1. Diagnostic
1.1. Definition
1.1.1. Diagnostic assessments (also known as pre-assessments) provide instructors with information about student's prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning a learning activity.
1.2. Purpose
1.2.1. To gain understanding of student prior knowledge before instruction
1.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
1.3.1. Advantages: -Establishes a baseline for the class -Allows for better differentiation plans for the students -Provides a frame of reference for later assessments Disadvantage: -It may cause an educator to make incorrect inferences about a child's ability level
1.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
1.4.1. Assessment FOR Learning
1.4.1.1. Depending on how students perform on this type of assessment, it will provide a picture of where learning should begin
1.5. Example from elementary school
1.5.1. As students enter into a new school it is advantageous to conduct a diagnostic assessment to see where they fall on basic skills and knowledge
1.5.2. As students return from summer break it is advantageous to conduct mini diagnostic assessments to see how much content they remember and how much they have lost over the summer
2. Performance Based
2.1. Definition
2.1.1. Performance-based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students.
2.2. Purpose
2.2.1. The purpose of these types of assessment are for educators to assess how well students can apply or perform what they know
2.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
2.3.1. Advantages: - Allows for practical application of skills and knowledge - Allows for students to assess their own knowledge - Allows teachers to assess if students are able to apply content
2.3.2. Disadvantages: - Typically include a greater level of subjectivity and judgement from the teacher - Evaluation may be more time consuming from the teacher - Students with disabilities, different cultural backgrounds, or from schools with less resources may be at a disadvantage
2.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
2.4.1. They are both assessments FOR and assessments OF learning
2.4.1.1. FOR learning because they can be placed throughout lessons or units for teachers to gauge ability to apply content and then to receive feedback on that ability
2.4.1.2. OF learning because students need to have grasped a concept before it can be applied to a performance task where that content needs to be demonstrated
2.5. Examples from elementary school
2.5.1. Art class lends itself very well to performance, if students understand the concept of mixing colors to create another color, they can demonstrate that in art class
2.5.2. Science and math classes also lend themselves well to performance-based assessments. For example students need to graph the growth of a seed over a period of time to determine when certain life stages occur.
3. High Stakes
3.1. Definition
3.1.1. A high-stakes assessment is any test used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts, most commonly for the purpose of accountability—i.e., the attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies and school administrators to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers.
3.2. Purpose
3.2.1. Typically the results of "high stakes” test scores are used to determine punishments (such as sanctions, penalties, funding reductions, negative publicity), accolades (awards, public celebration, positive publicity), advancement (grade promotion or graduation for students), or compensation (salary increases or bonuses for administrators and teachers).
3.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
3.3.1. Advantages: - Holds teachers accountable for ensuring that all students learn what they are expected to learn - Motivates students to work harder, learn more, and take the tests more seriously, which can promote higher student achievement. - Reveals areas of educational need that can be targeted for reform and improvement - Provides easily understandable information about school and student performance—in the form of numerical test scores
3.3.2. Disadvantages: - Forces educators to “teach to the test” - Promotes a more “narrow” academic program in schools - May contribute to higher, or even much higher, rates of cheating among educators and students - Has been correlated in some research studies to increased failure rates, lower graduation rates, and higher dropout rates, particularly for minority groups, students from low-income households, students with special needs, and students with limited proficiency in English
3.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
3.4.1. Possibly an assessment OF learning, but does a pretty poor job of that
3.4.1.1. These tests are not given in any specific correlation to student learning, so they really only assess how students perform on that particular test at that given time
3.5. Examples from elementary school
3.5.1. Standardized testing
3.5.2. Sometimes in elementary grades there can be reading tests that are required to pass in order to move on to the next grade
4. Potfolio
4.1. Definition
4.1.1. Portfolio assessment is an evaluation tool used to document student learning through a series of student-developed artifacts.
4.2. Purpose
4.2.1. The purpose of this type of assessment is to help students assemble their finished work that illustrate their talents, represent their capabilities, and tell their stories of school achievement and progress.
4.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
4.3.1. 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. - Giving students the opportunity to have extensive input into the learning process.
4.3.2. 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.
4.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
4.4.1. Typically used as an assessment OF learning
4.4.1.1. In order to have a portfolio there needs to be a significant amount of time to produce all of the pieces of the portfolio. So this would be done at the end of a semester or year as an assessment OF the learning and progress of the student over the course of that time.
4.5. Examples from elementary school
4.5.1. Journals that include all of the journal entries over a period of time would be great for language arts or other writing assignments
4.5.2. A collection of all the projects students have completed over the course of a year in science or social studies for example.
5. Authentic
5.1. Definition
5.1.1. Similar to performance-based assessment, authentic assessment is where students demonstrate how to apply their skills to authentic tasks and projects.
5.2. Purpose
5.2.1. Authentic assessment aims to evaluate students' abilities in 'real-world' contexts.
5.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
5.3.1. Advantages: - Focuses on analytical skills and the integration of knowledge - Promotes creativity - Reflection of real-world skills and knowledge - Encourages collaborative work - Enhances written and oral presentation skills
5.3.2. Disadvantages: - Time intensive to manage - Difficult to coordinate with mandatory educational standards - Challenging to provide consistent grading - May be unfamiliar to students
5.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
5.4.1. Depending on how they are used they can be both assessments FOR and assessments OF learning
5.4.1.1. FOR because they do not have to be placed at the end of unit, they can be used through out as a tool for teachers and students to assess
5.4.1.2. OF because they can be used as a form of summative assessment at the end of a unit or semester
5.5. Examples from elementary school
5.5.1. Teacher Observations: Teacher observes and documents the students attention and interaction in class, response to instructional materials, and cooperative work with other students.
5.5.2. Story or Text Retelling: Student retells main ideas or selected details of text experienced through listening or reading.
6. Formative
6.1. Definition
6.1.1. Formative assessments are 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
6.2.1. Used in order for the teacher to get a snapshot of current student understanding as well as to provide feedback so that the student can continue to learn
6.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
6.3.1. Advantages: - Teachers can decide what minor modifications or major changes in instruction they need to make so that all students can succeed in upcoming instruction and on subsequent assessments. - Teachers can create appropriate lessons and activities for groups of learners or individual students. - Teachers can inform students about their current progress in order to help them set goals for improvement
6.3.2. Disadvantages: - It takes time - Teachers need to be trained on the proper use of different formative assessment strategies - Formative assessments may not hold as much weight as other forms of assessment - Students may not take them as seriously as other forms of assessment
6.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
6.4.1. This is both an an assessment for and of learning
6.4.1.1. OF learning because the teacher is checking for understanding of a particular concept
6.4.1.2. FOR learning because it allows the teacher to provide feedback so that the student can try again and continue to learn
6.5. Examples from elementary school
6.5.1. There are many types, but I like exit tickets for the upper elementary classroom setting
6.5.2. I feel informal observations by the teacher work very well in the elementary setting for quick adjustments, answering questions, and providing feedback
7. Summative
7.1. Definition
7.1.1. Summative assessments are formal assessments used to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
7.2. Purpose
7.2.1. These assessments allow teachers and administrators to get information on student knowledge after a unit, or semester, or year has finished being taught. They can provide information of student knowledge, teacher effectiveness, or lesson efficacy.
7.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
7.3.1. Advantages: - These assessments can sometimes increase motivation by the student to study and perform especially in upper grades where there is more emphasis on grades - They can be easy to administer and grade - Our current educational system is designed around these assessments so students are familiar with them - They assess not only students, but also teachers, schools, districts, and states
7.3.2. Disadvantages: - They are no fun for students and can create stress - Even though a student may know the material they may not be great test takers and their scores may not represent their knowledge - Because it assesses teachers as well sometimes teachers can be accused of teaching to the test - Regardless of how students do on this type of test it usually ends with a score with very little or no time to try again and relearn
7.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
7.4.1. This is strictly an assessment OF learning
7.4.1.1. These come at the end of instruction
7.5. Examples from elementary school
7.5.1. Standardized testing is first introduced in elementary school
7.5.2. Report cards are also first introduced in elementary school where students receive final grades for quarters, semesters, and year
8. Self-assessment
8.1. Definition
8.1.1. Self-assessment is a process of formative assessment during which students reflect on and evaluate the quality of their work and their learning, judge the degree to whichthey reflect explicitly stated goals or criteria, identify strengths and weaknesses in their work, and revise accordingly
8.2. Purpose
8.2.1. The purpose of self assessment is not necessarily on having students generate their own grades, but rather providing opportunities for them to be able to identify what constitutes a good (or poor!) piece of work. Some degree of student involvement in the development and comprehension of assessment criteria is therefore an important component of self-assessment
8.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
8.3.1. 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.
8.3.2. Disadvantages: - Potentially increases teacher 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.
8.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
8.4.1. This can be both an assessment FOR and an assessment OF learning
8.4.1.1. FOR learning if it is done throughout the learning process where students can reflect and then modify their learning
8.4.1.2. OF learning if it is done at the end of a unit, project, semester
8.5. Examples from elementary school
8.5.1. This should only be considered for the upper elementary grades and only after the students have been taught how to properly self-assess. It would be wise to start on a small task, like a writing assignment and then progress to other assignments using a similar rubric they are familiar with and comfortable using
9. Peer Assessment
9.1. Definition
9.1.1. Peer assessment requires students to provide either feedback or grades (or both) to their peers on a product or a performance, based on the criteria of excellence for that product or event which students may have been involved in determining.
9.2. Purpose
9.2.1. The purpose of peer assessment is not necessarily on having students generate grades for their peers, but rather providing opportunities for them to be able to identify what constitutes a good (or poor!) piece of work. Some degree of student involvement in the development and comprehension of assessment criteria is therefore an important component of peer-assessment
9.3. Advantages and Disadvantages
9.3.1. Advantages: - Agreed marking criteria means there can be little confusion about assignment outcomes and expectations. - 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. - Students are involved in the process and are encouraged to take part ownership of this process. - Provides more relevant feedback to students as it is generated by their peers. - It is considered fair by some students, because each student is judged on their own contribution. - When done successfully can reduce the teachers grading load. - Can help reduce the ‘free rider’ problem as students are aware that their contribution will be graded by their peers.
9.3.2. Disadvantages: - Additional briefing time can increase a teachers workload. - 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. - Students feel ill equipped to undertake the assessment. - Students may be reluctant to make judgements regarding their peers. - At the other extreme students may be discriminated against if students ‘gang up’ against one group member.
9.4. Assessment FOR learning or OF learning
9.4.1. Typically these are assessments OF learning
9.4.1.1. Considering the amount of time it takes from the teacher and the students it would be overly time intensive to conduct these throughout the learning process, therefore doing these as a form of summative assessment at the end of a project would be a reflection of learning
9.5. Examples from elementary school
9.5.1. Like self-assessments I would only consider these forms of assessments for the upper elementary grades and only after significant training on how to conduct them properly.
9.5.2. With strict attention to a rubric they can be done independently at the end of a group project where they are able to assess their group partners as well as the projects from other groups