Assessment includes testing, evaluation and measurement. It uses both summative and formative evaluation to monitor student progress and structure future assignments that may be beneficial to the student. Generally it is used to make a particular educational decision. The objective and learning targets should match, and the selected assessment techniques should accommodate the specific needs of the learner to whom it is applied.
When making an assessment, it is important to use many evaluative measures that may or may not include monitoring and testing. It may require a significant amount of time to complete an accurate assessment. The assessment should be a clear and specific objective that is relayed to the student in understandable terms, and the techniques used should match the learning target. The needs of the learners must be met for an accurate result, and meaningful feedback is beneficial to the process. Always take the students individuality into account. That is why multiple assessment procedures are helpful.
Measurement and Testing
Measurement of a student’s progress is much more specific. This is usually done numerically in the form of grades. Not all assessments can be put in terms of percentage points or letter grades. There is some debate as to whether or not grading in terms of numerical percentages is valid; however, they are useful in terms of research evaluation. Studies are ongoing to determine how children learn so assessments can be geared to meet their needs.
Testing is sometimes based on a numerical scale. It is usually used to find out if the student has retained information and has the ability to recall this information at will. Some tests however, are psychological and measure emotional issues such as IQ. Testing can be useful, but as the No Child Left Behind Act has shown, it does not accurately measure all skills and may be beneficial to some while hindering the development of others.
Summative and Formative Assessment
Evaluation comes in many variations. Summative is the end result of all that the child has achieved. It may include tests and measurements, as well as assessments the teacher has used over time with the student. The formative evaluation is happening while the student is still learning. This is the time the teacher can give constructive feedback to assist the learning process. The formative is used to help the student improve, whereas the summative is about learning from the successes and mistakes in the curriculum, educational programs, and teaching methods the teacher used. It helps the teacher, school, and other educators to fine tune their methods to assist in student learning and classroom management skills.
Types of Assessments
As noted above, an assessment is used to make a specific educational decision. Although a teacher will use tools like measurement, testing and evaluation, they will also use informal observation, homework performance, lab work, projects, portfolios and research papers, and even answers given during oral questioning that might assess a student's prior knowledge. They may also analyze past records, do psychological testing and contact family for their input.However, the information they gather is used for a specific purpose. They can use many sources of information, and most, if not all can be used for evaluative assessment purposes.
Specific Objectives
Identifying specific learning targets can help a teacher encourage the use of specific domains such as cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Specific objectives are also necessary to meet the standards that most states set for their students. In addition, they ensure that the student has gained the knowledge that was originally intentioned.
When a student uses a variety of skills such as psychomotor to act out a civil war scene, cognitive abilities to do research, and affective sensibilities when they give a speech about their feelings towards war, or how peace may be achieved, they are cementing the learned experience in their mind, and creating a memorable learning experience. This not only strengthens all three abilities, but also creates a more well rounded, thinking student.
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