EdPsych Blog Post 2: The Various Forms of Educational Assessment

Informal vs. formal assessment:

Informal assessmentàInformal assessments are assessments that are not formally conducted in the classroom, but that are conducted daily and continually through observances of students regular behaviors.  For example, if I were to assign my high school students vocabulary problems in their vocabulary workbooks, and if I noticed one student sitting quietly at his desk, staring at a section in the workbook, I could discern that he or she may be having trouble understanding the directions for a particular set of problems, and could therefore offer assistance in helping him or her realize exactly what they’re supposed to do.

Formal assessmentàA formal assessment differs from an informal assessment in that it is announced to the class days or even weeks before the assessment is given.  In my class, I could announce that the following week we would be having a short, one-page test over the elements of character, conflict, and plot in fiction.  The students could then study ahead of time, and I would, through the formal assessment, be able to gauge each student’s understanding of the elements of fiction I have taught.

Traditional Asessment vs. Authentic Assessment:

Traditional AssessmentàAny paper-pencil assessment I give in my class could be called a traditional assessment, as the questions addressed and answers are probably questions that the students would not be asked in real-world experiences.  For instance, I could ask my students to answer fill-in-the-blank questions with a correct vocabulary word from that specific week.  Or, I could ask my students, during the first week of class, to write a personal essay that they would turn in to me at the end of class; I could then read these personal essays and determine which students already have a good grasp on grammatical principles and writing and which students do

not, and what specific aspects of writing we should focus on first in the class.

Authentic AssessmentàAn authentic assessment is one that takes what concepts and skills students have learned in class and applies it to real-world situations they may experience outside of class.  As an authentic assessment, I could require my students to each write a faux-newspaper article and compiling it with other students’ articles to form one class newspaper.  This authentic assessment would give the students the opportunity to demonstrate their learned writing skills, and could inspire students to maybe one day pursue writing as a career.

Criterion-referenced assessment vs. Norm-referenced assessment:

Criterion-referenced assessmentàIn a criterion-referenced assessment, students are tested on material and concepts they have learned in class; the point of a criterion-referenced assessment is to see if students have met predetermined standards or criteria, i.e. if they have successfully grasped the taught concepts and material which they should, at this point, be able to understand.  An example of a criterion-referenced assessment I may give in my class is a paper-pencil test regarding books we have read as a class in order to see if the students have fully understood who the main characters and plot of the story are.

Norm-referenced assessmentàIn a norm-referenced assessment, students’ test scores are compared to the test scores of other similarly aged students across the nation.  This sort of test is useful in telling us if a student’s performance is above average, average, or below average than other students.  One example of a norm-referenced assessment that my high school students may have to take would be the TCAP writing assessment.  This test takes students’ writing abilities and, I believe, compares them to how other students their age or in their grade are writing.  This sort of norm-referenced assessment is extremely important to high schoolers because many of them will be writing application essays to colleges they wish to attend, and if they see that their writing abilities are average or below average, then they may be motivated to hone their writing skills in order to better impress college admissions offices and beat out other applicants.

Standardized test vs. Teacher-developed test:

Standardized testàStandardized tests may be the most commonly used tests in classrooms because each test is the same and students are asked the same questions, questions that may effectively measure a student’s performance or ability so far.  I’m sure the vocabulary tests I administer to my students will be standardized, which is fine because vocabulary questions aren’t that abstract and can be reliably assessed and graded.

Teacher-developed testàIn order to assess students’ understanding of specific concepts taught in my class, I would most likely use a teacher-developed test.  A grammar test dealing with dangling modifiers and comma splices (errors many of my students make) would have to be teacher-developed.  A test over The Catcher in the Rye and the meanings of its various symbols, symbols that I may have discussed in-class, may also need to be teacher-developed, because the writer of a standardized test and I may not agree on an interpretation of one of the book’s symbols.

Paper-pencil assessment vs. Performance assessment:

Paper-pencil assessmentàA paper-pencil assessment is simply an assessment that is written on paper, and which students must answer on paper as well.  Many of my assessments will probably be paper-pencil assessments, such as vocabulary quizzes, grammar tests, and tests over assigned readings.  These types of assessments are important in gauging a student’s understanding of the material, but they cannot really be performed and must simply be addressed on paper.

Performance assessmentàIn a performance assessment, a student demonstrates what they have learned through a type of performance.  I could see myself asking my students to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the class.  In this way, I can assess whether or not a student has really gotten engaged with his or her reading, because if not then they will not be able to recite the poem aloud.