Assessment Techniques

There are many ways to assess students' understanding and learning.  Different types are used at different times in the learning process.  Pre-assessment happens before the teacher begins teaching a concept to see what students already know and if some students may have already mastered the material and need an alternative plan. Teachers can use this to design their lessons according to student needs.  This is an essential step that many teachers do not value as much as other types of assessments.  Teachers can use traditional tests as well as student surveys or students questions or comments about a given topic.  They could also look at previous scores that will indicate how they performed in that subject or area in the past.

The second type of assessment that occurs during teaching and learning is formative assessment.  While the teacher is teaching a unit they should design activities and monitor student work and projects to make sure students are understanding what they are teaching.  Teachers can then adjust their lessons and review information as needed.  There are a variety of ways to assess including observation, worksheets, quizzes, and response to questions.

The last type of assessment is summative and happens after instruction.  This documents what students have learned and understand.  Achievement tests, projects, essays, and debates are a few examples of summative assessments.  These are usually sorted into various assessment methods:  selected-response, constructed-response, teacher observation, student self-assessment.  Each method assess a different level of understanding.  Some types may assess declarative knowledge such as selected-response where students choose a response.  Constructed-response may require procedural knowledge because students may need to create something using their knowledge.  It could also assess deep understanding.  Examples of constructed-response assessments include short answer questions, essays, performance tasks such as a speech or presentation.  Teacher observation is another way students may be assessed and could include oral questions and observation of students working in groups.  This could assess declarative, procedural, or deep understanding depending on what the teacher observes.  Another type is student self-assessment where students evaluate themselves in the form of a reflection or survey or portfolio.  Again, this could require any of the three types of knowledge depending on the complexity of the task.