What Are Classroom Assessments?
Classroom assessment is an approach designed to help teachers find out what students are learning in the classroom and how well they are learning it.
Classroom assessments generally take one of two forms: formative or summative. These two forms of assessment serve different purposes.
Formative assessments are used as comprehension checks. They are usually not weighted or carry very little weight in terms of grading. Formative assessments inform the teacher’s instruction and provide guidance in what might need to be retaught. They also provide a vehicle for feedback to the students, which in turn allows them to know how well they have mastered the material or skills in question.
Summative assessments are what most of us think of when we hear the word “assessment.” They generally come at the end of a unit or a term; they are often comprehensive; and they do affect the students’ grades. Summative assessments determine how well the students have mastered the materials or skills by comparing the assessment results against pre-determined standards or benchmarks.
What Do We Mean By Multiple Measures of Assessment?
This is the use of multiple indicators or sources of evidence of student learning. Thus, instead of relying on only one or a few traditional pen-and-paper tests, such as a midterm and a final exam, the instructor might elect to base the students’ grades on a test, a term paper, and a class project which they complete in small groups and present to the whole class.
Diversifying the assessments by which students are judged allows for the students’ diverse abilities and aptitudes to be incorporated into the learning process. Students who may not do well on more traditional style exams might perform brilliantly on a collaborative project. Multiple measures of assessment allow for a far greater range of evidence of learning, so choosing to use this approach to assessment provides a richer and more detailed picture of student success.
Types of Measures of Assessment
Using Formative Assessment
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In this video, Professor Kada discusses using formative assessment as a way to improve student performance. Formative assessment is a process evaluation in which the educator/faculty has the option to assess the student’s performance and still be able to make adjustments in an educational activity as soon as they are needed. Further, with the use of formative assessment, faculty can work to improve the results of student performance, instruction methods and learning outcomes before the course/program concludes.
Video – Using Formative Assessment to Improve Student Performance by Dr. Geetha Kada