1. Performance-Based Assessments
1.1. Activities that uses tasks directly assessing students understanding and proficiency. This allow students to construct a response, create a product or perform a demonstration to show what they understand and can do.
1.1.1. What is it?
1.1.1.1. These assessments can be described as both formative (FOR learning) and summative (OF learning). In formative learning teachers have numerous opportunity to observe student performance and provide highly descriptive feedback for students to adjust learning and teaching (for the teacher). The teacher can then have a clear idea of the student's achievement of the skills or objectives targeted in the task.
1.1.1.2. More than standardized tests of content knowledge, performance-based tasks are able to measure students’ habits of mind.
1.1.1.3. It requires students to use high-level thinking to perform, create, or produce something with transferable real-world application.
1.1.2. Disadvantages
1.1.2.1. Usually include fewer questions and call for a greater degree of subjective judgement than traditional testing methods. Students may be unintentionally penalized for such things as having a disability, being from a certain cultural background, or attending classes at a school with limited resources.
1.1.3. Advantages
1.1.3.1. This can promote motivation using a student-centered design. It can be used to assess transfer of skills and integration of content. - Engages student in active learning - Teachers can take mentor roles rather than as judge - Can be formative or summative
1.1.4. Examples
1.1.4.1. Research project in science with a presentation and debate on why certain metals are more useful to humans.
2. High Stakes Assessments
2.1. What is it?
2.1.1. Any test used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts, most commonly for the purpose of accountability in the attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies or school administrators to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools.
2.1.2. Purpose: These tests are used to determine punishments (i.e. sanctions, penalties, funding reductions, etc.), accolade (awards, public celebrations, scholarships, etc.), or compensation (salary bonuses for administrators and teachers). OF learning: Teaching staff are required through scores of students to demonstrate quantitively and qualitively the effectiveness of instruction.
2.2. Advantages
2.2.1. Tests may motivate students to improve their performance, especially when test results are tied to high school diplomas and grade promotion. Tests are also based on clearly defined standards and provide important information on students' performance growth and declines
2.3. Disadvantages
2.3.1. High-stakes tests only math or language arts, science, social studies and the arts are sacrificed to make time for more test prep. Pressure on teachers can clamp down on creativity and innovation. Increased pressure on parents and students is counter-productive. In addition, the tests may lead to inaccurate measures of student performance, due to non-test factors, such as anxiety and motivation, of the test-taker
2.4. Examples
2.4.1. College Board's AP and SAT tests Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Final standardized test/assessment
3. Peer Assessment
3.1. What is it?
3.1.1. It involves students taking responsibility for assessing the work of their peers against set assessment criteria. It increases reflection, responsibility and deep understanding of content skills. FOR and OF learning; students might learn in the process of evaluating and judging of their peers constructively. They gain and use their thinking skills to be able to determine whether a peer fulfilled a goal.
3.2. Advantages
3.2.1. Receiving feedback from peers can be relevant and meaningful. Students can develop judgment skills and are involved in the process, while taking part ownership of this process. During this time of peer assessment, students are compelled to pay attention since they are evaluating, and they may learn while listening. Students are also able to help the teachers evaluate and see overlooked areas where more or less work was actually contributed.
3.3. Disadvantages
3.3.1. Students may feel uncomfortable with evaluating their friends objectively and may not be honest in grading. Students may also not be well-equipped to evaluate due to various reasons such as lack of experience. In extreme cases, this may lead to discrimination against a person or group members.
3.4. Examples
3.4.1. Peer evaluation during a presentation of a research PowerPoint slide or science project.
4. Self Assessment
4.1. What is it?
4.1.1. This is similar to peer evaluation but students assess their own contribution as well as their peers using an established set of criteria. To allow students to reflect on their progress and check their progress towards set goals. FOR and OF learning, students get involved in a metacognitive process during the learning cycle. They evaluate their own knowledge and skills they used during the learning process.
4.2. Advantages
4.2.1. It encourages student involvement and responsibility. This also encourages students to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work, allowing students to see and reflect on their peers’ assessment of their contribution. Overall, it focuses on the development of student’s judgment skills.
4.3. Disadvantages
4.3.1. Students might not be aware of being subjective in their own evaluation and believe they have mastered a skill or area where they may not quite have achieved.
4.4. Examples
4.4.1. Students can self-assess their own science research presentation or project work after it is complete.
5. Portfolio Assessment
5.1. What is it?
5.1.1. An evaluation tool used to document student learning through a series of student-developed artifacts. It offers an alternative or an addition to traditional methods of grading and high stakes exams. Portfolio assessment gives both teachers and students a controlled space to document, review, and analyze content leaning. Of learning; they show the completed work, the result of the student's effort and accomplishments in relation to specific instructional goals.
5.2. Advantages
5.2.1. Portfolio assessments promotes self-reflection, evaluation, and critical thinking. Helps students see their learning from a broad perspective removing the pressure and anxiety of standardized testing.
5.3. Disadvantages
5.3.1. Time consuming for planning, identifying instructional goals, developing strategies, identifying suitable instructional approaches. There is no valid grading criteria as of yet have been established to evaluate quality of generated portfolios.
5.4. Examples
5.4.1. Assessment portfolios, electronic portfolios, students portfolios.
6. Diagnostic Assessment
6.1. What is it?
6.1.1. Gathering and careful evaluation of detailed data targeting students knowledge and skills in a particular area. The purpose is to allow teachers to plan specific and appropriate lessons for students and to scaffold learning to meet their needs. This help teachers determine areas needed to target in order to move students to a greater level of achievement.
6.1.2. It is an assessment FOR learning because it is used to determine a student’s next steps, since it measures what a student previously learned.
6.2. Advantages
6.2.1. It gives teachers opportunities to plan meaningful and efficient instruction for the individual student. This allows teachers to differentiate lessons for the class.
6.3. Disadvantages
6.3.1. Students can be tied to a specific curricula or course. In addition, it may cause an educator to make incorrect inferences about a child's ability level
6.4. Learning
6.5. Example
6.5.1. Instructor uses a set of conceptual questions to assess students understanding of fundamental concepts at the start of the course
7. Formative Assessment
7.1. What is it?
7.1.1. It contributes to learning through providing feedback. It should indicate what is good about a piece of work and why this is good; it should also indicate what is not so good and how the work could be improved. Purpose: To collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and learning while is taking place. For learning: They assist teachers during the learning process by guiding and improving at a particular moment of the teaching.
7.1.1.1. Purpose: To collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and learning while is taking place. FOR learning: They assist teachers during the learning process by guiding and improving at a particular moment of the teaching.
7.2. Advantages
7.2.1. This type of assessment don't interrupt the learning process, it allows teacher to make timely adjustments. It promotes students reflection.
7.3. Disadvantages
7.3.1. Some difficulties may arise with too much time invested in formative assessments to meet the learning needs of students. It takes too much class time. In science class, a teacher can run into problems such as time limitations on a big project.
7.4. Example
7.4.1. Create a mind map or venn diagram comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells with examples of living organisms.
8. Summative Assessments
8.1. What is it?
8.1.1. Demonstrates the extent of the learner's success in meeting the assessment criteria at the conclusion of an instructional period. The purpose for summative assessments is to evaluate student learning according to a standard or benchmark. OF learning assessment - it determines what the student has been learning after an instructional period.
8.2. Advantages
8.2.1. Provides motivation and helps create an appropriate learning environment. Positive results gives a student a sense of confidence and can help with behavior. Students can be held accountable for their determination and input. Teachers can identify and evaluate their methods of teaching delivery to more effectively develop future lessons.
8.3. Disadvantages
8.3.1. Summative assessments can be associated with teacher performances and many teachers accused of "teaching to the test." In addition, students may not do well or enjoy learning under pressure of summative assessments.
8.4. Example
8.4.1. A good science summative assessment could be to create a brochure about different products and ingredients using the periodic table of elements.
9. Authentic Assessment
9.1. What is it?
9.1.1. This refers to assessment tasks that resemble skills and concepts students have learned. The purpose of these is to simulate situations, problems, and tasks that students might face in the outside world or when they are adults. FOR learning, they can use the lessons of authentic situations to move to the next stage of a process or to assist them in future projects. OF learning: Students have to demonstrate what they have learned during the process.
9.2. Advantages
9.2.1. Leads to improved teaching and learning; Views learning as a process. These are also real-world contexts, where students can apply 21st century skills such as creativity and collaboration
9.3. Disadvantages
9.3.1. It can be difficult to evaluate, grade and measure. It can also be difficult to implement with mandatory standards in place with limitations of time. This can also be difficult to grade scoring rubrics objectively.
9.4. Example
9.4.1. A science fair inquiry with a theme of sustainability. Students must design an experiment following the scientific method using what they have researched in order to conclude whether they have found a solution or not.