Assessing Projects : Using Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning Purposes of Assessment | Formative Assessment | Assess Thinking | Successful Assessment
Types of Assessment
Assessing Projects (CD)
Assessing Projects* (online)
Assessment Scenarios
| Compare the experiences of learners in two different classrooms, one with conventional assessment and another where assessment is ongoing and continuous. Read more > |
Special Topics on Assessment
| Validity and Reliability Performance Assessment High-Stakes Testing |
Assessment is a common practice in today’s classrooms. It usually takes place in predictable ways in conventional formats. A wide variety of assessment options are available, however, to meet the teaching needs of teachers and the learning needs of learners.
Formative Assessment
Although tests and exams are not going to disappear from schools, learner learning can be greatly enhanced when information from a wide variety of kinds of assessment is used to inform teaching and learning, provide feedback, and evaluate products and performances. The kind of assessment that occurs before and during a unit of study such as a project is called formative assessment.
Several strategies of formative assessment give learners and teachers the kinds of information they need to improve learning:
- Strategies for gauging learner needs, such as examining learner work, analyzing graphic organizers, and brainstorming
- Strategies to encourage self-direction, such as self-assessment, peer feedback, and cooperative grouping
- Strategies for monitoring progress, such as informal observations, anecdotal notes, and learning logs
- Strategies to check for understanding, such as journals, interviews, and informal questioning
While formative assessments can give learners and teachers information about how well they are doing while they are working on projects, at some point, most teachers are required to give a report on learner learning at the end of a particular section of work or on a particular project. Learners also want and need to know how well they have done. This kind of assessment, done after the fact, is called summative assessment.
Summative assessments, like tests, can provide useful information if teachers and learners take the time to look at them analytically. Teachers can find areas of weakness to address in more depth in future sections of work and with future groups of learners. Learners can identify problem areas and set goals for future learning.
