Educational assessment

Teachers use many ways to check what you know. They use these tools to help you learn.

Some checks happen while you are still learning. This helps the teacher see if you need help. These are often not for a grade.

Other checks happen at the very end. This shows what you learned in a whole class. These checks usually give a grade.

Sometimes, a teacher checks what you know first. This helps them pick the best way to teach you.

You can even check your own work. This is a way to see your own progress. It is a great way to grow!

Teachers use many ways to check what you know. This is called educational assessment. It is a way to study how students learn. People started using this word after the Second World War.

There are a few main types of checks. First is placement assessment. This happens before a class starts. It helps a teacher find your skill level. This helps them pick the best way to teach you.

Next is formative assessment. This happens while you are still learning. It can be a quiz or a short talk. These checks help you improve. They are often not for a grade.

Then there is summative assessment. This happens at the end of a project or class. It shows what you learned in total. These checks usually give a grade, like a pass or fail.

There is also diagnostic assessment. This looks at the hard parts of learning. It helps find the best way to learn. Students can even do self-assessment. This is when you check your own work to grow.

Educational assessment is a systematic way to track learning. It uses data to see what students know and can do. This data includes skills, beliefs, and attitudes. Teachers use this information to make programs better. It helps them improve how students learn over time. Assessment is not just a single test. It is a way to document a student's progress.

There are several ways these checks work. Placement assessment happens at the very start. It finds a student's baseline level before lessons begin. Formative assessment happens during the learning process. It provides feedback to help students grow. This might include quizzes or looking at draft work. Summative assessment happens at the end of a course. It summarizes what was learned for a final grade.

People have used these ideas for a long time. However, the word "assessment" became common after the Second World War. Researchers like Paul Black and William Dylan wrote about it in 1998. They studied how classroom checks can raise standards. Other experts like Robert Stake explain different ways to look at it. He calls some checks "assessment for learning." He calls others "assessment of learning."

Different types of tests use different rules. Objective assessments have only one right answer. Examples are true or false questions and multiple choice. Subjective assessments might have more than one right way to answer. These often include long essays. Some tests use a criterion. A driving test is a good example of this. You must meet specific rules to pass. Other tests use a norm. This compares students to each other.

Assessment can look at many different things. It can focus on one student or a whole class. It can even look at a whole school system. Some assessments ask students to show what they can do. This is called performance-based assessment. A student might give a speech or paint a picture. This shows they can use their knowledge in the real world. These tasks help prove what a learner has truly mastered.

Educational assessment is a systematic process of documenting and using empirical data. This data covers knowledge, skills, attitudes, aptitude, and beliefs. The goal is to refine educational programs and improve student learning. While many people use the terms "assessment" and "evaluation" as synonyms, some educators distinguish between them. They may use "formative" to describe testing during a learning process. They use "summative" to describe testing after a process is complete. However, most dictionaries treat these terms as interchangeable.

Assessment functions through a continuous cycle of gathering and interpreting evidence. It establishes measurable learning outcomes for students. The process involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to see if learning matches expectations. This information is then used to provide feedback for improvement. Assessment can focus on many different levels, known as granularity. It might focus on an individual learner or a small learning community. It can also evaluate a single course, an entire academic program, or a whole institution.

There are several distinct categories of assessment based on their timing and objectives. Placement assessment, also called pre-assessment or a threshold knowledge test (TKT), happens before instruction begins. It establishes a baseline to measure future growth. This helps teachers place students in the most appropriate instructional sequence. Formative assessment is often called "educative assessment" because it helps learning occur. It happens concurrently with instruction through quizzes, oral questions, or draft work. It aims to ensure students understand material before they reach a final exam.

Summative assessment occurs at the end of a course or a specific project. It is used to summarize what a student has learned. These assessments are typically evaluative and result in a grade, such as a pass/fail or a score from 0 to 100. Some critics argue that summative assessment is reductive. They suggest learners find out how they performed too late to use that knowledge for improvement. Diagnostic assessment is another type that focuses on difficulties in the learning process. It measures current skills to identify a suitable program of learning.

Researchers have developed specific frameworks to explain these different roles. Robert Stake uses an analogy to distinguish between two main concepts. He calls formative assessment "assessment for learning." This helps teachers decide on next steps for students. He calls summative assessment "assessment of learning." This is intended to report outcomes to parents and administrators. In 1998, Paul Black and William Dylan published work regarding classroom assessment. They explored how raising standards can happen through effective classroom practices.

Assessments are also categorized by how they are scored and structured. Objective assessments involve questions with a single correct answer. These include true/false, multiple-choice, and matching questions. They work well with computerized or online formats. Subjective assessments allow for more than one way to express a correct answer. These often include extended-response questions and essays. Some experts argue that no assessment is truly objective. They suggest that all assessments may contain inherent biases regarding content or culture.

Another way to compare results is through referencing methods. Criterion-referenced assessment measures a student against defined, objective criteria. A driving test is a classic example of this method. You must meet specific standards, like not endangering others, to pass. Norm-referenced assessment compares a student to the rest of a student body. This is often called "grading on the curve." An IQ test or certain university entrance exams are common examples. These tests allow a fixed proportion of students to pass based on their rank.

Finally, performance-based assessment focuses on real-world application. This method is often linked to standards-based education reform. Instead of multiple-choice questions, students complete well-defined tasks. They might create a product, like a painting or a paper. They might also deliver a performance, such as a speech or a musical recital. These tasks require students to provide extended responses to demonstrate proficiency. This shows how they can use their knowledge in practical, meaningful settings.