About assessment

Assessment is the evaluation of learner progress.

It can be formative, meaning it takes place frequently throughout the learning process and contributes to student learning. Or, it can be summative — provided at the end of a course or program, indicating the learning students achieved.

Standards for assessment

Whether formative or summative, good assessment should:

  1. be simple
  2. be fair
  3. be purposeful
  4. be related to the curriculum
  5. assess skills and strategies
  6. set priorities
  7. use multiple methods
  8. go from general to specific
  9. analyze errors
  10. substantiate findings
  11. record and report
  12. improve continuously

— from the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Chair, from Program Evaluation Standards, 1994

Assessment difficulties

Providing effective, appropriate and useful assessment for your students can be difficult. It's difficult for many reasons, including these:

  • People have fragile egos (Stephen Brookfield).
  • The material that needs to be measured is complex.
  • You need to choose what will be assessed and what will be omitted.
  • Some of what influences learner achievement is immeasurable.
  • Serendipitous learning adds magic to learning but is difficult to assess.
  • Learners learn at different levels, yet assessment needs to reflect learning at the same level at which the instruction took place.

— adapted from The Art of Evaluation by Tara Fenwick and Jim Parsons

Five principles for effective assessment

These five principles can assist instructors in their assessment activities.

(Remember the acronym this way: these five principles will give you something to "GLOAT" about.)

  1. Growth
    Assessment goes beyond outcomes. It measures growth as well as outcomes. (Pat Hutchings, "Behind Outcomes: Contexts and Questions for Assessment")
  2. Learn
    Assessment provides students with opportunities to continue to learn.
  3. Outcomes
    Assessment corresponds to the learning outcome. I.e., assess what has been taught and what is expected the student will know.
  4. Authentic
    Assessment is authentic. It reflects real-life applications.
  5. Triangulation
    Assessment should include a variety of types. E.g., self assessment, peer assessment, instructor assessment

— developed by Estelle Paget, 2001

Authentic assessment

Authentic assessment means you evaluate the performance of a student doing tasks they can expect at work or other contexts.

Assessments of this kind are designed to be as meaningful and relevant as possible to the students. They are able to practice skills in learning situations similar to what they'll encounter outside of their studies.

This tipsheet introduces the concepts of authentic learning and assessment and provides you with strategies for incorporating both into your courses.