Types of Assessments

Standardized test used to evaluate an individual's performance in a specific area (for example, cognitive or psychomotor)

• Portfolio

• Norm-referenced assessment

• Performance assessment

• Ability test

Used as an authentic assessment of a student's understanding of key concepts or his or her ability to communicate ideas in writing. Generally, used as places to draft, and the teacher assess the process not the product, informally.

• Authentic assessment

• Formative evaluation

• Journals

• Rubrics

Carefully selected collection of students products, and sometimes teacher observations, collected over time, that reflect a student's progress in a content area.

• Summative assessment

• Aptitude test

• Portfolio

• Analytical rubric

Provides information about learning to be used to make judgments about a student's achievement and the teacher's instructions.

• Summative assessment

• Diagnostic evaluation

• Essay question

• Anecdotal records

Written notes teachers maintain based on their observations of individual children.

• Observation of students

• Anecdotal records

• Criterion-referenced assessment

• Norm-reference assessment

Standardized or norm referenced and are given before instructions begin to help teachers understand student's learning needs. These tests help teachers learn about student's areas of difficulties but not the cause of those difficulties.

• Formative assessment

• Achievement test

• Self-evaluation

• Diagnostic evaluation

Scoring guides used in assessments. They can be subject or task specific or generic.

• Rubrics

• Analytical rubrics

• Aptitude test

• Journals

Measures student understanding of the learning process and product, rather than just the product.

• Performance assessment

• Authentic assessment

• Achievement test

• Essay question

Most important assessment tool. Allows a teacher to take notes on what are seen called anecdotal records or reflect on student's performance.

• Observation of students

• Anecdotal records

• Journals

• Responses

Requires students to make connections between new and previously learned content, apply information to new situations, and demonstrate that they have learned the new information.

• Anecdotal records

• Journals

• Self-evaluation

• Essay questions