Short History of Assessment

By Jeanne Pfeifer
Major Changes in Assessment

 Norm Referenced Tests

 Criterion Referenced Tests
 Authentic Assessment
Norm Referenced

1920

World War I
—IQ
Screening
Norm Referenced
 Use standardized tests
 Comparing students to students
 Want to create a spread
– Item analysis
– Distinguish items: High achievers get correct and low
achievers get wrong
 Used for screening people in and out
Criterion Referenced

1920 1970

Criterion
Referenced
Testing
Began
Criterion Referenced
 Specific standards established
 Certain information/learning is necessary to continue the next steps
of learning.
 Students learning is compared to the criteria or standards (NOT to
each other)
 Assumption: If students do not reach standards, find other means
of teaching students
 Banks of testing items created to match different types of
curriculum (mostly multiple items)
Authentic Assessment

1920 1970 1980s

Authentic
Assessment
Authentic Assessment
 Not all of what we teach can be assessed by paper and
pencil tests nor by multiple choice items
 Students need to demonstrate what they learned:
performance based (based on constructivist learning
theory)
 Assessment is different than testing or grading (closer to
diagnosis)
 Multiple means of assessment
Examples of Authentic Assessment
 Rubrics (specific criteria—teaching is planned around criteria)
 Includes attention to non-academic or difficult to assess
– Cooperative learning
– Critical thinking skills
– Social learning
 Differentiates summative vs. formative assessment
 Portfolios
Rubrics
 Have “layers”
 May be based on developmental levels
 May be “weighted” for different categories at different times of the
years
 Need to be sensitive to the time to present to learners
– Too early=overwhelming (haven’t taught it yet)
– Too late=not useful for modifying or developing products
 Eventually students can develop rubrics (they have internalized the
criteria)