Go Back

Assessment & evaluation

Assessment: introduction for learning and teaching
Purpose of assessment is not to rank and sort students, but to measure what learners know and
are able to do. It should be an integral part of the instructive process that build's on thelearner's
sunderstanings and increases their self-efficacy and fosters motivation and engagement.
R Sweetland
Overview
 Introduction
 Why assess?
 What is assessment?
 Assessment tasks
 Selecting and unpacking ideas for assessment
 Quality Assessment Standards & check list
 Determining outcomes
 What is authentic assessment?
 When do teachers assess students' attainment of outcomes?
 Four different assessment times:
1. diagnostic,
2. formative,
3. summative, and
4. generative
 Procedure for Creating a Scoring Guide or Rubric
 Standardized tests
o Norm-Referenced tests
 Criteria referenced assessment
o Steps for Creating Criteria Referenced Assessment
 Accommodation information
 Relationship of assessing growth and achievement
 Assorted assessment and evaluation links
 Practice assessment scenarios and role play for preprofessional and professional educators:
 Assessment glossary
Introduction
This article reviews assessment, why assess, what to assess, assessment tasks, suggestions
on how to select and unpack ideas for assessment, quality standards, determining
outcomes, authentic assessment, different ways to assess and when.
Other topics include: evaluation, different assessment times, scoring guides, rubrics,
procedures for creating them, criteria referenced, norm-referenced, relationship of growth
and achievement, and practice scenarios for professional growth.
Why assess?
 Assessment is conducted continuously by both professional educators and learners with the
purpose to improve learning and instruction.
What is assessment?
What to assess should be directly related to the most important task in schooling: deciding
what learners should learn, which relates to other areas of pedagogy.
However, good assessment relies on knowing and communicating specifically what is
expected to be learned in a manner will will allow levels of performance to be decribed in
obervable ways.
With that as a background, this article focuses on assessment as the collection of data to
inform. It is the measurement activities educators use to attempt to make valid inferences
about learner's knowledge, skills, and dispositions; as well as using those measurements and
inferences to make curricular and instructional decisions. Information that should be bias
free, fair and consistent (valid and reliable) for the purpose of suggesting developmentally
appropriate activities to achieve productive mastery oriented growth and assist with
affective communication to learners to assist their learning through instruction.
A cautionary note: assessment and evaluation are related, but they are not the same.
E valu ation - is a process of determining the value, or quality, of a response, product, or
performance, that is assessed to make a judgement. It should be based upon established
criteria.
 It is the evaluator who puts value labels on the different levels of criteria for performance.
 When grades are used to put students into categories, failing or passing, it has valued
consequences, and hence evaluation.
 When teachers are fired based on their students' performance, that is evaluation.
 When decisions of consequence are made based on a value judgment, that is evaluation.
 Someone decides consequences, often rewards and punishment, based on their evaluation of
achievement levels.
One may wonder if all assessment is evaluative. However, that doesn't have to be the
situation. If the assessment levels are constructed to describe levels of achievement
students will develop as they progress to mastery of a topic or skill, then there need be no
value placed on student's performance. No need to down grade, or evaluate young students
performance poorly when it is below the top level as the student's performance would be
assessed and described by its levels to decide where learning and instruction should start
and what kinds of learning activities would be best to move closer toward mastery. No
value is attached. Only decisions based on the student's performance at his or her current
developmental level.
Good assessment levels are guides that describe how students progress and can be used to
guide and anticipate what students might do, by assessing their present understanding and
performance, and making instructional and learning decisions. Once a value is added or a
judgement is made, then it become an evaluation: grades, GPA ...
This article focuses on assessment of learning. For information related to teacher
assessment see - teaching in the pedagogy directory.
Assessment tasks
Assessment tasks can be described with four elements:
1. A prompt or stimulus activity,
2. Materials to use to achieve a result,
3. Observable actions, and
4. Acceptable levels of achievement.
Assessement related tasks
While the following tasks are numbered they do not need to be started or completed in any
specific order. They are interrelated and work on one will often necessitate a change in
another.
1. Decide topics and big ideas students will learn.
2. Unpack the topics or big ideas to identify facts, concepts, relationships, generalizations, skills,
processes, attitudes, and habits of mind students will need to know to perform activities for the
topics or big ideas.
3. Identify problems, questions, tasks, or activities students can perform to learn the intended
information and skills and which will also provide usable information to infer student's
understanding and use of the ideas, attitudes, habits of mind, skill to perform tasks, and their
abilities to use the necessary practices and processes to investigative the topic to solve
problems and gain expertise of the big idea.
4. Describe how students can be expected to communicate and/ or do the identified problems,
questions, tasks, or activities when they have mastery of the topic or big idea.
5. Describe the kinds of responses students might have as they begin to learn and on through
mastery. Order them into levels that describe observations of what students will say or do,
when they answer questions or perform tasks or activities. The student's performance will be
the artifact to infer what students know to assess their learning and make teaching and
learning decisions.
Selecting and unpacking ideas for assessment
After a topic, big idea, or skill is identified, the first thing to do is decide what information is
important to know about it, how understanding can be expressed, and what level of
understanding, competence, or skill students should have. This process is known as
unpacking a standard or idea and the results are communicated as: big ideas, goals, facts,
concepts, generalizations, objectives, or outcomes. See planning and the planning
tool box for more information.
Next, is to decide how to determine what students know about the concepts or information
related to the concepts. To determine how much a person knows about an idea
is measurement. All measurement needs a standard or unit to use as a ruler. Since concepts
are mental ideas and can't be seen, then they can't be measured directly. The solution...
To determine what concepts a person knows and the degree of conceptual understanding
he or she has of those concepts we observe students as they do or make something. What
they say or do is know as an artifact. So in the assessment game concepts or ideas are
associated to what a person can do to indicate their conceptualization of a particular
concept. In other-words what a person can do is used to infer what there understanding is
for the ideas being assessed. Usually those ideas have different levels of understanding and
those levels are used as the measuring guide or ruler. The measuring guide, therefore,
describe different levels of something a person can do to indicate the person's level of
understanding or skill. This information is known as a scoring guide or rubric and each level
has information know as outcomes.
Placing a student at a particular level is the measurement aspect. Just as the length of a
room can be measured differently by different people the placing of students at different
 levels can also occur. These differences or inconsistencies are attributed to bias, or an
assessment that is not valid or reliable.
For example. A scoring guide or rubric that has clear descriptions of levels with sharp
differences between level outcomes will be easier for people to score student's behavior or
artifact. It would also provide for more agreement between different teachers scoring the
same behavior or artifacts resulting with more scores at the same level for the same
student or similar student understanding. This assessment would be considered as a
more valid assessment. Validity is how well the assessment measures what it is supposed
to measure. Ways to increase validity.
The amount of agreement among different observer's measurements or level placements to
each others determines the assessment's reliability. A test’s consistency or the degree to
which an assessment yields consistent results; ways to attain reliability include test-retest,
alternate form, split-half, and inter rater comparisons. The manner in which an assessment
is created, implemented, and scored all affect its reliability. Ways to increase reliability.
Quality Assessment Standards - check list
1. Match and measure the intended big ideas, goals, outcomes, concepts, skills, standards (YES -
NO)
2. Students have opportunity to learn (YES - NO)
3. Free of bias (YES - NO)
4. Developmentally and grade level appropriate (YES - NO)
5. Consistent, reliable and valid (YES - NO)
6. Appropriate levels. Be aware of levels that are camouflaged evaluative statements. (YES - NO)
Determining outcomes
Each topic or subtopic can be stated as a big idea. A statement that captures the essence or
power of the topic. Each topic must be unpacked or its powerful ideas identified along with
all the necessary subtopics.
Suggestions for unpacking, concepts, and outcomes can be found in planning and other
subject and topic related areas on this site.
Whether you create your own or use concepts and outcomes from curriculums or standard
documents it is essential you have a very good understanding of what is desirable for
students to know (concept, relationship, generalization) and do (outcome, skills) at their
specific level to be able to create and implement assessment.
What is authentic assessment?
Authentic assessment is when the task students perform to demonstrate a behavior, skill or
create an artifact is a meaningful, often real world, application of knowledge, skills, and
dispositions. The closer the task is to what people do in the world as architects, machinists,
doctors, mechanics, construction workers, designers, business people, politicians, parents,
citizens, the more authentic the assessment.
An examples of an authentic assessments in mathematics for algebra and pattern
recognition.
Compared to the same task as teacher directed or work book kind of assessment.
When do teachers assess students' attainment of outcomes?
If assessment is ongoing and continuous, then the answer to the question. When should we
assess? Is answered with always.
However, if assessment is ongoing and continuous there is an element of time for
assessment that has meaning to the assessor and the person being assessed with respect to
self-assessment.
The time element can be separated into four categories, which are helpful to use when
making decisions to facilitate learning.
Four different times for assessment - diagnostic, formative, summative, and generative
While it's possible any assessment task, activity, or questions might fit in any and all of
these four categories, here are some important reasons to consider each of the four.
Four different times of assessment
1 - Diagnosis.
The major characteristic to associate with diagnostic assessment is that it is preliminary.
It is to probe into what is known before facilitating instruction. It usually precedes learning
activities, but doesn't have to. It can come at anytime during a lesson. For example, if during
a lesson a question arises, that depends on background information, the teacher can ask a
diagnostic question to check the students' level of understanding for that background
information. At the end of that diagnostic question, she can decide if the students are ready
to proceed or if the background information needs to be developed before continuing on
the day's planned activity. Diagnose of students' readiness.
2 - Formative.
This type of assessment is used to check the students' progress toward learning. It can
happen at anytime during a lesson and is usually understood as such.
3 - Summative.
This kind of assessment is usually associated with the time immediately after facilitating
learning. However, what is that time frame? Is it at the end of a five minute mini-teach
where summative assessment is to summarize what was learned in the five minutes? Or is
it a time frame of an hour, day, week, month, or year?
One could argue that it is only summative if you are inclined to think the students
understand the concepts and can perform the outcomes, other wise it could be considered
formative. Whatever, it usually is considered the last assessment before the teacher moves
to another topic. It could be the first summary check, or a question to double or triple
check, and of course the assessment results will be within the range of acceptable or above.
4 - Generative.
This assessment is to inquire into the students' understanding of being able to apply, use,
adapt, alter, or join ideas that have been taught. The purpose of seeing how well students
understand what they learned.
Assessment that tries to determine if the information has become strong enough to be
usable beyond the scope of the examples to which they are familiar or examples that are
similar to what was presented during instruction, or are they able to use it in ways that
were not presented and demonstrate a variety of application, analysis, and synthesis with
the information.
Again, any one of these kinds can come at anytime of the lesson and only makes sense with
respect to the purpose of the teacher within a sequence of facilitating learning. When
planning a teacher can anticipate all four types of assessment that will be used through out
a sequence for each concept within the sequence. The planning will prepare the teacher to
 interact with students and be ready to facilitate their learning in real time that will be
individualized for each student.
 Sample use of diagnostic, formative, summative, and generative assessment in a
classroom for mathematics content and practice.
 Sample use of diagnostic, formative, summative, and generative assessments in a
cooperative lesson plan for encouragement and spinning tops
Procedure for Creating a Scoring Guide or Rubric
1. Identify the topic, big idea, standard, or skill.
2. Unpack it to identify the information students need to know: facts, concepts, relationships,
generalizations, skills. See procedures and frameworks above and see lists of concepts and
misconceptions in subject resources.
3. Consider the students' developmental level of understanding.
4. Consider misconceptions students might have and their sources.
5. Start either at the top or bottom level. If information unpacked for what students should know
is used, then it will describe either the top level or an acceptable level below the top. If
information is used related to misconceptions, perceptual, or naive understandings, then it will
describe the bottom level of understanding. Next information can be identified between these
as steps or levels students will progress through as they begin with their initial understandings
and progress across the levels to become as expert as defined. These levels describe the
different levels of understanding of information, for the topic, sequenced from lowest to
highest that students need to know. This information should be: facts, concepts, relationships,
generalizations, skills.
6. In this steps, which is harder, is to identify outcomes to describs what students do which can be
observed to infer their undertanding at the different levels.
7. Lastly after the outcomes are defined and described they need to be communicated as levels.
There are two basic ways to do this. One is to separate each fundamental idea related to the
bigger idea into categories and describe outcome levels for each catgory seprately in a chart or
outline form. The second is to describe all the information in a narrative for each level.
Example:
Start by deciding the number of assessment levels and naming them. For example four:
beginning, progressing, proficient, and advanced.
Then write statements under each category to describe what it would look like if students
are to do something at each level. For example: problem solving:
Problem solving scoring quide or rubric: outlined in a narrative format
1. Beginning - Try to solve problems from memory. Believe solutions are known and need to be
recalled or they just pop into your mind.
2. Progressing - Try to solve problems from memory, but if unable to recall
a procedure and strategy will seek to understand the problem and try to discover them to use to
solve the problem by random search for a solution.
3. Proficient - Try to solve the problem from memory, but if unable will implement a hueristic or
procedure that includes steps to understand the problem, restate it in their own words, seek
strategies, choose and implement a strategy, and check its accuracy.
4. Advanced - Try to solve the problem from memory, but if unable will implement a hueristic or
procedure in a systematic manner that includes steps to understand the problem, restate it in
their own words, seek strategies, choose and implement a strategy, check its accuracy by
trying alternative stratgies to achieve equal results, and reflects on the process while solving
and after.
Notice the results above are in an outline form with a narrative for each level that combines
several categories within each level. Below is the same information in a table format.
Problem solving scoring quide or rubric: in a table with a narrative format
  Beginning Progressing Proficient Advanced
Try to solve Try to solve problems Try to solve the Try to solve the
problems from memory, but if unable to problem problem from memory,
from memory. recall from memory, but if but if unable will
Believe a procedure and strategy will unable will implement a hueristic
solutions are seek to understand the implement or procedure in
known and problem and try to discover a hueristic or a systematic manner
need to be them to use to solve the procedure that that includes steps
recalled or problem by random search for includes steps to understand the
they just pop a solution. to understand the problem, restate it in
into your problem, restate it their own words, seek
mind. in their own words, strategies, choose
Indicator
seek strategies, and implement a
choose strategy, check its
and implement a accuracy by
strategy, trying alternative
and check its stratgies to achieve
accuracy. equal results,
and reflects on the
process while solving
and after to improve
on their problem
solving abilities.
 
Next lets see what a scoring guide will look like if the subcategories are separated.
Problem solving scoring quide or rubric: outlined in a narrative format
Indicator Beginning Progressing Proficient Advanced
Try to solve Try to solve problems Try to solve problems Try to solve problems
problems from memory and than from memory and thin from memory and reflects 
from memor ks about the steps ks about the process on the process while
Reflects y. taken and how to while solving solving and after to
implement them and improve on their problem
make decisions as they solving abilities.
solve the problem.
No set plan. Aware that a series of Know a Know a comprehensive
steps can be followed comprehensive hueristic and use it in a
Hueristic, to solve problems. hueristic and use it in systematic, flexible,
procedure a flexible and accurate efficient, and accurate way
way to solve to solve problems.
problems.
Implement a Occasionally Aware of different Aware of different Aware of multiple
strategy selects an strategies and strategies and use one strategies and implemnts
 appropriate attempts to implement or two to solve most them to check their
strategy. one. problems. accuracy and marvel over
how different strategies
can achieve verification
and confidence in
solutions.
If achieves a Solves the problem Solves the problem in Generates multiple ways
solution singularly and listens multiple ways that are ways to solve the problem
does with when other solutions similar or inverse with some being unusual
Checks or
difficulty are presented. operations, listens and not often selected as
finds
and satisfied when other solutions solutitons, listens when
multiple
solutions
with success. are presented. other solutions are
presented and offers
suggestions for
improvement.
May be able Communicates results Communicates how Communicates how
to orally and in writing. results were achieved results were achieved
summarize a orally and in writing orally and in writing with
few with information for information for the
highlights the hueristic, hueristic, strategies,
Communicat when asked. strategies, and multiple solutions to
e multiple solutions to verify them, and how
verify them. metacognition is helpful
for problem solving and
excited about improving
their problem solving with
metacognition.
 
COOL!
RIGHT?
Standardized tests
Standardized tests have the same format and types of questions for the same content to
administer to wide groups of people. They are normed and their scores ranked on a bell
curve.
There is a difference between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests.
There is no difference between norm-referenced and standardized tests. 
Pros
 Standardized tests are predictive of later outcomes in school.
 Can provide learners, students, families, teachers, administrators, researchers, and other the
stake holders about areas of concern, strength, for accountability and improve instruction .  
Cons
 They are prone to inaccuracies.
 Tend to have an influence on the narrowing of the curriculum as teachers teach to the test.
 Users take excess time to preparation,with test prep.
See also pros and cons for standardization
Norm-Referenced tests
 Norm-Referenced tests are standardized tests based on a representative group. They
measure and rank test takers to each other. Each person’s score is compared to the norm of
a similar predetermined peer group test takers and may be reported as a percentile, grade
equivalent or stanine. Which, suggests what the test taker knows as an individual and what
they know related to a group.
Student performance is compared to a standardized group with such statements as:
1. Your child scored at the 50% percentile on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. That can be interpreted
to mean that 49% of the students that took the test scored lower and 49% of the students
scored higher.
2. Your child scored at the 99% percentile on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. That can be interpreted
to mean that 99% of the students that took the test scored lower, none of the students scored
higher, and 1% had the same score.
3. Your child scored at the 75% percentile on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. That can be interpreted
to mean that 74% of the students that took the test scored lower, 24% of the students scored
higher, and 1% scored the same.
Examples:
1. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
2. California Achievement Test (CAT)
3. American College Testing (ACT)
4. Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test (MRT)
5. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAt)
Strengths:
1. Provide information about the achievement of individual students or groups of students
2. Identification of possible ways to improve school curriculums or programs
3. Purchased, administered, and scored inexpensively
4. Supplements other assessment methods to clarify the larger picture of student performance
5. Objective scoring procedure
Concerns/Weaknesses:
1. People too often miss use test to categorize and label students in ways that can cause damage
2. People frequently misuse test scores to make improper comparisons between schools, districts,
classes
3. Fails to promote individual student learning
4. Is a poor predictor of individual student performance
5. Usually mismatches with the content of a school’s curriculum
6. Can be used to dictate and restrict curriculum
7. People too often assume that test scores are infallible
8. Too often people develop an over reliance on this one type of assessment
9. Results are based on a normal distribution (bell-shaped curve)
10. Measures students against other students
11. Sorts students into winners and losers
12. Does not test for what students know in a manner that can be used to facilitate learning.
Criteria Referenced Assessment
Criterion reference assessment, or test, compares a learner’s performance or academic
achievement to a set of curricular criteria, standards, or outcomes. A level of achievement is
based on a norm or criteria which is established from the curriculum or standard before
the test is taken. A rubric may be created to communicate different levels of achievement or
 a standard may be set as a percentage. The score should show the learner's progression
toward the desired outcome or standard.
Steps for Creating criteria referenced assessments
1. Identify a big idea or a general description of what students are to know to be assessed.
2. Identify facts, concepts, generalizations, skills, process, and/or attitudes needed to understand
what is characterized by the big idea or other description of what students are to know.
3. Identify problems, questions, tasks, or activities that students can perform that could provide
usable information to infer students understanding of the concepts or generalizations; their
attitudes related to the topics, concepts, and/ or generalizations; their skill or ability to perform
necessary or identified skills; and their abilities to use inquiry and selected investigative
practices and processes.
4. Describe what students can be expected to communicate and/ or do if they are to successfully
complete the identified problems, questions, tasks, and/ or activities.
5. Select one or more problems, questions, tasks, or activities that can be used to initiate student’s
performance of the selected task that will provide assessment data to infer their
understanding, attitude, and/ or skills in the identified areas.
6. Create the assessment problems, questions, tasks, or activities, as they will be presented to
students.
7. Create and write all administration guidelines that are necessary to engage students in the
assessment task so that they might be successful in completing it.
8. Review the needs for all students that will be assessed to identify all accommodations for
special needs and provide for those accommodations.
9. Identify and describe what kinds of responses students might have for each item for different
levels of understanding or skills that might be seen in an artifact created by a student or viewed
when performed by a student.
10. Order the different descriptions from low to high levels and select or modify them to create a
scoring guide or rubric.
11. Describe how the scoring guide or rubric will be checked for consistency, validity, and
reliability.
12. Describe how to check the assessment items for bias so that no one will be offended or unfairly
penalized.
13. Pilot assessment task/tool to see how it works with students.
Accommodation information
Accommodation introduction and examples
Relationship of assessing growth and achievement
The assessment and accountability movement has caused people to realize that reporting
and relying on achievement or proficiency alone to rate teachers gives an incomplete
picture. Students can come into a grade above or below grade level and make little or very
good progress and that progress or lack of progress will not be represented in an
achievement or proficiency score alone. Therefore, making it impossible to determine a
teacher's success or failure with an end of year achievement or proficiency score.
Therefore, data must be collected to determine both achievement/ proficiency and rate of
achievement or growth.
Reporting and displaying data for both growth and achievement is one way schools,
government, and other stake holders believe they can achieve a more accurate view of
what is being achieved by students and teachers. For example: scores for achievement
 could be reported in terms of a percent for proficiency and growth reported in terms of
an average growth percentile for individual or groups of students. These scores would then
be plotted on a graph with 0-100% on each axis where the fifty percentile divides each in
half. Creating the representation, like the one below with four quadrants, one in which each
of the combined scores might fall.

 
Assorted assessment and evaluation links
 Sample letter introducing parents to authentic assessment and student lead conference
 Consideration for dropping a grade - yes or no?
Practice assessment scenarios and role play for preprofessional and professional educators:
 Assessment and evaluation simulation for The Fish in the Park Experience - science
focused
 Birds, beaks, and adaptation
 
Top
Home: Pedagogy - theory, curriculum, learning, human development, & teaching
 
Top
 
 
 
Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes
[Home: homeofbob.com & thehob.net ]