Assessing Student Learning
Developing a fair and effective assessment framework is integral to ensuring that both the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom are meeting your desired learning outcomes.
Assessment is most often associated with grading, but there are in fact several other purposes for assessment which are just as (if not more) important to teaching and learning. The different forms of assessment used in the classroom include:
- Pre-assessment, which is used before instruction to determine where an instructor should begin their lesson;
- Assessment for learning, or formative assessment, which is used during instruction to see how students are learning based on the teacher's instructional approach. Adaptive educators use formative assessment to improve their instructional design based on the unique learning needs of their students;
- Assessment of learning, or summative assessment, which is used during and after instruction to gather data for evaluation and reporting purposes; and
- Assessment as learning, which is used before, during and after instruction to build metacognition and motivation in students by meaningfully involving them in the assessment process.
Just as there are different purposes for assessment, there are different ways that data can be gathered for assessment. For example, instructors may wish to use:
- Traditional assessment, which involves the teacher evaluating a student deliverable based on clear and well communicated criteria;
- Peer assessment, which involves the student evaluating another student's deliverable based on clear and well communicated criteria;
- Self assessment, which involves the student evaluating their own deliverable based on clear and well communicated criteria; and
- Portfolio assessment, which involves the student gathering a set artifacts that illustrate development over time. The student portfolio can then be evaluated by their teacher, peers and/or self based on evidence of meaningful growth towards course outcomes.
One of the greatest challenges to evaluating student work is coming up with explicit definitions of what constitutes various grades. Assignment rubrics that differentiate criteria for different performance levels can be used to help students understand instructor expectations and why assignments receive different grades. Rubrics essentially are tables that list a set of performance indicators for a given task. Please refer to Jon Mueller's Authentic Assessment Toolbox for more information about what they look like and how they should be used.
For more information about student assessment, please review the resources below.
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Authentic Assessment Toolbox
Jon Mueller |
An online, how-to text on creating authentic tasks, rubrics and standards for measuring and improving student learning.
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Student Assessment in Higher Education
Central Queensland University |
A web site devoted to world's best practice in student assessment in higher education, and related topics that offers links to online articles, books, journals, and other relevant information.
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Assessment
Deliberations |
A comprehensive discussion and set of resources about assessment.
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Field Tested Assessment
National Institute for Science Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
Discussion points and resources about assessment.
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Student Assessment of Learning Gains
University of Wisconsin-Madison |
An online tool for instructors of all disciplines who would like feedback from students about how different course elements are helping their students to learn.
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Learning Record Online
University of Texas |
A comprehensive resource that introduces a system of assessment, the Learning Record, that tracks learning and growth over time across five dimensions: confidence and independence, knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies, use of prior and emerging experience, and critical reflection.
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