Assessment Types
Performance Assessments
Formative
Summative Assessments
Diagnostic Assessment
Examples
Assessment for Learning
Added by Jaren Hillier
According to NSW, “Assessment for learning involves teachers using evidence about students' knowledge, understanding and skills to inform their teaching. Sometimes referred to as ‘formative assessment', it usually occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify student learning and understanding.” (Approaches | NSW Education Standards, 2020) This means that a teacher creates his lessons and plans his classes to cater the students preexisting abilities. This involves lots of feedback and a push towards the student improving.
Formative assessments fall into many categories. A pre-assessment is one of them. These assessments happen before a unit. They are made to find ascertain a learners existing knowledge and to judge what skills will need to be focused on in the unit.
On-going assessment is another type of formative assessment. Home work, quizzes and classroom discussions are all examples of on-going assessments. They are designed to help the teacher track the students progress towards the desired outcome.
click to edit
Exit tickets are a great way to assess the students understanding of the lesson. Normally you will ask a question that is related to the things that were taught that day. This will allow the students to reflect on what they learned and it will allow the teacher to assess the students progress and plan for the next lesson.
What is Diagnostic Assessment? Diagnostic Assessment is given at the beginning of the course or the beginning of the unit/topic. This assessment is used to collect data on what students already know about the topic. Diagnostic assessments are sets of written questions (multiple choice or short answer) that assess a learner’s current knowledge base or current views on a topic/issue to be studied in the course.
Why Do We Use Diagnostic Testing?The goal is to get a snapshot of where students currently stand - intellectually, emotionally or ideologically - allowing the teacher to make sound instructional choices as to how to teach the new course content and what teaching approach to use.
They are often used pre- and post-instruction, where students are given identical pre- and post-tests before and after the course. This method allows instructors and students to chart their learning progress by comparing pre- and post-tests results.
Examples of Diagnostic Testing
Unit Pretest
A unit pre-test is a non-graded assessment tool used to determine how much knowledge a student has of the subject. These pretests are commonly made up of fill-in-the-gap questions, multiple-choice questions, and other types of close-ended questions. The whole idea is to test a student’s existing knowledge before they get started on a new learning module or unit.
Entry Slips
You can use entry slips to collect quick information from students. Teachers can ask a few questions while students write down their responses on the slips. After the exercise, the teacher retrieves the slips, evaluates the responses, and makes any required changes to the curriculum.
Surveys and Questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires are some of the most common methods of conducting diagnostic assessments. You can create an online survey/questionnaire with Formplus, and administer them at the beginning of your lesson. Alternatively, you may use the email invitation feature to send the survey to students beforehand.
Added by: Max Johnson
Impromptu Quiz
You can conduct this offline or use Formplus to create and administer an online quiz. In most cases, a quiz has only 10 questions or less, in different formats. You should expect open-ended questions as well as close-ended question types like multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and true or false questions.
Journals
A journal entry or general writing assignment to determine writing levels and needs to be addressed for each student.
Diagnostic Assessment in Education: Purpose, Strategies, Examples (July 27, 2022) Formplus Blog. Retrieved August 24, 2022) from: https://www.formpl.us/blog/diagnostic-assessment
Diagnostic Assessment: Meaning, Examples, and Types, n.d. (October 13, 2021) Harrapa. Retrieved on August 24, 2022 from: https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/diagnostic-assessment/
FOR / OF / AS Learning
Diagnostic Assessments FOR learning: To determine if the students know what they need to know to be able to understand the different domains to support the students' learning.
Diagnostic Assessments OF Learning: To determine if the students have learned enough of a concept that they are ready to carry it forward into the next concept. Usually for subjects like math, English, and science.
Diagnostic Assessments AS learning: Students can use the diagnostic assessment to determine for themselves what they need to work on.
What are Performance Assessments
An approach to educational assessment that requires students to directly demonstrate what they know and are able to do through open-ended tasks such as constructing an answer, producing a project, or performing an activity. This demonstration can include generating a short written response, writing an analytical essay, conducting a science investigation, creating a curated portfolio of work, or developing an original research paper.
This assessment measures how well students apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities to authentic problems. The key feature is that it requires the student to produce something, such as a report, experiment, or performance, which is scored against specific criteria.
Examples of Performance Assessments
Portfolio:
This assessment consists of a body of student work collected over an extended period, from a few weeks to a year or more. This work can be produced in response to a test prompt or assignment but is often simply drawn from everyday classroom tasks. Frequently, portfolios also contain an element of student reflection.
Exhibition:
A type of performance assessment that requires a public presentation, as in the sciences or performing arts. Other fields can also require an exhibition component. Students might be required, for instance, to justify their position in an oral presentation or debate.
Performance task:
A piece of work students are asked to do to show how well they apply their knowledge, skills, or abilities—from writing an essay to diagnosing and fixing a broken circuit. A performance assessment typically consists of several performance tasks. Performance tasks also may be included in traditional multiple-choice tests.
Project Based Learning:
Students will typically work on a project over an extended period of time – anywhere from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. They then show what they learned by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.
Maier, Anna (October 13, 2020). Using Performance Assessments to Support Student Learning. Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved on August 25, 2022 from: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/cpac-performance-assessments-support-student-learning-brief#:~:text=Performance%20Assessment%3A%20An%20approach%20to,project%2C%20or%20performing%20an%20activity.
What Is Performance Assessment? (February 5, 2019) Education Week. Retrieved August 25, 2022 from: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-performance-assessment/2019/02
Harapnuik, Dwayne (December 24, 2020). Assessment OF/FOR/AS Learning. It’s About Learning. Retrieved August 25, 2022 from: https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8475
FOR / AS / OF Learning
Performance Assessments FOR Learning: Teachers meet with students throughout the planning process of a project or research assignment. Teachers have regular opportunities to give meaningful suggestions during the production process as well as critical feedback upon completion.
Performance Assessments AS Learning: Students are given opportunities for peer-review and self-reflections both during and after completing major projects or presentations.
Performance Assessments OF Learning: Final projects and presentations can be measured against a rubric to assess achievement of outcomes and standards
Added by: Max Johnson
added by Tarra Scott
Summative assessments a means to measure a student's mastery of a set of skills or content against a set benchmark or standard that takes place at the end of a learning unit or program.
Forms of Assessment
Criterion-Based Test
Portfolio
Recital
Final Project
Final Paper
Standardized Admission Exams
Benefits
Limits
Of, for, or as?
Examples
GRE
ACT/SAT
Examples
Final Exams
Used to determine mastery of certain skills for entering a program
PRAXIS
IELTS
MCAT
LSAT
Used to assess skills taught in a set period of time (e.g. end of a unit, every 9 weeks, once a semester, or once a school year)
Midterm Exams
Used to demonstrate learning through research and/or experimentation and a paper reporting the results
Examples
Thesis
Dissertation
Summative assessments are considered an assessment OF learning.
Assessment results are only seen after learning has been finished.
There usually isn't time to address gaps in learning
after seeing results
It can put lots of pressure on students which can sometimes distort results
It measures student understand of materials
It creates an academic record of the student's learning.
Cambridge KET/PET/FCE/CAE
TOEIC/TOEFL
Purpose of Summative Assessments
It is generally objective and quantifiable.
A performance of music, dance, or other performing arts
Students produce a final piece of work to showcase skills learned, usually at the end of a PBL unit.
Examples
Oral Presentation
Science Fair Project
Display Board
Writing Project
A collection of a student's work over a set period of time to show their learning process and examples of their top work
AP Exams
State Proficiency Tests
PISA
Sources
Formplus. (2021, March 8). Summative assessment: Definition + [examples & types]. Formplus. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.formpl.us/blog/summative-assessment
Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). Assessment OF/FOR/AS Learning. Harapnuik.org. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8475
Mezni, A. (2020, September 15). Pros & Cons of different summative assessments. Teaching Resources and Lesson Plans - Teaching Ideas 4U by Amy Mezni. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://teachingideas4u.com/2020/09/pros-cons-of-different-summative-assessments.html
What Is Formative Assessment? Twinkl.com.tw. (n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.twinkl.com.tw/teaching-wiki/summative-assessment
YouTube. (2017). Summative Assessments: Overview and Examples. YouTube. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=SjnrI3ZO2tU.
click to edit
Neither questions nor responses need to be overly complex or detailed, they can be something as simple as “What was the most interesting thing we discussed yesterday?”. This will allow you to see what students found compelling and what topics come up the most and least frequently. 6 Formative Assessment Examples & Ideas. (n.d.). Mentimeter. https://www.mentimeter.com/blog/interactive-classrooms/formative-assessment-examples-and-ideas
Asking students to recall what they learned last week or even yesterday can help gauge what important information has been retained and what may have been overlooked. This type of question will require students to recall and reflect on what they have learned and to construct an answer in their own words.
Pre-class open-ended question