1. EDU 385 Education Assessment in the Classroom
Session 2: Nature of Student Assessment
Natur

2. Bell Work
List three things you learned about assessment from the last class session.

3. Robert Marzano - The Art of Teaching

4. Content Objectives
Better understand the nature and components of student assessments
Know the major types of assessment methods and the strengths and weaknesses of each

5. Language Objectives
Describe when both testing and performance assessment are needed. Indicate why
Describe major types of assessment methods and examples of each
Distinguish between tests and performance assessments (realism, complexity, time required, and judgement in scoring
List guidelines for effective student assessment
Distinguish between norm-referenced & Criterion-referenced assessments

6. Vocabulary Realism of Tasks Complexity of Tasks Assessment Time Needed
Judgement in Scoring
Norm Referenced
Criterion Referenced

7. Group Work Relationship between good instruction and good assessment
Well balanced assessment includes both testing and performance assessment
Purposes of Placement, Formative, Diagnostic, and Summative Assessments
How can achievement testing contribute to student motivation, retention, and transfer of learning?

8. Formative and Summative Assessments - James Popham

9. Review
Objective test is used to measure knowledge (e.g., Written drivers license test: rules of the road, knowledge of local laws)
Performance Assessment is used to determine skills (e.g., taking the behind the wheel driving test)
The Knowledge Test tells how well the student know what to do and the Performance Assessment tells how skillful the student can do it

10. Teacher Preferences
Teachers tend to favor selection-type tests (i.e., multiple choice, true-false, matching) because many questions can be asked in a short time
Easy to administer and score
Results expressed in numbers - easy to record, compare, and report to others
Concern these tests focus only on remembering facts and terms and do not assess more complex learning outcomes in realistic settings

11. Assessment Methods
Selected-Response - Correct or best response (e.g., multiple- choice, true-false, matching)
Supply-Response - Respond to a word, short phrase, or complete essay answer
Restricted-Performance - Performance of a limited task that is highly structured (i.e., write paragraph on given topic, select laboratory experiment)
Extended-Performance - More comprehensive & less structured performance task (e.g., write short story, conduct lab experiment). Requires student to integrate & apply knowledge in a realistic setting

12. Realism of Tasks
Extent to which they stimulate performance in the real world
Traditional Selection-Response is limited to the listed alternatives (such problems seldom occur in real world
Extended-Performance is high in realism
Supply-Response and Restricted- Performance provide a limited amount of structure and some freedom
Moderate in realism

13. Complexity of Tasks
Selection-Response are low in complexity and problems presented
Supply-Response and Restricted-Performance are moderate in complexity
Extended-Performance involve multiple learning issues, integration of ideas and skills from a variety of sources and include several available solutions

14. Assessment Time Needed
Large number of Selected-Response items administered in relatively short time. Results quickly scored by hand or machine
Performance-Assessments extremely time consuming. Tasks may require days or even weeks to complete
Evaluating performance is difficult and time consuming
Greater time required may result in loss of content coverage
Justify only if problems are unique to context of course and transfer of learning is key consideration

15. Judgement in Scoring Selective-Response is very Objective
Essay Test has more freedom of response and is more subjective
Performance-Assessment is very subjective and Criteria for judging involve Scoring Rubrics and Rating Scale

16. Characteristics of Different Assessments
Testing Performance Assessment
Selected Supply Restricted Extended
Response Response Performance Performance
LOW REALISM OF TASKS HIGH
LOW COMPLEXITY OF TASKS HIGH
LOW ASSESSMENT TIME NEEDED HIGH
LOW JUDGEMENT IN SCORING HIGH

17. Assessment Categories
Each assessment method has strengths and weaknesses
“Rule of Thumb” use the most efficient method as long as it is appropriate for assessing the intended learning outcomes

19. Guidelines for Effective Assessment
Main purpose of assessment is to improve student learning
More likely effective when assessment is integrated with instruction

20. Clear Concept of Learning Outcomes
Ask, “What are the intended learning outcomes”?
During both instructional and assessment planning
What types of knowledge, understanding, application, and performance skills are acceptable that learning has been successful
Specify all learning outcomes in terms of student performance and make plans to assess them all

21. Variety of Assessment Procedures
Multiple learning outcomes requires in planning consideration of a variety of assessment procedures
Evaluating student performance skills may require multiple assessments

22. Instructional Relevance of Procedures Used
Instruction & Assessment should be in close agreement
Will classroom tests diagnose learning deficiencies so remediation can occur?
Can assessment of a complex task be designed to contribute to the instructional process?
Well designed assessment program, assessment activities may be barely distinguishable from instructional activities

23. Achievement Domain Achievement Assessment
Instruction
Indicates the learning outcomes
to be attained by students
Is There
Close
Agreement?
Achievement Domain
Specifies the particular set of learning tasks to be assessed
Achievement Assessment
Provides a procedure designed to
measure a representative sample of the instructionally relevant learning tasks specified in the achievement domain

24. Adequate Sample of Student Performance
Assessment is always a matter of Sampling
Time restraints require representative sampling of student work
Adequacy of sampling is an important concern in planning assessment

25. Procedures Fair to Every one
Efforts to eliminate irrelevant sources of difficulty and bias is important
Directions must be clear and not ambiguous
Reading level appropriate
Avoid gender and racial stereotypes
Results should be used to improve learning

26. Specific Criteria for Judging Successful Performance
Need criteria that describes what students can do when they perform successfully (e.g., type 40 words per minute with no more than 2 errors)
Specify success in performance terms, describes what students are achieving and how well
Scoring Rubrics, Degrees of Effectiveness, and Rating Scales are some of the measures used
Students should clearly know what is expected of them and the criteria to judge success.

27. Feedback to Students on Strengths and Weaknesses
Immediate feedback after test
Feedback detailed and understandable by students
Focus on successes and errors to be corrected
Provide remedial suggestions for correcting errors
Positive and provides guide for improving both performance and self-assessment

28. Text Performance Assessment By Teacher Feedback to Student
(provides timely, clear guides)
Student performance
is modified
Student assessment
skill is improved
Text
Student practice new
performance skills
Student practices new
assessment skills
Improved student performance,
self-assessment and
independent learning

29. Comprehensive Grading and Reporting System
Reporting and grading should reflect the types of assessment used and weighted appropriately
Reporting and grading criteria should be made clear to students at beginning of course
Should provide periodic feedback on students learning progress

30. Norm-Referenced Assessment
How an individuals performance compares to others
Typically used to survey achievement over a broad range of learning outcomes
Most useful when concerned about the relative ranking of students (e.g., college entry)

31. Criterion-Reference Assessment
Specific skills and knowledge each student can demonstrate
Typically used for mastery testing to determine what specific tasks students can and cannot perform

32. Principal Use Survey Testing Mastery Testing
Norm-Referenced Testing
Criterion-Referenced Testing
Principal Use
Survey Testing
Mastery Testing
Major Emphasis
Measures individual differences in achievement
Describes tasks students can perform
Interpretation of Results
Compares performance to that of other individuals
Compares performance to a clearly specified achievement domain
Content Coverage
Typically covers a broad area of achievement
Typically focuses on a limited set of learning tasks
Nature of Test Plan
Table of specifications is commonly used
Detailed domain specifications are favored
Item Selection Procedures
Items are selected that provided maximum discrimination among individuals (to obtain a reliable ranking) Easy items are typically eliminated from the test
Includes all items needed to adequately describe performance. No attempt is made to alter item difficulty or to eliminate easy items to increase the spread of scores
Performance Standards
Level of performance is determined by relative position of some known group (e.g., ranks fifth in a group of 20)
Level of performance is commonly determined by absolute standards (e.g., demonstrate mastery by defining 90 percent of the technical terms)

34. Summary of Points
Need to expand student assessment to include more complex learning outcomes
Assessment can be classified as: a) Selected-Response, b) supply-Response, c) Restricted-Performance, and d) Extended-Performance
Simple-Response (Multiple-choice) are lowest in realism and complexity but can be scored quickly and objectively
Supply-Response (essay) higher in realism & complexity of tasks measured; but take more time and difficulty to score

35. Summary of Points
Performance assessment, both restricted and extended response have high degree of realism and focus on highly complex tasks but require large amounts of time and judgement and highly subjective
Normally use the most efficient method to assess if appropriate, but don’t neglect more complex learning outcomes because of more time and difficulty
Clearly defined learning outcomes, variety of assessment procedures to sample student work, must be fair, clear criteria for judging success, timely feedback, grading and reporting in harmony w/ assessment program

36. Summary of Points
Norm-Referenced - comparing student performance to others. Criterion-Referenced - describing students performance on a clearly defined set of tasks
Criterion-Referenced important for instructional uses of results. Norm-Referenced may be needed for selection and classification decisions
In some cases both criterion and norm referenced interpretation may be used with the same assessment

37. Now Go Forth
and
Do Good Things

38. Formative and Summative Assessments - James Popham