Types of Assessments Flashcards

Types of Assessments Overview

• Pre-assessments gauge student achievement levels and prior knowledge.
• Summative assessments measure larger changes in student learning, often reflected in grades.
• Formative assessments inform day-to-day instruction and monitor student progress effectively.

Pre-Assessments

• Establish baseline achievements to set appropriate goals.
• Provide comparative data against final summative assessments.
• Help evaluate the effectiveness of unit lessons.

Summative Assessments

• Focus on overall student learning rather than minor changes.
• Often used to assign grades that reflect learning outcomes.
• Examples include midterm exams and major tests.

Formative Assessments

• Integral to instructional decision-making and adaptation.
• Facilitate timely feedback and support student self-regulation.
• Can be integrated into daily classroom activities without disrupting instruction.
• Enable repeated assessments to identify unresponsive students.

Levels of Formative Assessment

• Level 1: Adjustments in teacher instruction.
• Level 2: Student self-regulation and metacognition with increased feedback.
• Level 3: Shift in classroom climate combining instructional adjustments and learning goals.
• Level 4: Schoolwide implementation promoting formative assessments across all levels.

Instructional Strategies for Formative Assessment

• Set clear criteria and goals to guide student learning.
• Conduct observations and maintain records for descriptive feedback.
• Use effective questioning techniques during small group work for deeper understanding.
• Incorporate self and peer assessments to foster a collaborative learning environment.
• Encourage student record keeping to enhance ownership of the learning process.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)

• Administered multiple times, useful for evaluating instructional efficacy.
• Serves as a powerful tool to assess mastery of basic skills.
• Provides a standardized way to monitor student progress efficiently.
• Can be very brief (e.g., one-minute assessments on sight words).

Advantages of CBM

• Aligns well with curriculum, quick to administer, and sensitive to short-term gains.
• Reusable tests allow for pre- and post-testing.

Effects of CBM on Academic Progress

• Helps predict the effectiveness of interventions and allows for timely adjustments.
• Supports more realistic estimations of student progress in the curriculum.
• Useful for parental consultations and motivation for students.
• Aids in setting precise IEP goals with current data.

Utilizing Formative Assessments in the Classroom

• Involve parents through conferences to discuss strengths and weaknesses.
• Guide instructional decisions with evaluations like pre-tests.
• Utilize goal-setting to motivate students and track their progress.

Norm-Referenced Tests (NRT)

• Compare individual performance against a normative group to establish ranking.
• Aim for a bell curve outcome, addressing general knowledge across multiple skills.
• Efficient measure for assessing broader skills but can lead to superficial estimations of ability.

Criterion-Referenced Tests (CRT)

• Used to determine specific student proficiency levels against predetermined standards.