{"id":1098,"date":"2019-05-17T15:16:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T15:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1098"},"modified":"2019-05-20T16:04:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T16:04:48","slug":"foundational-understanding-assessment","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/chapter\/foundational-understanding-assessment\/","title":{"raw":"Assessment Overview","rendered":"Assessment Overview"},"content":{"raw":"In education, the term\u00a0<strong>assessment<\/strong>\u00a0refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students.\r\n<div class=\"entry entry-content\">\r\n\r\nWhile assessments are often equated with traditional tests\u00a0(especially the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/standardized-testing\/\"><strong>standardized tests<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0developed by testing companies and administered to large populations of students) educators use a diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure everything from a four-year-old\u2019s readiness for kindergarten to a twelfth-grade student\u2019s comprehension of advanced physics. Just as academic lessons have different functions, assessments are typically designed to measure specific elements of learning\u2014e.g., the level of knowledge a student already has about the concept or skill the teacher is planning to teach or the ability to comprehend and analyze different\u00a0types of texts and readings. Assessments also are used to identify individual student weaknesses and strengths so that educators can provide specialized\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\"><strong>academic support<\/strong><\/a>, educational programming, and\/or social services. In addition, assessments are developed by a wide array of groups and individuals, including\u00a0teachers, district administrators, universities, private companies, state departments of education,\u00a0and groups that include a combination of these individuals and institutions. While\u00a0assessment can take a wide variety of forms in education, the following descriptions provide a representative\u00a0overview of a few major forms of educational assessment.\r\n\r\nAssessments\u00a0are used for a wide variety of purposes in schools and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/education-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">education systems<\/a>:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>High-stakes\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are typically standardized tests used for the purposes of accountability\u2014i.e., any attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers. In general, \u201chigh stakes\u201d means that important decisions about students, teachers, schools, or districts are based on the scores students achieve on a high-stakes test, and either punishments (sanctions, penalties, reduced funding, negative publicity, not being promoted to the next grade, not being allowed to graduate) or accolades (awards, public celebration, positive publicity, bonuses, grade promotion, diplomas) result from those scores.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/high-stakes-testing\/\"><strong>high-stakes test<\/strong><\/a><\/u>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Pre-assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are administered before students begin a lesson, unit, course, or academic program. Students are not necessarily expected to know most, or even any, of the material evaluated by pre-assessments\u2014they are generally used to (1) establish a baseline against which educators measure learning progress over the duration of a program, course, or instructional period, or (2) determine general academic readiness for a course, program, grade level, or new academic program\u00a0that\u00a0student may be\u00a0transferring into.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/formative-assessment\/\"><strong>Formative\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0are in-process evaluations of student learning that are typically administered multiple times during a unit, course, or academic program. The general purpose of formative assessment is to give educators in-process feedback about what students are learning or not learning so that instructional approaches, teaching materials, and academic support can be modified accordingly. Formative assessments are not always\u00a0scored or graded, and they may take a variety of forms, from more formal quizzes and assignments to informal questioning techniques and in-class discussions with students.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/summative-assessment\/\"><strong>Summative\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0are used to evaluate student learning at the conclusion of a specific instructional period\u2014typically at the end of a unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Summative assessments are typically\u00a0scored and graded tests, assignments, or projects that are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn during the defined instructional period.\r\n<blockquote>Formative assessments are commonly said to be\u00a0<em>for<\/em>\u00a0learning because educators use the results to modify and improve teaching techniques during an instructional period, while summative assessments are said to be\u00a0<em>of<\/em>\u00a0learning because they evaluate academic achievement at the conclusion of an instructional period. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, \u201cWhen the cook tastes the soup, that\u2019s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that\u2019s summative assessment.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/interim-assessment\/\">Interim assessments<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>are used to evaluate where students are in their learning progress and determine whether they are on track to performing well on future assessments, such as\u00a0standardized tests, end-of-course exams, and other forms of \u201csummative\u201d assessment. Interim assessments are usually administered periodically during a course or school year (for example, every six or eight weeks) and separately from the process of instructing students (i.e., unlike formative assessments, which are integrated into the instructional process).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Placement assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are used to \u201cplace\u201d students into a course, course level, or academic program. For example, an assessment may be used to determine whether a student is ready for Algebra I or a higher-level algebra course, such as an honors-level course. For this reason, placement assessments are administered before a course or program begins, and the basic intent is to match students with appropriate learning experiences that address their distinct learning needs.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Screening assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are used to determine whether students may need specialized assistance or services, or whether they are ready to begin a course, grade level, or academic program. Screening assessments may take a wide variety of forms in educational settings, and they may be developmental, physical, cognitive, or academic. A preschool screening test, for example, may be used to determine whether a young child is physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually ready to begin preschool, while other screening tests may be used to evaluate health, potential learning disabilities, and other student attributes.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAssessments are also designed in a variety of\u00a0ways for different purposes:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Standardized assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are designed, administered, and scored in a standard, or consistent, manner. They often use a multiple-choice format, though some include open-ended, short-answer questions. Historically, standardized tests featured rows of ovals that students filled in with a number-two pencil, but increasingly the tests are computer-based. Standardized tests can be administered to large student populations of the same age or grade level in a state, region, or country, and results can be compared across individuals and groups of students. For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/standardized-testing\/\"><strong>standardized test<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Standards-referenced or standards-based\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are designed to measure how well students have mastered the specific knowledge and skills described in local, state, or national\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\"><strong>learning standards<\/strong><\/a>. Standardized tests and high-stakes tests may or may not be based on specific learning standards, and individual schools and teachers may develop their own standards-referenced or standards-based assessments.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<u><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/proficiency-based-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proficiency-based learning<\/a><\/strong><\/u>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Common\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are used in a school or district to ensure that all teachers are evaluating student performance in a more consistent, reliable, and effective manner. Common assessments are used to encourage greater consistency in teaching and assessment among teachers who are responsible for teaching the same content, e.g. within a grade level, department, or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/content-area\/\"><strong>content area<\/strong><\/a>. They allow educators to compare performance results across multiple classrooms, courses, schools, and\/or learning experiences (which is not possible when educators teach different material and individually develop their own distinct assessments).\u00a0Common assessments share the same format and are administered in consistent ways\u2014e.g., teachers give students the same instructions and the same amount of time to complete the assessment, or they use the same scoring guides to interpret results. Common assessments may be \u201cformative\u201d or \u201csummative<em>.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/coherent-curriculum-2\/\"><strong>coherent curriculum<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/rubric\/\"><strong>rubric<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Performance assessments\u00a0<\/strong>typically require students to complete a complex task, such as a writing assignment, science experiment, speech, presentation, performance, or long-term project, for example. Educators will often use collaboratively developed common assessments, scoring guides, rubrics, and other methods to evaluate whether the work produced by students shows that they have learned what they were expected to learn. Performance assessments may also be called \u201cauthentic assessments,\u201d since they are considered by some educators to be more accurate and meaningful evaluations of learning achievement than traditional tests.\u00a0For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/authentic-learning\/\"><strong>authentic learning<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/demonstration-of-learning\/\"><strong>demonstration of learning<\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/exhibition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exhibition<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Portfolio-based\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are collections of academic work\u2014for example, assignments, lab results, writing samples, speeches, student-created films, or art projects\u2014that are compiled by students and assessed by teachers in consistent ways. Portfolio-based assessments are often used to evaluate a \u201cbody of knowledge\u201d\u2014i.e., the acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills over a period of time. Portfolio materials can be collected in physical or digital formats, and they are often evaluated to determine whether students have met required\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\"><strong>learning standards<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/portfolio\/\"><strong>portfolio<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe purpose of an assessment generally drives the way it is designed, and there are many ways in which assessments can be used. A standardized assessment can be a high-stakes assessment, for example, but so can other forms of assessment that are not standardized tests. A portfolio of student work can be a used as both a \u201cformative\u201d and \u201csummative\u201d form of assessment. Teacher-created assessments, which may also be created by\u00a0teams of teachers, are commonly used in\u00a0a single course\u00a0or grade level in\u00a0a school, and\u00a0these assessments\u00a0are almost never \u201chigh-stakes.\u201d Screening assessments may be produced by universities that have conducted research on a specific area of child development, such as the skills and attributes that a student should\u00a0have when entering kindergarten to\u00a0increase the likelihood that he or she will be successful, or the pattern of behaviors, strengths, and challenges that suggest a child has a particular learning disability. In short, assessments are usually\u00a0created for highly specialized\u00a0purposes.\r\n\r\n<strong>Reform<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhile educational assessments and tests have been around since the days of the one-room schoolhouse, they have increasingly assumed a central role in efforts to improve the effectiveness of public schools and teaching. Standardized-test scores, for example, are arguably the dominant measure of educational achievement in the United States, and they are also the most commonly reported indicator of school, teacher, and school-system performance.\r\n\r\nAs schools become increasingly equipped with computers, tablets, and wireless internet access, a growing proportion of the assessments now administered in schools are either computer-based\u00a0or online assessments\u2014though paper-based tests and assessments are still common and widely used in schools. New technologies and software\u00a0applications are also\u00a0changing the nature and use of assessments in innumerable\u00a0ways, given that digital-assessment systems typically offer an array of features that traditional paper-based tests and assignments cannot. For example, online-assessment systems may allow students to log in and take assessments during out-of-class time or they may make performance results\u00a0available to students and teachers immediately after an assessment has been completed\u00a0(historically, it might have taken hours, days, or weeks for teachers to review, score, and grade all assessments for a class). In addition,\u00a0digital and\u00a0online assessments typically include features, or \u201canalytics,\u201d that give\u00a0educators more detailed information about student performance. For example, teachers may be able to see how long it took students to answer particular questions or how many times a student failed to answer a question correctly before getting the right answer. Many advocates of\u00a0digital and\u00a0online assessments tend to argue that such systems, if used properly, could\u00a0help teachers \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/personalized-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personalize<\/a>\u201d instruction\u2014because many digital and\u00a0online systems can provide far more detailed information about the academic performance\u00a0of students, educators\u00a0can use this information to modify\u00a0educational programs,\u00a0<a title=\"Learning Experience\" href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning experiences<\/a>, instructional approaches, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\">academic-support strategies<\/a>\u00a0in ways that\u00a0address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students.\u00a0In addition, many large-scale standardized tests are now administered online, though states typically allow students to take paper-based\u00a0tests if computers are unavailable, if students prefer the paper-based option, or if students don\u2019t have the technological skills and literacy required to perform well on an online assessment.\r\n\r\nGiven that assessments come in so many forms and serve so many diverse functions, a thorough discussion of the purpose and use of assessments could fill a lengthy book. The following descriptions, however, provide a brief, illustrative\u00a0overview of a few of the major ways in which assessments\u2014especially assessment results\u2014are used in an attempt to improve schools and teaching:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>System and school accountability<\/strong>: Assessments, particularly standardized tests, have played an increasingly central role in efforts to hold schools, districts, and state public-school systems \u201caccountable\u201d for improving the academic achievement of students. The most widely discussed and far-reaching example, the 2001 federal law commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act, strengthened federal expectations from the 1990s and required each state develop\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\">learning standards<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to govern what teachers should teach and students should learn. Under No Child Left Behind, standards are required in every grade level and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/content-area\/\"><strong>content area<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from kindergarten through high school. The law also requires that students be tested annually in grades 3-8 and at least once in grades 10-12 in reading and mathematics. Since the law\u2019s passage, standardized tests have been developed and implemented to measure how well students were meeting the standards, and scores have been reported publicly by state departments of education. The law also required that test results be tracked and reported separately for different \u201csubgroups\u201d of students, such as minority students, students from low-income households, students with special needs, and students with\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/english-language-learner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">limited proficiency in English<\/a><\/u><\/strong>. By publicly reporting the test scores achieved by different schools and student groups, and by tying those scores to penalties and funding, the law has aimed to close\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/achievement-gap\/\"><strong>achievement gaps<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and improve schools that were deemed to be underperforming. While the No Child Left Behind Act is one of the most controversial and contentious educational policies in recent history, and the technicalities of the legislation are highly complex, it is one example of how assessment results are being used as an accountability measure.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Teacher evaluation and\u00a0compensation<\/strong>: In recent years, a growing number of elected officials, policy makers, and education reformers have argued that the best way to improve educational results is to ensure that students have effective teachers, and that one way to ensure effective teaching is to evaluate and compensate educators, at least in part, based on the test scores their students achieve. By basing a teacher\u2019s income and job security on assessment results, the reasoning goes, administrators can identify and reward high-performing teachers or take steps to either help low-performing teachers improve or remove them from schools. Growing political pressure, coupled with the promise of federal grants, prompted many states to begin using student test results in teacher evaluations. This controversial and highly contentious reform strategy generally requires fairly complicated statistical techniques\u2014known as\u00a0<strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/value-added-measures\/\">value-added measures<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>or\u00a0<em>growth measures<\/em>\u2014to determine how much of a positive or negative effect individual teachers have on the academic achievement of their students, based primarily on student assessment results.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Instructional improvement<\/strong>: Assessment results are often used as a mechanism for improving instructional quality and student achievement. Because assessments are designed to measure the acquisition of specific knowledge or skills, the design of an assessment can determine or influence what gets taught in the classroom (\u201cteaching to the test\u201d is a common, and often derogatory, phrase used to describe this general phenomenon). Formative assessments, for\u00a0example, give teachers in-process\u00a0feedback on student learning, which can help them make instructional adjustments during the teaching process, instead of having to wait until the end of a unit or course to find out how well students are learning the material. Other forms of assessment, such as standards-based assessments or common assessments, encourage educators to teach similar material and evaluate student performance in more consistent, reliable, or comparable ways.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Learning-needs identification<\/strong>: Educators use a wide range of assessments and assessment methods to identify specific student learning needs, diagnose learning disabilities (such as autism, dyslexia, or nonverbal learning disabilities), evaluate language ability, or determine eligibility for specialized\u00a0educational services. In recent years, the early identification of specialized learning needs and disabilities, and the proactive provision of educational support services to students, has been a major focus of numerous educational reform strategies. For a related discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\"><strong>academic support<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Debate<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn education, there is widespread agreement that assessment is an integral part of any effective educational system or program. Educators, parents, elected officials, policy makers, employers, and the public all want to know whether students are learning successfully and progressing academically in school. The debates\u2014many of which are a complex, wide ranging, and frequently contentious\u2014typically center on how assessments are used, including how frequently they are being administered and whether assessments are beneficial or harmful to students and the teaching process. While a comprehensive discussion of these debates is beyond the scope of this resource, the following is a representative selection of a few major issues being debated:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Is high-stakes testing, as an accountability measure, the best way to improve schools, teaching quality, and student achievement? Or do the potential consequences\u2014such as teachers focusing mainly on test preparation and a narrow range of knowledge at the expense of other important skills, or increased incentives to cheat and manipulate test results\u2014undermine the benefits of using test scores as a way to hold schools and educators more accountable and improve educational results?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Are standardized assessments truly\u00a0<em>objective\u00a0<\/em>measures of academic achievement? Or do they reflect intrinsic biases\u2014in their design or content\u2014that favor some students over others, such wealthier white students from more-educated households over minority and low-income students from less-educated households? For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/measurement-error\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">measurement error<\/a><\/u><\/strong>and\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/test-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">test bias<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Are \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d standardized tests a fair way to evaluate the learning achievement of all students, given that some students may be better test-takers than others? Or should students be given a variety of assessment options and multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Will more challenging and\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/rigor\/\">rigorous<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>assessments lead to higher educational achievement for all students? Or will they end up penalizing certain students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds? And, conversely, will less-advantaged students be at an even greater disadvantage if they are not held to the same high educational standards as other students (because lowering educational standards for certain students, such as students of color, will only further disadvantage them and perpetuate the same cycle of low expectations that historically contributed to racial and socioeconomic\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/achievement-gap\/\"><strong>achievement gaps<\/strong><\/a>)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do the costs\u2014in money, time, and human resources\u2014outweigh the benefits of widespread, large-scale testing? Would the funding and resources invested in testing and accountability be better spent on higher-quality educational materials, more training and support for teachers, and other resources that might improve schools and teaching more effectively? And is the pervasive use of tests providing valuable information that educators can use to improve instructional quality and student learning? Or are the tests actually taking up time that might be better spent on teaching students more knowledge and skills?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Are technological learning applications, including digital and online assessments, improving learning experiences\u00a0for students, teaching them\u00a0technological skills and literacy, or\u00a0generally\u00a0making learning experiences\u00a0more interesting and engaging? Or are digital\u00a0learning applications adding to the cost of education, introducing unwanted distractions in schools, or undermining\u00a0the value of teachers and the teaching process?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>In education, the term\u00a0<strong>assessment<\/strong>\u00a0refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry entry-content\">\n<p>While assessments are often equated with traditional tests\u00a0(especially the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/standardized-testing\/\"><strong>standardized tests<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0developed by testing companies and administered to large populations of students) educators use a diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure everything from a four-year-old\u2019s readiness for kindergarten to a twelfth-grade student\u2019s comprehension of advanced physics. Just as academic lessons have different functions, assessments are typically designed to measure specific elements of learning\u2014e.g., the level of knowledge a student already has about the concept or skill the teacher is planning to teach or the ability to comprehend and analyze different\u00a0types of texts and readings. Assessments also are used to identify individual student weaknesses and strengths so that educators can provide specialized\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\"><strong>academic support<\/strong><\/a>, educational programming, and\/or social services. In addition, assessments are developed by a wide array of groups and individuals, including\u00a0teachers, district administrators, universities, private companies, state departments of education,\u00a0and groups that include a combination of these individuals and institutions. While\u00a0assessment can take a wide variety of forms in education, the following descriptions provide a representative\u00a0overview of a few major forms of educational assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Assessments\u00a0are used for a wide variety of purposes in schools and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/education-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">education systems<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>High-stakes\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are typically standardized tests used for the purposes of accountability\u2014i.e., any attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers. In general, \u201chigh stakes\u201d means that important decisions about students, teachers, schools, or districts are based on the scores students achieve on a high-stakes test, and either punishments (sanctions, penalties, reduced funding, negative publicity, not being promoted to the next grade, not being allowed to graduate) or accolades (awards, public celebration, positive publicity, bonuses, grade promotion, diplomas) result from those scores.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/high-stakes-testing\/\"><strong>high-stakes test<\/strong><\/a><\/u>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pre-assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are administered before students begin a lesson, unit, course, or academic program. Students are not necessarily expected to know most, or even any, of the material evaluated by pre-assessments\u2014they are generally used to (1) establish a baseline against which educators measure learning progress over the duration of a program, course, or instructional period, or (2) determine general academic readiness for a course, program, grade level, or new academic program\u00a0that\u00a0student may be\u00a0transferring into.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/formative-assessment\/\"><strong>Formative\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0are in-process evaluations of student learning that are typically administered multiple times during a unit, course, or academic program. The general purpose of formative assessment is to give educators in-process feedback about what students are learning or not learning so that instructional approaches, teaching materials, and academic support can be modified accordingly. Formative assessments are not always\u00a0scored or graded, and they may take a variety of forms, from more formal quizzes and assignments to informal questioning techniques and in-class discussions with students.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/summative-assessment\/\"><strong>Summative\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0are used to evaluate student learning at the conclusion of a specific instructional period\u2014typically at the end of a unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Summative assessments are typically\u00a0scored and graded tests, assignments, or projects that are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn during the defined instructional period.<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>Formative assessments are commonly said to be\u00a0<em>for<\/em>\u00a0learning because educators use the results to modify and improve teaching techniques during an instructional period, while summative assessments are said to be\u00a0<em>of<\/em>\u00a0learning because they evaluate academic achievement at the conclusion of an instructional period. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, \u201cWhen the cook tastes the soup, that\u2019s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that\u2019s summative assessment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/interim-assessment\/\">Interim assessments<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>are used to evaluate where students are in their learning progress and determine whether they are on track to performing well on future assessments, such as\u00a0standardized tests, end-of-course exams, and other forms of \u201csummative\u201d assessment. Interim assessments are usually administered periodically during a course or school year (for example, every six or eight weeks) and separately from the process of instructing students (i.e., unlike formative assessments, which are integrated into the instructional process).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Placement assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are used to \u201cplace\u201d students into a course, course level, or academic program. For example, an assessment may be used to determine whether a student is ready for Algebra I or a higher-level algebra course, such as an honors-level course. For this reason, placement assessments are administered before a course or program begins, and the basic intent is to match students with appropriate learning experiences that address their distinct learning needs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Screening assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are used to determine whether students may need specialized assistance or services, or whether they are ready to begin a course, grade level, or academic program. Screening assessments may take a wide variety of forms in educational settings, and they may be developmental, physical, cognitive, or academic. A preschool screening test, for example, may be used to determine whether a young child is physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually ready to begin preschool, while other screening tests may be used to evaluate health, potential learning disabilities, and other student attributes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Assessments are also designed in a variety of\u00a0ways for different purposes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Standardized assessments\u00a0<\/strong>are designed, administered, and scored in a standard, or consistent, manner. They often use a multiple-choice format, though some include open-ended, short-answer questions. Historically, standardized tests featured rows of ovals that students filled in with a number-two pencil, but increasingly the tests are computer-based. Standardized tests can be administered to large student populations of the same age or grade level in a state, region, or country, and results can be compared across individuals and groups of students. For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/standardized-testing\/\"><strong>standardized test<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Standards-referenced or standards-based\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are designed to measure how well students have mastered the specific knowledge and skills described in local, state, or national\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\"><strong>learning standards<\/strong><\/a>. Standardized tests and high-stakes tests may or may not be based on specific learning standards, and individual schools and teachers may develop their own standards-referenced or standards-based assessments.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<u><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/proficiency-based-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proficiency-based learning<\/a><\/strong><\/u>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Common\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are used in a school or district to ensure that all teachers are evaluating student performance in a more consistent, reliable, and effective manner. Common assessments are used to encourage greater consistency in teaching and assessment among teachers who are responsible for teaching the same content, e.g. within a grade level, department, or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/content-area\/\"><strong>content area<\/strong><\/a>. They allow educators to compare performance results across multiple classrooms, courses, schools, and\/or learning experiences (which is not possible when educators teach different material and individually develop their own distinct assessments).\u00a0Common assessments share the same format and are administered in consistent ways\u2014e.g., teachers give students the same instructions and the same amount of time to complete the assessment, or they use the same scoring guides to interpret results. Common assessments may be \u201cformative\u201d or \u201csummative<em>.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/coherent-curriculum-2\/\"><strong>coherent curriculum<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/rubric\/\"><strong>rubric<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Performance assessments\u00a0<\/strong>typically require students to complete a complex task, such as a writing assignment, science experiment, speech, presentation, performance, or long-term project, for example. Educators will often use collaboratively developed common assessments, scoring guides, rubrics, and other methods to evaluate whether the work produced by students shows that they have learned what they were expected to learn. Performance assessments may also be called \u201cauthentic assessments,\u201d since they are considered by some educators to be more accurate and meaningful evaluations of learning achievement than traditional tests.\u00a0For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/authentic-learning\/\"><strong>authentic learning<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/demonstration-of-learning\/\"><strong>demonstration of learning<\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/exhibition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exhibition<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Portfolio-based\u00a0<\/strong><strong>assessments<\/strong>\u00a0are collections of academic work\u2014for example, assignments, lab results, writing samples, speeches, student-created films, or art projects\u2014that are compiled by students and assessed by teachers in consistent ways. Portfolio-based assessments are often used to evaluate a \u201cbody of knowledge\u201d\u2014i.e., the acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills over a period of time. Portfolio materials can be collected in physical or digital formats, and they are often evaluated to determine whether students have met required\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\"><strong>learning standards<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0For a more detailed discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/portfolio\/\"><strong>portfolio<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The purpose of an assessment generally drives the way it is designed, and there are many ways in which assessments can be used. A standardized assessment can be a high-stakes assessment, for example, but so can other forms of assessment that are not standardized tests. A portfolio of student work can be a used as both a \u201cformative\u201d and \u201csummative\u201d form of assessment. Teacher-created assessments, which may also be created by\u00a0teams of teachers, are commonly used in\u00a0a single course\u00a0or grade level in\u00a0a school, and\u00a0these assessments\u00a0are almost never \u201chigh-stakes.\u201d Screening assessments may be produced by universities that have conducted research on a specific area of child development, such as the skills and attributes that a student should\u00a0have when entering kindergarten to\u00a0increase the likelihood that he or she will be successful, or the pattern of behaviors, strengths, and challenges that suggest a child has a particular learning disability. In short, assessments are usually\u00a0created for highly specialized\u00a0purposes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reform<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While educational assessments and tests have been around since the days of the one-room schoolhouse, they have increasingly assumed a central role in efforts to improve the effectiveness of public schools and teaching. Standardized-test scores, for example, are arguably the dominant measure of educational achievement in the United States, and they are also the most commonly reported indicator of school, teacher, and school-system performance.<\/p>\n<p>As schools become increasingly equipped with computers, tablets, and wireless internet access, a growing proportion of the assessments now administered in schools are either computer-based\u00a0or online assessments\u2014though paper-based tests and assessments are still common and widely used in schools. New technologies and software\u00a0applications are also\u00a0changing the nature and use of assessments in innumerable\u00a0ways, given that digital-assessment systems typically offer an array of features that traditional paper-based tests and assignments cannot. For example, online-assessment systems may allow students to log in and take assessments during out-of-class time or they may make performance results\u00a0available to students and teachers immediately after an assessment has been completed\u00a0(historically, it might have taken hours, days, or weeks for teachers to review, score, and grade all assessments for a class). In addition,\u00a0digital and\u00a0online assessments typically include features, or \u201canalytics,\u201d that give\u00a0educators more detailed information about student performance. For example, teachers may be able to see how long it took students to answer particular questions or how many times a student failed to answer a question correctly before getting the right answer. Many advocates of\u00a0digital and\u00a0online assessments tend to argue that such systems, if used properly, could\u00a0help teachers \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/personalized-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personalize<\/a>\u201d instruction\u2014because many digital and\u00a0online systems can provide far more detailed information about the academic performance\u00a0of students, educators\u00a0can use this information to modify\u00a0educational programs,\u00a0<a title=\"Learning Experience\" href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning experiences<\/a>, instructional approaches, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\">academic-support strategies<\/a>\u00a0in ways that\u00a0address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students.\u00a0In addition, many large-scale standardized tests are now administered online, though states typically allow students to take paper-based\u00a0tests if computers are unavailable, if students prefer the paper-based option, or if students don\u2019t have the technological skills and literacy required to perform well on an online assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Given that assessments come in so many forms and serve so many diverse functions, a thorough discussion of the purpose and use of assessments could fill a lengthy book. The following descriptions, however, provide a brief, illustrative\u00a0overview of a few of the major ways in which assessments\u2014especially assessment results\u2014are used in an attempt to improve schools and teaching:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>System and school accountability<\/strong>: Assessments, particularly standardized tests, have played an increasingly central role in efforts to hold schools, districts, and state public-school systems \u201caccountable\u201d for improving the academic achievement of students. The most widely discussed and far-reaching example, the 2001 federal law commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act, strengthened federal expectations from the 1990s and required each state develop\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/learning-standards\/\">learning standards<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to govern what teachers should teach and students should learn. Under No Child Left Behind, standards are required in every grade level and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/content-area\/\"><strong>content area<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from kindergarten through high school. The law also requires that students be tested annually in grades 3-8 and at least once in grades 10-12 in reading and mathematics. Since the law\u2019s passage, standardized tests have been developed and implemented to measure how well students were meeting the standards, and scores have been reported publicly by state departments of education. The law also required that test results be tracked and reported separately for different \u201csubgroups\u201d of students, such as minority students, students from low-income households, students with special needs, and students with\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/english-language-learner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">limited proficiency in English<\/a><\/u><\/strong>. By publicly reporting the test scores achieved by different schools and student groups, and by tying those scores to penalties and funding, the law has aimed to close\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/achievement-gap\/\"><strong>achievement gaps<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and improve schools that were deemed to be underperforming. While the No Child Left Behind Act is one of the most controversial and contentious educational policies in recent history, and the technicalities of the legislation are highly complex, it is one example of how assessment results are being used as an accountability measure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Teacher evaluation and\u00a0compensation<\/strong>: In recent years, a growing number of elected officials, policy makers, and education reformers have argued that the best way to improve educational results is to ensure that students have effective teachers, and that one way to ensure effective teaching is to evaluate and compensate educators, at least in part, based on the test scores their students achieve. By basing a teacher\u2019s income and job security on assessment results, the reasoning goes, administrators can identify and reward high-performing teachers or take steps to either help low-performing teachers improve or remove them from schools. Growing political pressure, coupled with the promise of federal grants, prompted many states to begin using student test results in teacher evaluations. This controversial and highly contentious reform strategy generally requires fairly complicated statistical techniques\u2014known as\u00a0<strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/value-added-measures\/\">value-added measures<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>or\u00a0<em>growth measures<\/em>\u2014to determine how much of a positive or negative effect individual teachers have on the academic achievement of their students, based primarily on student assessment results.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Instructional improvement<\/strong>: Assessment results are often used as a mechanism for improving instructional quality and student achievement. Because assessments are designed to measure the acquisition of specific knowledge or skills, the design of an assessment can determine or influence what gets taught in the classroom (\u201cteaching to the test\u201d is a common, and often derogatory, phrase used to describe this general phenomenon). Formative assessments, for\u00a0example, give teachers in-process\u00a0feedback on student learning, which can help them make instructional adjustments during the teaching process, instead of having to wait until the end of a unit or course to find out how well students are learning the material. Other forms of assessment, such as standards-based assessments or common assessments, encourage educators to teach similar material and evaluate student performance in more consistent, reliable, or comparable ways.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Learning-needs identification<\/strong>: Educators use a wide range of assessments and assessment methods to identify specific student learning needs, diagnose learning disabilities (such as autism, dyslexia, or nonverbal learning disabilities), evaluate language ability, or determine eligibility for specialized\u00a0educational services. In recent years, the early identification of specialized learning needs and disabilities, and the proactive provision of educational support services to students, has been a major focus of numerous educational reform strategies. For a related discussion, see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/academic-support\/\"><strong>academic support<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Debate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In education, there is widespread agreement that assessment is an integral part of any effective educational system or program. Educators, parents, elected officials, policy makers, employers, and the public all want to know whether students are learning successfully and progressing academically in school. The debates\u2014many of which are a complex, wide ranging, and frequently contentious\u2014typically center on how assessments are used, including how frequently they are being administered and whether assessments are beneficial or harmful to students and the teaching process. While a comprehensive discussion of these debates is beyond the scope of this resource, the following is a representative selection of a few major issues being debated:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is high-stakes testing, as an accountability measure, the best way to improve schools, teaching quality, and student achievement? Or do the potential consequences\u2014such as teachers focusing mainly on test preparation and a narrow range of knowledge at the expense of other important skills, or increased incentives to cheat and manipulate test results\u2014undermine the benefits of using test scores as a way to hold schools and educators more accountable and improve educational results?<\/li>\n<li>Are standardized assessments truly\u00a0<em>objective\u00a0<\/em>measures of academic achievement? Or do they reflect intrinsic biases\u2014in their design or content\u2014that favor some students over others, such wealthier white students from more-educated households over minority and low-income students from less-educated households? For more detailed discussions, see\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/measurement-error\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">measurement error<\/a><\/u><\/strong>and\u00a0<strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/test-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">test bias<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Are \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d standardized tests a fair way to evaluate the learning achievement of all students, given that some students may be better test-takers than others? Or should students be given a variety of assessment options and multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned?<\/li>\n<li>Will more challenging and\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/rigor\/\">rigorous<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>assessments lead to higher educational achievement for all students? Or will they end up penalizing certain students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds? And, conversely, will less-advantaged students be at an even greater disadvantage if they are not held to the same high educational standards as other students (because lowering educational standards for certain students, such as students of color, will only further disadvantage them and perpetuate the same cycle of low expectations that historically contributed to racial and socioeconomic\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/achievement-gap\/\"><strong>achievement gaps<\/strong><\/a>)?<\/li>\n<li>Do the costs\u2014in money, time, and human resources\u2014outweigh the benefits of widespread, large-scale testing? Would the funding and resources invested in testing and accountability be better spent on higher-quality educational materials, more training and support for teachers, and other resources that might improve schools and teaching more effectively? And is the pervasive use of tests providing valuable information that educators can use to improve instructional quality and student learning? Or are the tests actually taking up time that might be better spent on teaching students more knowledge and skills?<\/li>\n<li>Are technological learning applications, including digital and online assessments, improving learning experiences\u00a0for students, teaching them\u00a0technological skills and literacy, or\u00a0generally\u00a0making learning experiences\u00a0more interesting and engaging? Or are digital\u00a0learning applications adding to the cost of education, introducing unwanted distractions in schools, or undermining\u00a0the value of teachers and the teaching process?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1098\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Assessment. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: S. Abbot (Ed.). <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Great Schools Partnership. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/assessment\/\">http:\/\/edglossary.org\/assessment\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: The Glossary of Education Reform. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":160900,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Assessment\",\"author\":\"S. Abbot (Ed.)\",\"organization\":\"Great Schools Partnership\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/edglossary.org\/assessment\/\",\"project\":\"The Glossary of Education Reform\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1098","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":911,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1128,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1098\/revisions\/1128"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/911"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1098\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}