Lecturette 2:
Classroom-based Assessments
of Student Learning
Large-scale Assessments
State-wide
Federally Funded
Commercially Developed
College Admission
Classroom-based Assessments
Teachers carry out every day to
assess student learning
Melding Approach
No one form of assessment can address all of
our questions about student learning.
Assessment Categories
Assessment Categories
These assessments can be grouped in
various ways. Richard Stiggins (2003),
for example, proposes to categorize
assessments in the following way:
1) Selected Response
2) Essay
3) Performance Assessments
4) Personal Communication
Selected Response
Examples
Of
Selected
Response
Multiple
Choice
True/False
Matching
Short
Answer
Fill-in
Essay
Examples of Essay assessments include questions
that require students to:
• Describe
• Compare and contrast
• Persuade
• Take a particular point-of-view
Performance Assessments
• Demonstrate a skill
– Perform an experiment
– Interpret a piece of
literature through dance
• Prepare a product
– Create a sculpture
– Create a map of your
local watershed
Personal Communication
•
•
•
•
Desk-side conversations
Interviews
Conferences
Listening during class discussions
Strengths and Weaknesses
Each of these assessment approaches has
strengths as well as weaknesses. Each is
more or less effective depending upon the
learning outcomes that are being assessed.
Assessment Approach and Outcome
Type
Assessment Approach
Selected
Response
Essay
Performance Personal
Assessment
Communication
Can measure
knowledge
broadly
Can tap some
areas
Not a good choice
Can inquire about
knowledge but timeconsuming
Can assess some
patterns of
reasoning
Can provide a
good view of
reasoning
Can be used to
infer reasoning
Allows for follow-up
questions
Skills
Cannot assess
skill itself
Cannot assess
skill itself
Can observe and
evaluate skills
Good match to oral
proficiency
Products
Cannot assess
product itself
Cannot assess
product itself
Can assess process
and product
Can probe knowledge
but not assess product
Questionnaires
can assess
dispositions
Open-ended
essays can
probe
dispositions
Can infer but not
directly assess
dispositions
Can talk with students
about feelings and
attitudes
Knowledge
Outcome Type
Reasoning
Dispositions