Student Assessments

1. Self-Assessment

1.1. Definition:  assessment or evaluation of oneself or one's actions and attitudes, in particular, of one's performance at a job or learning task considered in relation to an objective standard.

1.2. Purpose: The benefit is increased involvement in the process of assessing strengths and areas in need of improvement, identify discrepancies of performance between the employee and supervisor, and to conduct a more constructive evaluation meeting, thus increasing commitment to career and performance planning.

1.3. Advantages: Encourages student involvement and responsibility. Encourages students to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work. Allows students to see and reflect on their peers’ assessment of their contribution. Focuses on the development of student’s judgment skills.

1.4. Disadvantages: Potentially increases lecturer workload by needing to brief students on the process as well as on-going guidance on performing self evaluation. Self evaluation has a risk of being perceived as a process of presenting inflated grades and being unreliable. Students feel ill equipped to undertake the assessment

1.5. Examples: Have students write a reflection after completing a skill or activity

1.6. Source: Gielen, S., Dochy, F., Onghena, P., Stuyven, K., Smeets, S. (2011). Goals of peer assessment and their associated quality concepts. Studies in Higher Education, 36(6). 719-735.

2. Peer-Assessment

2.1. Definition: is a process whereby students or their peers grade assignments or tests based on a teacher's benchmarks. The

2.2. Purpose: The practice is employed to save teachers time and improve students' understanding of course materials as well as improve their metacognitive skills.

2.3. Advantages: Encourages student involvement and responsibility. Encourages students to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work. Focuses on the development of student’s judgment skills.

2.4. Disadvantages:  The process has a degree of risk with respect to reliability of grades as peer pressure to apply elevated grades or friendships may influence the assessment, though this can be reduced if students can submit their assessments independent of the group. Students will have a tendency to award everyone the same mark.

2.5. Examples: Health class: Students can review each other healthy snack recipes and justification based on a rubric.

2.6. Source: Dyer, K. (2014). Self Assessments. from Teach. Learn. Grow

3. High-stakes Assessment

3.1. Definition: is any test used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts

3.2. Purpose: to hold schools and educators accountable to ensure students are reaching a certain academic level

3.3. Advantages: It can help teachers create a specific learning plan for each student. Also can improve students' test taking abilities

3.4. Disadvantages: It can cause children to repeat grade levels or deny a diploma. Creativity is removed from the classroom.

3.5. Examples: Although PARCC has a Health assessment..it is not considered a high-stakes test at this point

3.6. Sources:Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum

4. Portfolio

4.1. Definition: compilation of academic work and other forms of educational

4.2. Purpose: purpose of (1) evaluating coursework quality, learning progress, and academic achievement; (2) determining whether students have met learning standards or other academic requirements for courses, grade-level

4.3. Advantages: Promoting student self-evaluation, reflection, and critical thinking. Measuring performance based on genuine samples of student work. Providing flexibility in measuring how students accomplish their learning goals. Enabling teachers and students to share the responsibility for setting learning goals and for evaluating progress toward meeting those goals.

4.4. Disadvantages: Requiring extra time to plan an assessment system and conduct the assessment. Gathering all of the necessary data and work samples can make portfolios bulky and difficult to manage. Developing a systematic and deliberate management system is difficult, but this step is necessary in order to make portfolios more than a random collection of student work.

4.5. Examples: In Health class, instead of having students complete a final exam at the end of the class. Students would create a portfolio of class work assignments, quizzes and texts from all of the units covered in class.

4.6. Source: Venn, J. J. (2000). Assessing students with special needs (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

5. Diagnostic Assessment

5.1. Definition: Diagnostic assessment involves the gathering and careful evaluation of detailed data using students' knowledge and skills in a given learning area.

5.2. Purpose: Diagnostic assessment is an essential device in a teacher's “tool kit”. It can be used to diagnose strengths and areas of need in all students.

5.3. Advantages: -Establishes a baseline for the class -Allows for better differentiation plans for the students -Provides a frame of reference for later assessments

5.4. Disadvantage: -It may cause an educator to make incorrect inferences about a child's ability level

5.5. Example: Teacher checking for the fundamental skill of throwing a football across the gym. The teacher provides students with checklist and/or can observe and write suggestions for each students.

5.6. Sources: Hanna, G. S., & Dettmer, P. A. (2004). Assessment for effective teaching: Using context-adaptive planning. Boston, MA: Pearson A&B.

6. Formative Assessment

6.1. Definition: a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment

6.2. Purpose: is to monitor students' acquisition of knowledge and skills during educational preparation, that is, during the time when students' basic and professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes are being 'formed.'

6.3. Advantages: Formative assessments are not graded, which takes the anxiety away from students. It also detaches the thinking that they must get everything right.

6.4. Disadvantages: low to no point value -- as a summative assessment, and students may not take the assessments seriously, which may cause teachers to misread feedback from students.

6.5. Examples: Exit slips or tickets asking students their opinion on a topic we have covered in class

6.6. Source: Hanna, G. S., & Dettmer, P. A. (2004). Assessment for effective teaching: Using context-adaptive planning. Boston, MA: Pearson A&B.

7. Summative Assessment

7.1. Definition: an assessment that focuses on the outcome of the class/program

7.2. Purpose: are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period—typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year

7.3. Advantages:  They provide motivation for students to study and pay attention in class, particularly as they get older and grades become a major indicator of success in college or the working world. They also give great insight to teachers: if none of the children in a class score above a 2 or 3 on an AP exam, it is much more likely to be the result of poor or off-topic instruction than a class of students unable to complete the work.

7.4. Disadvantages: Often times, teachers "teach to the test." Also creates a high level of anxiety for the students due to most summative assessments covering a wide range of information

7.5. Examples: PARCC Health assessment given during the PARCC testing period.

7.6. Sources: Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum

8. Performance-Based Assessment

8.1. Definition: performance assessment requires students to demonstrate knowledge and skills, including the process by which they solve problems.

8.2. Purpose: is to directly evaluate the knowledge or skill being taught.

8.3. Advantages: Performance-based assessment builds on daily work (assignments, exams, projects) of students and faculty. Enables faculty to determine student skills and abilities and for students to learn more about how to improve their own skills.

8.4. Disadvantages: Performance-based measures are labor intensive. A significant amount of time and care must be set aside for planning and using performance assessment.

8.5. Examples: Requiring a students to perform a certain locomotive skill...a rubric will be provided for the student as a guide.

8.6. Sources: Mintz, S. (2015). Performance-Based Assement. retrieved from Inside Higher ED.

9. Authentic Assessment

9.1. Definition: is the measurement of "intellectual accomplishments that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful," as contrasted to multiple choice standardized tests.

9.2. Purpose: to measure students' ability to apply their knowledge and thinking skills to solving tasks that simulate real-world events or activities

9.3. Advantages: Focuses on analytical skills and the integration of knowledge....promotes creativity....enhances written and oral presentation skills

9.4. Disadvantages: Time-intensive to manage, monitor, and coordinate....difficult to coordinate with mandatory educational standards

9.5. Examples: For team sports unit: Basketball. Create a rubric with differentiated skills and volume for each. Have students choose which option

9.6. Sources: Wiggins, Grant. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42