Different Types of Assessments
Performance Assessment
Formative Assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
Summative Assessment
Assessment for learning to give feedback on learning and teaching
Assessment as learning to self regulate and critically evaluate
Assessments for learning should always be ongoing and actionable. It involves teachers using evidence about students' knowledge, understanding and skills to inform their teaching. Common types of assessment for learning include formative assessments and diagnostic assessments.
Assessment as learning actively involves students in the learning process. It teaches critical thinking skills, problem-solving and encourages students to set achievable goals for themselves and objectively measure their progress.
Assessment of learning to demonstrate achievement
Assessment of learning assists teachers in using evidence of student learning to assess achievement against outcomes and standards. It usually occurs at defined key points during a teaching work or at the end of a unit, term or semester, and may be used to rank or grade students.
Examples
Exams
Portfolios
Final projects
Standardized tests
Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples )
Diagnostic Assessment is a form of pre-assessment where teachers can evaluate students’ strengths, weaknesses, knowledge and skills before their instruction.
*post-course assessments can be compared with pre-course assessments and can show students’ potential improvement in certain areas.
Short quizzes
Journal entries
Student interviews
Student reflections
Classroom discussions
Graphic organizers (e.g., mind maps, flow charts, KWL charts)
Written or oral feedback to students about strengths, challenges, next steps
self-assessment
peer assessment
Staff - Student feedback
These type of assessments are usually end of term/end of year assessments seeking to ”sum up” how much students have learned over a longer period of time with respect to a specific set of skills or content.
Formative assessments are essentially ”on the fly” type of assessments that provide a snapshot of where students happen to be with respect to their on-going competence on a subject being assessed
This assessment measures how well students apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities to authentic problems. The purpose of a performance assessment is to improve the student learning experience and evaluate the effectiveness of lesson plans.
Why is it used?
can engage and pique the interest of students.
can be accurate indicators of what students know and whether they can use their knowledge.
can increase instructor confidence by allowing them to evaluate lesson plan effectiveness.
can identify how well an instructor is teaching and provide progress reports for student learning.
Examples
Presentation on a subject
Portfolio
Projects
Debates
Exhibits
Think - Pair - Share
Individual Whiteboards
Graphic Organizers
Brainstorming
Discussion
Four Corners
Standardized tests
Final projects
Final essays
Final presentations
Self and peer evaluations
Project evaluation (self and others)
Unit evaluation
Daily reflection
portfolios
Learning logs
Lists/notes from outside readings
Reflective lesson logs
Homework assignments
Questions/response from lecture
Problem-solving entries
Science observations
Journals
Quote of the day response
Personal experience reflection
Literary responses
Event descriptions/analysis
Connection making between subjects or topics
Direct and indirect methods
Direct methods allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do; indirect methods help us infer what students know and can do.
Direct method
Indirect method
Objective tests
Written assignments
Performance of authentic tasks
Portfolios
Student surveys
Course evaluations
Grades
ePortfolios are purposeful collections of student work that can be used to showcase their efforts and ideas, and act as archives of learning, discovery, progress, achievement and self-reflection.
Prior knowledge
The simplest reason is to determine what content you may need to include or can leave out if students already know it.
Misconceptions: Students are not empty vessels that you pour information into but actively make meaning of the world around them (see Constructivism). If their prior knowledge about the topic is correct, then it’s a benefit to the limited teaching time you have since you can move on to subsequent topics. If, however, students have misconceptions about the topic, these will prevent students from building correct understandings on top of these foundational but incorrect ideas. Therefore, it’s best to determine before the course begins what misconceptions students hold and how prevalent these are.
Formative assessment is assessment for learning as opposed to end of the unit assessment of learning (summative assessment). Assessment is formative when:
Evidence is gathered about student achievement or understanding.
This information allows the teacher or learner to alter future instructional steps.
It's done in order to improve learning outcomes (Black & William, 2009).
This information serves as feedback to the teacher about how a student is doing in order to plan next steps (e.g., for teaching) and may also be for students so that they are aware of their own understanding (e.g., for learning). It’s easier to understand what formative assessment is by comparing it to summative assessment and noting the differences seen below.