Lesson 3: Anatomy of Assessment
What is this Lesson About?
In this lesson, we are going to pull apart a typical assessment to reveal essential components that are common to every evaluation. What should we be looking for when we evaluate our learners? On what criteria should we test learners? What form of assessment is the most appropriate one to use? These are some of the question we hope to address in this lesson, as we shine a light on assessment from the inside and outside.
Focus Objectives
In this lesson, learners will be able to:
- Discern between an assessment type and a question type.
- Identify the most well-known forms of assessment.
- Define higher-level thinking, and associate the type of assessments and questions which take higher-level thinking into account.
- Demonstrate what they have learned about assessment forms by taking an assessment quiz on Quizlet.
- Adopt a strategy for implementing different forms of assessment in the classroom.
Do Now
How many different methods of assessment can you list off the top of your head? Make a short list of them in your Evernote document, or any other web-based note-taking application you have been using during this course. Next to each one, include what you think is most effective about this form of assessment, and what you feel is the weakest or least effective element.
Common Varieties of Assessment
In our last lesson we talked about how not all forms of assessment were created equal. Much like we use different tools to measure different qualities, different assessments are used to measure different aspects. After all, you would not have much success trying to use a thermometer to measure your height, or a yardstick to determine your blood sugar level. Properly gauging data is one of the key reasons we use assessment and evaluation in the education field, but it is also important to use the correct form of assessment to acquire the appropriate kind of information.
| Name of Assessment | Qualities |
|---|---|
| Standardized | Given as the same to all students (usually after taking accommodations into account); developed to control testing bias that may occur in non-standard tests; permits a more reliable comparison for all takers involved. |
| Diagnostic | Implemented before content learning takes place; used to determine the level of instruction and "set the bar" by measuring pre-acquired learner knowledge (what the learner already knows entering the course of learning) |
| Formative | Implemented in the short term; used to monitor learners as they are in the process of interpreting new content, learning, and forming associations with previous knowledge. Feedback to the learner tends to be immediate, so corrections to the learning can be made. |
| Interim | Also known as "benchmark" assessment, interim assessment is used to determine where students are in the learning process by evaluating their content knowledge incrementally throughout the learning process. |
| Summative | Implemented after a large amount of learning takes place, making the assessment of knowledge cumulative in nature. It is unique in that it is used to provide data and feedback to the instructor or institution, not for the purpose of improving the participant's knowledge or the quality of their instruction. |
| Norm-referenced | Used as a mode of comparison between a learner and her/his fellow test-takers. |
| Criterion-referenced | Based on evaluating the degree of learner mastery of content/subject matter (criterion). Most tests given by teachers (until very recently) were criterion-based. |
| Ipsative | The learner's current performance is weighed specifically against her/his prior performance with the intention of showing the learner's progress over a previous score. |
| Performance | Learners are asked to perform a task that utilizes what they have learned and demonstrates their knowledge or mastery thereof. This form of evaluation has been shown to engage learners the most intimately with their content. |
Question Types
Below are some common methods of establishing questions. They may be used as either a component of an assessment, or as the entirety of assessment.
- Multiple Choice - learners are asked to choose the correct response from a list of potential responses.
- True/False - a subcategory of the multiple choice method, two values are given (true or false), and the test-taker is asked to choose which is the correct response.
- Matching - learners are confronted with two or more categories and are then asked to match various elements from each category to neighboring categories.
- Constructed Response - open-ended, short answer responses to a question or questions that measure both the learner's content knowledge and creative ability/higher-level thinking skills.
Activity
Wait! Before you go on to the next lesson, let's review some of the main ideas we discussed here. Take the quiz below to see how much you remember about the different forms of assessment and types of questions.
Types of Assessment and Questions Quiz
References
Central Michigan University Provost’s Office. (n.d.) Formative and summative assessment. Central Michigan University. http://www.provost.cmich.edu/assessment/toolkit/formativesummative.htm
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting it into practice. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.
Butler, D.L. & Winnie, P.H. (1995) Feedback and self-regulated learning: a theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281.
Sadler, D.R. (1998) Formative assessment: revisiting the territory. Assessment in Education, 5(1), 77-84.
"Three Types of Assessment." Three Types of Assessment. Monroe County Intermediate School District, 2013. <http://www.misd.k12.mi.us/departments/curriculum/instructionalservices/assessment/typesofassessment/>.
Sweet, David. "Performance Assessment." Archived: PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. Office of Research: Education Consumer Guide, Sept. 1993. <http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/perfasse.html>.
Popham, W. J., & Husek, T. R. (1969). Implications of criterion-referenced measurement. Journal of Educational Measurement, 6, 1–9.
"Formative vs. Summative Assessment." Formative vs Summative Assessment - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon: Eberly Center, n.d. Web. <http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html>.