What is it?
Ipsative assessment is an assessment where the student's progress is compared to and based on their personal previous work. This means that students do not compete against each other, but rather, they compete against themselves, similar to a runner trying to improve their 5K run time.
Taking away the stress of comparing themselves to others, this type of assessment can prove very beneficial for some types of students. In addition, it helps students to play a more active role in their learning by keeping track of their own progress, and helps them to see learning as a more long-term process vs. the "instant" gratification of scoring better than your peers on an exam, for example.
However, it also has its challenges, namely that it's difficult for future instructors and institutions to gain a clear picture of an individual if they cannot compare them to a standard set of criteria. Additionally, it can be a lot of extra work on the teacher administering it. That's why, it's recommended that this type of assessment be supplemented with more standard types, rather than used as the main one.
Examples of Ipsative Assessment
- Student portfolio work: reflecting on work at certain time intervals and comparing older work to newer work
- Observation (specifically with younger students) and note-taking; noting progress and periodically reviewing pas notes
- Videotaping a student reading, and repeating this a few months later (or at the beginning and end of a semester or school year), and comparing their reading progress
- Creating individual learning plans either for specific or for all students and comparing student progress to their specific plan vs. standardized testing
- Self-reflection/Self-evaluation: Involving the student in nothing their progress by asking them about what they think their weaknesses are, and how they personally think they've progressed in those areas, then comparing this to their work
- Project-based learning instead of only testing
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