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Definition of assessment

Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge,skills, attitudes and beliefs. Assessment is often used in an educational context (to refer, e.g., to the work of institutional researchers), but it applies to other fields as well (such as health and finance).

Type of assessment

Assessments can be classified in many different ways. The most important distinctions are: (1) formative and summative; (2) objective and subjective; and (3) criterion-referenced and norm-referenced.

Formative and summative assessments

There are two main types of assessment:

• Summative Assessment - Summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course or project. In an educational setting, summative assessments are typically used to assign students a course grade.
• Formative Assessment - Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project. Formative assessment is used to aid learning. In an educational setting, formative assesment might be a teacher (or peer) or the learner, providing feedback on a student's work, and would not necessarily be used for grading purposes.

Summative and formative assessment are refered to in a learning context as "assessment of learning" and "assessment for learning" respectively.

A common form of formative assessment is diagnostic assessment. Diagnostic assessment measures a student's current knowledge and skills for the purpose of identifying a suitable program of learning. Self-assessment is a form of diagnostic assessment which involves students assessing themselves.

Objective and subjective assessment

Assessment (either summative or formative) can be objective or subjective. Objective assessment is a form of questioning which has a single correct answer. Subjective assessment is a form of questioning which may have more than one current answer (or more than one way of expressing the correct answer). There are various types of objective and subjective questions. Objective question types include true/false, multiple choice, multiple-response and matching questions. Subjective questions include extended-response questions and essays. Objective assessment is becoming more popular due to the increased use of online assessment (e-assessment) since this form of questioning is well-suited to computerisation.

Criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments

Criterion referenced assessment, as the name implies, occurs when candidates are measured against defined (and objective) criteria. Criterion referenced assessment is often, but not always, used to establish a person’s competence (whether s/he can do something). The best known example of criterion referenced assessment is the driving test, when learner drivers are measured against a range of explicit criteria (such as “Not endangering other road users”). Norm-referenced assessment is not measured against defined criteria. This type of assessment is relative to the student body undertaking the assessment. It is effectively a way of comparing students. The IQ test is the best known example of norm-referenced assessment. Many entrance tests (to prestigious schools or universities) are norm-referenced, permitting a fixed proportion of students to pass (“passing” in this context means being accepted into the school or university rather than an explicit level of ability). This means that standards may vary from year to year, depending on the quality of the cohort; criterion referenced assessment does not vary from year to year (unless the criteria change).

Characteristics of assessments

Assessment should be valid and reliable. A valid assessment is one which measures what it is intended to measure. For example, it would not be valid to assess driving skills through a written test (alone); the most valid way of assessing driving skills would be through a combination of practical assessment and written test. Teachers frequently complain that some examinations do not properly assess the syllabus upon which the examination is based; they are, effectively, questioning the validity of the exam.

Reliability relates to the consistency of an assessment. A reliable assessment is one which consistently achieves the same results with the same (or similar) cohort of students. Various factors affect reliability -- including ambiguous questions, too many options within a question paper, vague marking instructions and poorly trained markers.

A good assessment is valid and reliable. Note that an assessment may be reliable but invalid or unreliable and invalid, but an assessment can not be unreliable and valid. In practice, an assessment is rarely completely valid or entirely reliable.

Although validity and reliability are the main measures of an assessment, there are other considerations such as practicality (which relates to the feasibility of the assessment), fairness (which relates to its application across various cohorts - such as males and females) and authenticity (which relates to its realism).

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Related topics

• Evaluation is the process of looking at what is being assessed to make sure the right areas are being considered.
• Grading is the process of assigning a (possibly mutually exclusive) ranking to learners.
• Educational Measurement is a process of assessment or an evaluation in which the objective is to quantify level of attainment or competence within a specified domain. See the Rasch model for measurement for elaboration on the conceptual requirements of such processes, including those pertaining to grading and use of raw scores from assessments.
• Educational Evaluation deals specifically with evaluation as it applies to an educational setting. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a government program that requires educational evaluation.
• Social Impact Assessment looks at the possible social impacts of proposed new infrastructure projects, natural resource projects, or development activities.

In educational research, learning targets are very important for defining what learning should be assessed. Learning targets are defined as; A clear and specific description of what you are planning to learn. If the assessor has done this, then the assessment will be easy to complete. It is also important when assessing to know that not all learners will accomplish the same learning at the same time. Think of a bull's eye, in which the center ring is the highest level of achievement. Each outside ring is further away from the learning target.(as stated in Stiggins, Richard J.)

External links

• Stiggins Richard J. author of Student-Involved Classroom Assessment and Student-Involved Assessment FOR Learning.
• Johnson, Mauritz author of "Intentionality in Education".
• Edutopia: Assessment Overview A collection of media and articles on the topic of assessment from The George Lucas Educational Foundation

• Academic transfer
• Education