The Difference Between

Assessment and Evaluation

H. Stephen Straight
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Teaching Assistant Orientation
28 August 2002
What Is Teaching?
 Brainstorm:
 Think of different ways to define
“teaching”.
 Write down at least three different
definitions of teaching.
 Pair up with someone to choose the best
ONE of your six-plus definitions.
 Share your definitions with the group, one
at a time in sequence.
Definitions of Teaching
 To present information, insights.
 To reveal knowledge or skill.
 To help students learn.
 NOTE: All of the above can be
accomplished either deliberately or
incidentally.
 That is, you can teach by means of explicit
instruction, ongoing guidance, deliberate
modeling, or accidental example.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
 Implement research-based “best
practices”.
 Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
Good Practice in UG Education
(after Arthur Chickering & Zelda Gamson 1989)

 1. Maximizes student/faculty contact.

 2. Develops student cooperation.
 3. Uses active learning techniques.
 4. Gives feedback promptly.
 5. Emphasizes time on task.
 6. Communicates high expectations.
 7. Respects learners’ diversity.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
 Implement research-based “best
practices”.
 Think of at least one way to implement
each item of “practice”.
 Write down each example.
 Pair up with the person next to you to
choose the best example of each.
 Share your findings with the group.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
 Implement research-based “best
practices”.
 Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
 But first we need to distinguish
“assessment” from “evaluation”.
Assessment vs. Evaluation
 What are the three most striking
differences between the two?
 If we had time, I’d have you …
 Think
 Write
 Pair
 Share
Dimensions of Difference Between
Assessment and Evaluation
 Timing
 Focus of Measurement
 Relationship Between Administrator &
Recipient
 Findings, Uses Thereof
 Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures
Thereof
 Standards of Measurement
 Relation Between Different Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Timing

to Improve Learning
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Focus of Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Focus of Measurement
How Learning Is Going
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Administrator/Recipient
Relationship
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Administrator/Recipient
Defined Criteria/Goals Relationship
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Findings, Uses Thereof
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Findings, Uses Thereof
Areas for Improvement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Ongoing Modifiability
of Criteria, Measures
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Ongoing Modifiability
Problems Are Clarified of Criteria, Measures
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Standards of
Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going What’s Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Standards of
Ideal Outcomes Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Relation Between
Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Coöperative: Learn Relation Between
from Each Other Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Coöperative: Learn Competitive: Beat
from Each Other Each Other Out
Summary of Differences
Dimension of Difference Assessment Evaluation

Timing Formative Summative

Focus of Measurement Process-Oriented Product-Oriented

Relationship Between
Reflective Prescriptive
Administrator and Recipient

Findings, Uses Thereof Diagnostic Judgmental

Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria,

Flexible Fixed
Measures Thereof

Standards of Measurement Absolute Comparative

Relation Between Objects of A/E Coöperative Competitive

Assessment vs. Evaluation
 If we had time, I’d have you Think, Write,
Pair, Share to come up with examples of
assessment and evaluation to show that:
 The multidimensionality of the difference

between them, and the variation in each

dimension, result in a very diverse array of
examples, the majority of which are
neither “assessment” nor “evaluation” but
rather hybrids.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
 Implement research-based “best
practices”.
 Put the examples into practice.
 Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
 How to do this?
Employ an assessment-
informed model of teaching
 Define learning outcomes (desired by
teachers and/or learners) well in advance.
 Assess progress toward outcomes, by and
for both teacher and learner, continually
during learning.
 Evaluate attainment of outcomes rigorously
as each learning opportunity concludes.
 Moment-by-moment, meeting-by-meeting,
course-by-course, semester-by-semester.
Measures of Learning

 If we had time, I’d also have you examine

examples of ways to measure learning with
the aim of showing:
 that any measurement of learning can be
used either for assessment or for
evaluation purposes,
 but that some measures are better for one
than for the other.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
 Implement research-based “best practices”.
 Employ an assessment-informed model of
teaching focused on measurable student
learning outcomes.
 Be vocal about what you’re doing to
improve your teaching and your
students’ learning – and listen to others’
stories about what they are doing.
Five Assessment Principles
(after Thomas Angelo & Patricia Cross 1993)
 To improve their  The best assessment
teaching, faculty must derives from teachers’
define learning questions about their
outcomes and measure own teaching.
their attainment.  Systematic assessment
 To improve their can be an intellectually
learning, students must challenging source of
learn how to use faculty satisfaction.
feedback to assess their  Assessment provides an
own progress (= “self- impetus for active
assessment”). student involvement, a
proven “best practice”.
Sources
 Chickering & Gamson, Change (the
journal of the Amer Assn for Higher Ed)
 Apple, Process education teaching
institute handbook (Pacific Crest)
 Angelo & Cross, Classroom assessment
techniques: A handbook for college
teachers, Second edition (Jossey-Bass)
Presenter: Steve Straight
 H. Stephen Straight
 Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education,
Binghamton University - SUNY
 Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics
 Co-Director, Harpur College Linguistics Program
 Associate Director, Center for Research In Translation
 mailto:straight@binghamton.edu
 607.777.2150 (secretary: Deborah Dunn)
 607.777.2824 (private voice mail)
 607.777.4831 (fax)