Resources for Classroom Assessment
How to Assess Students’ Learning and Performance
Here are some suggestions and strategies for assessing student learning and performance as well as ways to clarify your expectations and performance criteria to students in an instructional setting.
Incorporating Learning Assessment Techniques (LATs) is a quick and effective way to assess student learning throughout the semester. Learning assessment techniques are techniques that bridge “teaching and assessment together to create a seamless and unified process.” (Barkley & Major, 2016; p. xiv). The LAT involves three processes of Planning, Implementing, and Responding. Learn more about LATs here.
Assessments of learning are typically administered at the end of a unit or grading period and evaluate a student’s understanding by comparing his or her achievement against a class-, district-, or nationwide benchmark or standard, as noted by the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation at Carnegie Mellon. Assessments for learning – also described as assessments as learning – assess a student’s comprehension and understanding of a skill or lesson during the learning and teaching process.
Student assessment is more than just grading. Assessment links student performance to specific learning objectives in order to provide useful information to students and instructors about learning and teaching, respectively. Grading, on the other hand, according to Stassen et al. (2001) merely involves affixing a number or letter to an assignment, giving students only the most minimal indication of their performance relative to a set of criteria or to their peers. Learn more here.