1.1. Purpose: Evaluate students abilities in a real life or natural context
1.2. Advantages: Student engagement is higher. Students are able to demonstrate abilities beyond memorization of facts or use of basic skills, for example, higher-order thinking, social skills, and organizational skills.
1.3. Disadvantages: Significantly more time and effort to plan, create, and grade authentic assessments. (Specific to PreK) , when doing observations, can not always predict when skills will be demonstrated.
1.4. Evaluation FOR or OF Learning: Teachers can also use authentic assessment to gather a sense of students' skill level prior to beginning a unit. Projects can also be used to see how students apply learned information to a real life setting.
1.5. PreK Example: Observing students during centers play to assess language skills as they interact with peers
2. Self
2.1. Purpose: Students evaluate their own performance or participation in an activity.
2.2. Advantages: Students better understand the evaluation criteria which may help them perform better on the task. Students gain critical thinking skills.
2.3. Disadvantages: Students might not feel comfortable evaluating themselves. Students might not be rigorous on themselves.
2.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Students provide opinions on what they have learned, how they interacted in their group, or what was challenging about a project. This all occurs after the learning or project has taken place.
2.5. PreK Example: Students give themselves a smiley face, straight face, or sad face based on how they interacted with their peers during a group game.
3. Peer
3.1. Purpose: Students evaluate and sometimes provide feedback on one another's work.
3.2. Advantages: Students better internalize the elements of quality work. Students build relationships with one another.
3.3. Disadvantages: Students may not be rigorous of one another's work. Students may not be able to provide high quality feedback if they do not have a solid understanding of the material or evaluation criteria.
3.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Feedback is given after learning is complete.
3.5. PreK Example: After completing a partner activity students give an example of one thing their partner did well during the game.
4. Performance-Based
4.1. Purpose: To evaluate a students knowledge and ability level in an authentic context or with a group.
4.2. Advantages: Students can work collaboratively. Student engagement is higher than with pencil and paper tests. Assessments can be tailored to students' interests or style (e.g. writing a report or giving an oral presentation)
4.3. Disadvantages: Grading is more subjective and can be more challenging for teachers. Assessments take more time to plan and grade.
4.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Projects are used to demonstrate learning.
4.5. PreK Example: Students write their own story books over the course of several days and share it with the class.
5. Diagnostic
5.1. Purpose: To measure a student's current knowledge or ability level prior to the start of instruction
5.2. Advantages: Allows teachers to differentiate instruction based on students' individual needs.
5.3. Disadvantages: If students are not periodically reassessed with diagnostic tools or formative assessments teacher might keep students in incorrect ability groups all year.
5.4. Evaluation FOR Learning: It occurs prior to the start of instruction and informs lesson plans.
5.5. PreK Example: Letter knowledge screening given to all PreK students during the first 3 weeks of school.
6. References: McDonald, M. (2011) Student Portfolios as an Assessment Tool. Retrieved from: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald025.shtml Edutopia. (2010, August 3) Comprehensive Assessment: An Overview. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9OBhKzh1BM TeacherVision. (2017). Authentic Assessment Overview. Retrieved from: https://www.teachervision.com/teaching-strategies/authentic-assessment-overview
7. Summative
7.1. Purpose: To measure learning over the course of an instructional period (e.g. unit or school year)
7.2. Advantages: Provides feedback to the teacher on the success of her instruction and to the school on the success of a unit of student. Data can be passed to the next year's teacher to inform where to begin instruction.
7.3. Disadvantages: Often performed as a paper and pencil exam which cause stress for some students which may effect performance.
7.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Occurs after learning is complete and therefore measures how much information was retained.
7.5. PreK example: Test of students ability to identify 26 uppercase and 26 lowercase letters given at the end of the year.
8. Formative
8.1. Purpose: To monitor student performance during learning in order to appropriately adjust instruction to better meet students' needs.
8.2. Advantages: Makes learning more targeted to students' needs which can increase student learning.
8.3. Disadvantages: If performed too often during a lesson it can take away from instructional time.
8.4. Evaluation FOR Learning: It's results inform instruction.
8.5. PreK Example: At the end of a rhyming lesson each student is asked to provide a word that rhymes with a word the teacher gives and then line up at the door for recess.
9. Portfolio
9.1. Purpose: To demonstrate students' work over a course of time
9.2. Advantages: Allows students to see their own growth and might increase self assessment and students' value of their own work. It can also be passed onto the next teacher if necessary.
9.3. Disadvantages: Many teachers are unclear about how to use a portfolio to assess student learning. Grading can be very subjective.
9.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Portfolios are complete at the end of a learning period and therefore are an assessment of learning and growth that has already taken place.
9.5. PreK Example: A collection of students' drawing and writing samples from September to May which show the growth in formation of letters and words over the year.
10. High Stakes
10.1. Purpose: A measurement of student knowledge of a certain body of information. Results are used to determine students' future, such as passing of a grade or graduation.
10.2. Advantages: Easy to administer
10.3. Disadvantages: Causes teachers to teach to the test which often does not produce deeper student learning. Tests are often bias. Testing conditions causes high stress which negatively effects students' performance. Tests are often multiple choice which does not reflect real life challenges. Tests do not measure intangibles like perseverance, drive, or social skills. Results of tests give a one-sided view of school performance and can created misguided decision making.
10.4. Evaluation OF Learning: Usually given at the end of a school year to measure how much a student has learned.
10.5. Prek Example: n/a - Prek students do not take high stakes assessments. Beginning in 3rd grade students take the PARCC assessment.
