Methods of Assessment and Testing Considerations Flashcards
Formal Assessment
Assessment measures that assume a single set of expectations for all students and come with prescribed criteria for scoring and interpretation. Formal assessments are formal ways of finding out how much a student has learnt or improved during the instructional period. These include exams, diagnostic tests, achievement tests, screening and intelligence tests, and so on.
Informal Assessment
Assessments that can judge and evaluate students’ performance and skill levels without making use of standardized tests and scoring patterns. There are no standardized tools to measure or evaluate the performances in these assessment tools.
Norm Referenced Tests
Refers to standardized tests that are designed to compare and rank test takers in relation to one another. These tests are not interpreted according to an absolute standard or criterion (e.g., 8 out of 10 correct) but, rather, according to how the student’s performance compares with that of a particular group of individuals.
Norm Referenced Tests Purposes
- to classify students
- highlight achievement differences between and among students to produce a dependable rank order of students across a continuum of achievement from high achievers to low achievers
- to help teachers select students for different ability level reading or mathematics instructional groups
Drawbacks of Norm-Referenced Tests
- an elaborate and expensive process
- typically used by test publishers for 7 years
- all students who take the test during that 7-year period have their scores com- pared to the original norm group
Criterion-Referenced Tests
Tests that are scored according to a standard, or criterion, that the teacher, school, or test publisher decides represents an accept- able level of mastery.
Standards Referenced Tests
Tests that measure whether students meet standards of what they should know and be able to do in different subjects at various grade levels.
Ecological Assessments
Involves directly observing and assessing the child in the many environments in which he or she routinely operates.
Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA)
Assessment that is related to both IEP goals and the curriculum. A type of direct evaluation. “Tests” of performance in this case come directly from the curriculum. It is measurement that uses direct observation and recording of a student’s performance in the curriculum as a basis for gathering information to make instructional decision.
Curriculum-based Measurement (CBM)
Uses repeated measures from the student’s curriculum to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and instructional changes to lead to more effective teaching methods and improved student achievement. It is an assessment method that involves timing tasks and then charting performance.
Similarities of CBA and CBM
- Can monitor the child’s progress frequently
- Can be sensitive to cultural and linguistic diversity
- Links curriculum and instruction
- Helps the teacher determine what to teach
- Can be administered frequently
- Assists in the evaluation of student progress and program evaluation
- Can be reliable and valid
Differences of CBA and CBM
- CBA can be closely aligned to performance standards
- CBM is mostly concerned with fluency
- CBA is sensitive to short-term academic gains
- CBM can be used for long-term achievement
Portfolio Assessments
The process of collecting a student’s work to examine efforts, progress, and achievement in one or more areas.
Authentic Assessments
A performance-based assessment technique that involves the application of knowledge to real-life activities, real-world settings, or a simulation of such a setting using real-life, real-world activities.
Task Analysis
A process by which a task is broken down into its component parts. It involves breaking down a particular task into the basic sequential steps, component parts, or skills necessary to accomplish the task.
