Assessments are a fundamental part of a student’s academic life. They allow students and teachers to evaluate the learning progress about the student learning objectives. They serve as a guideline for decisions regarding grades, curriculum, and educational needs.

They help us find answers to the fundamental questions posed to the education system: “Are the students learning in the best way possible? “Is their understanding firm enough to help them practically apply their knowledge?”

The significance of student assessment in evaluating student performance imposes a responsibility on teachers to invest time and effort to learn about the various assessment methods and their applications.

Student Assessment in Teaching and Learning

The modern world requires students to learn more than just basic linguistic and mathematical skills to enable them to contribute positively in their capacity. Students must develop analytical skills and learn to think critically.

The relationship between assessment and effective student learning continues to evolve as a consequence of the changes in the requisite skills and knowledge base. It implies that teachers should adopt an active role in the decision-making regarding assessment modes and methods.

By doing so, teachers can collect data from various sources to evaluate the degree of students’ understanding of the fundamental concepts. The data can then be reviewed and put in context to predict student achievement which would help teachers to clear any obstacles that prevent students from achieving their potential.

Furthermore, it can aid in identifying the causes of distress to students to help bridge the gap between teaching and learning.

Purposes of Student Assessment

• Helps sustain student attention
• It can be used by external evaluators to assess student learning
• Provides timely feedback regarding student understanding
• Paves the way for the practical learning process
• Generates results that define student achievement enabling pass/fail decisions to be made

Types of assessments to use in your classroom

The ability to distinguish one type of assessment from another can help us understand how to use assessments to enhance student learning. Owing to the significance of assessments, we have conducted a comparative analysis of the widely used modes of assessment.

Formative Assessment

The formative assessment incorporates immediate information through collaboration with students to guide instruction. It evaluates the existing student learning process and identifies the problems and holes that negatively influence student learning.

Formative assessment relies on students to assume responsibility for their learning by implying that the education system has been put in place to help them excel.

The contribution from students themselves allows teachers to use formative assessment to offer a tailored learning experience to individual students. The coordination ensures that teachers identify the specific areas that hinder the development of students, giving rise to a meaningful learning environment in the classroom.

Feedback is a critical element of formative assessments. Teachers may share feedback through one-on-one meetings, emails, or in the form of writing.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is a more traditional form of assessing student learning. It comprises assessing students at the end of educational programs against a set threshold. The summative assessment delivers a holistic report on the educational program, including the role of teachers, the mode of instruction, and the learning environment.

Examples of summative assessments include quizzes and tests to understand what students have learned throughout the program. However, a downside of summative assessments is that their result-oriented nature may induce anxiety in students preventing them from putting their best foot forward during the assessment.

Alternative Assessment

Educators use alternative assessments to gauge students’ understanding of the learning material. As opposed to other assessment methods, it focuses on evaluating a student’s proficiency level in a subject instead of their level of knowledge.

Alternative assessments incorporate practical tasks that foster a higher level of critical skills in students. It focuses on individual student progress while considering the whole classroom, which enables a positive classroom environment that encourages students to learn new skills.

Diagnostic assessment

Diagnostic assessment gathers information regarding students’ existing knowledge about a specific topic. It uses a set of written questions, primarily MCQs and short questions, to assess students’ understanding of the crucial concepts discussed during a course.

The purpose of diagnostic assessments is to gain insight into students’ intellectual and emotional states, allowing teachers to make informed decisions regarding the use of instructional mode. Most teachers initiate their lecture using a diagnostic assessment and end it with the same, helping them record student progress pre and post-lecture.

Exams and time-constrained assessment

Exams have been used extensively for a very long time as the primary assessment tool. There is a growing concern amongst educationalists that exams place an undue burden on students’ knowledge of concepts, giving rise to accumulation and rote learning.

However, it has been observed that exams are an effective way for students to demonstrate their understanding, provided that the exams are correctly structured.

The instructors using exams and time-constrained assessments must assume responsibility to ensure that they design the exam questions while considering the learning objectives, student preparation, and scope of learning.

Norm-referenced assessments

Norm-referenced assessments evaluate the performance of test takers by comparing them to specific standards to interpret the quality of education. Instead of using observation methods, norm-referenced assessments obtain results from across the country to generate a standard that teachers use to assess the students.

The results are often presented in percentages with various ranges associated with specific benchmarks or achievement levels.

Assessment tools for student learning

Projects

Projects are an assessment tool used to assess fundamental concepts critically. They may be executed individually or as part of a group and are an effective way to assess a student’s learning comprehensively.

The type of project may range from prototypes to research proposals, from artwork to multimedia presentations. They are a great tool to present students with a problem and observe their problem-solving skills as they form their strategies.

Essays

Essay questions are a tried and tested assessment tool when testing academic readiness, as they give students ample space to respond freely. However, this strength of theirs often causes inconvenience to teachers while evaluating the responses.

Each response is unique, which may cause a subjectivity concern. In this regard, rubrics are widely used to help students understand the requirements better and act as a reflection tool for teachers during marking.

Short-answer tests

Short answer tests require students to answer briefly and concisely to the question, usually in the form of a word or a phrase. While designing short questions, teachers need to ensure that the questions are precise with clear answers.

Failure to do so may cause students to respond to more complicated questions without the liberty of explaining the thought behind their answers.

True/false tests

True/False tests, as the name suggests, offer students two options in response to a statement. The students opt if the statement is true or not to the best of their knowledge.

While it is amongst the most straightforward forms of assessment to mark, it is difficult to determine if students based the answer on a firm grasp of the subject matter or just a simple guess.

A potential solution could be asking students to elaborate on their choices, which would reduce the ease of grading.

How to create practical assessments

Creating practical assessments is easier said than done. Regardless of the form of assessment, it takes extensive time and effort to ensure that the assessment meets the learning objective. Some tips to consider while designing assessments are given below to help teachers enrich students’ learning experience by gaining the most out of each assessment.

Use Multiple Methods

Every teacher has a go-to assessment method that they feel comfortable using. Unfortunately, expecting that a single method will give you a comprehensive idea of the knowledge level of the students is not a very practical outlook on teaching.

Various assessment methods evaluate different aspects of learning. When used in conjunction, these methods present a holistic picture of the student’s abilities. Hence, feel free to experiment with several assessment methods to understand your students’ current standing better.

Specify the Objectives

All education programs set out to instill specific skills in their students. These skills are defined as part of the learning objective of the course. Teachers must use the learning objectives to guide their assessment strategy to ensure they do not go off course with the assessment questions.

Teachers should share these learning objectives with students to help them identify the skills they need to acquire by the end of the course. The knowledge of the learning objectives helps students to steer their education in the right direction.

Stick to the Goals

Specifying the objectives is one part of the puzzle. Sticking to those objectives is what makes an assessment practical. Effective assessments incorporate only the activities that contribute to achieving the goals. Teachers should discard any activity that fails to meet the requirements of the course to avoid wasting time.

Eliminate Biases

The teaching profession imposes a responsibility on teachers to adopt neutrality and shed biases. Failure to eliminate biases is detrimental to the execution of practical assessment. It gives rise to insecurity and distrust amongst students, which affects their short-term performance and compromises them in the long run.

Teachers must strive towards a teaching environment free from any biases allowing every student an equal opportunity to excel.

Involve students

Students learn best when they play an active role in their learning. Most teachers acknowledge this fact and encourage student participation in the classroom. However, the same is often neglected during assessments.

In addition to the lost potential of assessments, lack of participation equates to a missed opportunity to acquire social skills and build self-confidence.

Teachers must ask students to give teacher evaluation feedback on the assessment questions and their relevance to the learning objectives. By doing so, teachers can also introduce students to self-assessment and that of other students.

Record the Results

The primary objective of assessments is to gather data regarding student performance. The entire point of assessment is lost if the results are not recorded for interpretation. Recording results help teachers to keep track of student progress and identify areas that need particular attention. It also catalyzes healthy competition, encouraging students to learn collectively and improve their performance.

Give your opinion

Feedback is a crucial link in the chain of education, which instructors often neglect. It gives students a direction to work towards. It serves the purpose of engaging students to encourage them to overcome their inhibitions and achieve their potential. It helps to build trust between teachers and students, which is imperative for effective teaching and learning.

Change teaching strategies

Teaching strategies form the cornerstone of any educational program. The effectiveness of the strategy determines the success of any assessment method. Teachers must review and assess their teaching strategy frequently and not refrain from undertaking a more practical approach.

Education does not come with a one-size-fits-all solution; hence, every teacher should be encouraged to experiment to find the best strategy for their students. Once teachers implement an effective strategy, the assessment will likely yield the required results.

Conclusion

Student assessment holds more value than we care to admit. Often, assessment is equated to grading, which is a grave simplification of a fundamental teaching concept. Assessment is the tool that allows the education system to link student performance to learning objectives. It provides all the stakeholders with invaluable information regarding the effectiveness of the learning process.

Therefore, teachers should be encouraged to use various assessment methods, such as formative assessments, summative assessments, diagnostic assessments, alternative assessments, etc., to help their students achieve academic excellence.

Regardless of the assessment method you adopt, invest your time to figure out a comprehensive plan to implement it in the best possible manner. And remember, if your plan seems too complicated or unfeasible, you can always put it aside and try something else!