5.

1 Assess Student Learning

Assessment strategies for assessing student learning

Formal assessment
• Larger, pre-planned assessments that are used to measure what students have learned.

Informal assessment
• Spontaneous assessment forms teachers easily incorporate in their teaching throughout the
day to measure students progress.
o anecdotal records on sticky notes etc.

Formative assessment
• Assessment strategy that provides feedback to students about their progress when learning
new concepts/skills. Students use this feedback to improve their learning by having
something to focus on improving.
• Also known as assessment for learning.

Summative assessment
• Also known as assessment of learning.
• Conducted at the end of a unit to assess how students have achieved the intended learning
outcomes.

Performance-based assessment
• Assessment strategy where judgments are made by observing the performance/activity,
such as playing a recorder.
o Anecdotal records: brief observational records of an event that transpired in the
classroom/during learning.
o Checklists: A list that documents factors to be observed, such as actions or
behaviours, and includes a list to indicate the achievement of these factors (typically
yes or no). These lists often include a space for an additional comment.
o Rating scales: Similar to checklists, however they include rating rather than just yes
or no, such as excellent, very good, average, fair, poor, or a rating from 1-5.

Tests
• Multiple-choice: students choose one answer from several options, demonstrating their
knowledge (and comprehension skills).
• True-false: students indicate whether they think a statement is true or false.
• Short-answer: students respond to questions/problems with a short answer that
demonstrates their understanding in words, numbers or symbols.
• Interviews/conferences: conferences between students and their teacher. This enables
them to discuss the students’ progress while enabling the teacher to identify students’
needs and assess their understanding.

Product assessment
• Portfolios: A collection of students work that demonstrates students learning or
achievement outcomes – tells a story about the students learning journey.
o Students may be active in constructing their portfolios, selecting the materials to
display (teachers may have a separate portfolio that they organise themselves).
• Projects: A substantial piece of work that has been created for a designated topic and
involved students in researching and organising information for presentation.
 o May be completed individually or in groups.
o May be designed using a set of criteria/restrictions that are then used to assess the
work.

Diagnostic assessment
• Assessment strategy that involves teachers assessing students’ knowledge prior to
conducting a unit to assess their prior knowledge, strengths and needs. This knowledge is
then used to guide future learning experiences (planning may occur based on the knowledge
students display).
o Students may be sorted into groups of similar abilities based on the knowledge
gained from diagnostic assessments.
o Also known as prior knowledge assessments.

Other strategies may include:

- Recording student presentations as a record of the assessment and to assess more critically
later.
- Recording student discussions or conferences.
- Posing problems to students and observing the process they use to solve these.
- Giving students a ‘worksheet’ to assess their knowledge.
- Assessing using a rubric.