usually scored by either a generalized rubric, task-specific rubric, or checklist.

Products and Performance as Sources of Evidence
Written	Visual	Oral or Aural	Made or Built	Combination
Essays	Diagrams	Reports	Models	Videotapes
Letters	Flowcharts	Debates	Constructions	Multi-media
Poems	Drawings	Musical	Exhibits	Presentations
Narratives	Paintings	Performances	Dioramas	Dramas
Reports	Graphs	Readings	Sculptures	Experiments
Instructions	Map	Interviews		Dance
Quizzes

Harris, Doug and Carr, Judy. How to Use Standards in the Classroom. ASCD 1996

Assessment reporting and feedback methods include:

Rubrics

Teacher Observation

Checklist

Principles of Assessment

Congruent

Assesses the targeted standards/performance indicators/core curricula
Assessment type (selected response, short answer, product, performance) is appropriate for assessing the identified declarative knowledge and/or procedural knowledge
Provides exemplars of student work in relation to standards/performance indicators/core curricula

Systematic

Makes standards/criteria/expectations known to students early in the instructional process
Uses multiple methods
Uses appropriate criteria and procedures for scoring and reporting results

Ongoing

Regularly provides feedback to students about their learning in relation to standards/performance indicators/core curriculum

Inclusive

Enables students to show their strengths and show what they know and can do in a variety of ways (e.g. Multiple intelligences, learning styles)
Involves students in self assessment
Permits accommodations/modifications

Technically Sound

Is valid
- Are the standards/performance indicators/core curricula taught being assessed?
- Does the assessment assess what it purports to assess?
Is reliable
- Does the assessment provide sufficient information to make dependable decisions?
- Are the results likely to be consistent from student to student and over time?
Has clear language

Ethical

Is fair and avoids bias