An assessment is a technique used in education to know the abilities of students in the learning process. It allows teachers to evaluate their effectiveness which helps them make the right decision. Moreover, students can become more active and learn from their mistakes while learning lessons. Another thing is that they can evaluate their progress levels effectively to achieve the best results. Educational experts follow different types of assessments in a classroom to engage students with ease. Therefore, teachers should know more about them in detail from different sources.
Understanding the different types of teaching assessments
- Diagnostic or pre-assessment
Pre-assessment refers to evaluating the skills of students before teaching lessons. It will help engage students in a classroom effectively to get the desired outcomes. Teachers can try some approaches to understand the knowledge of students such as mind maps, flow charts, short quizzes, classroom discussions, student interviews, etc. One of the best ways to meet exact needs in pre-assessment is using a game-based learning platform that will help gain more advantages.
- Formative assessment
Formative assessment is ideal for teachers to understand student learning effectively. Moreover, it provides ways to adjust the teaching strategies or make changes in the teaching process accordingly. At the same time, it requires a bit more of a time investment which will help shape the skills of students. Some examples of formative assessments include group projects, progress reports, portfolios, etc.
- Summative assessment
Summative assessment provides ways to measure the progress of students by providing the data. It’s very cost-effective and valuable, allowing students to enhance their skills to a large extent. The primary advantage of this assessment is that it provides ways to measure the most important outcomes after instructing students. At the same time, teachers should consider implementing some best practices in this assessment which ultimately gives ways to focus more on the objectives.
- Ipsative assessment
Ipsative assessment involves comparing the performance of students with previous results that help teachers gain more ideas for the future learning of the students. It helps motivate students to set goals and improve their abilities efficiently. The technique is useful for students to learn from their mistakes & provides ways to do better. A teacher can incorporate Ipsative assessment in a classroom with a two-stage process, portfolios, and project-based learning activities. They let students enhance their grades based on the feedback provided by teachers.
- Norm-referenced assessment
Norm-referenced assessment refers to comparing the performance levels of students against an average form. It involves taking a wide range of data for making conclusions based on national standards. This assessment is ideal for determining some skills such as grade readiness, language ability, physical development, etc. The main benefit of this technique is that it helps get valuable insights into student’s performance by accessing past data.
- Criterion-referenced assessment
A criterion-referenced assessment allows teachers to measure the abilities of students based on a fixed set of predetermined criteria or learning standards. The technique is suitable for teachers to know the expectations of students in the learning process. Apart from that, it makes feasible ways to evaluate a specific set of skills or knowledge.
- Confirmative assessment
The confirmative assessment aims at evaluating the skills of students to know whether they are still competent. Furthermore, the technique allows teachers to incorporate the evaluative process by avoiding linear models. It is a new approach in education and students take assessments even after a teacher executes instructions. With confirmative assessment, teachers can determine whether the technique is successful or not after a year.
- Interim/Benchmark assessment
Interim/benchmark assessment involves evaluating the performance of students at periodic intervals. It is frequently used at the end of a grading period that gives ways to track the abilities of students that will help guide them for future instructions. At the same time, teachers should know the components of interim assessment with more attention.
They will help students focus more on their objectives and other things with high accuracy. A teacher training course provides ways to learn more about these things thereby helping teachers to guide students accordingly. On the other hand, it is important to keep certain things in mind before choosing a course.
How to create effective assessments?
- Creating a rubric
A Rubric is a scoring guide meant for students to evaluate their skills with efficiency. It can help teachers to get a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of students. Not only that, creating rubrics enables teachers to communicate with students about the specific requirements. A teacher should prepare a rubric with a detailed breakdown of a project’s parts. Designing a well-crafted rubric lets teachers grade the same assignment which gives ways to gain more benefits.
- Teachers should ask themselves why they are giving assessments
Teachers should ask themselves why they are giving assessments to students because they will help prepare them and move forward in the learning process. The ultimate objective of an assessment should be to improve student learning in effective ways. It is wise for teachers to know how they will present the assessment to students.
- Not sticking with the same type of assessments
Teachers shouldn’t stick with the same types of assessments because they won’t provide the expected results. They should consider mixing them up which ultimately gives ways to test the efficiency of students. Besides that, students can ensure progress levels in the learning process with a mixed assessment that will increase their knowledge and other things.
- Joining an online course
Nowadays, exclusive education training programmes are available for teachers to master their abilities. However, it is wise to evaluate them online which will help gain more ideas easily. A training course for teachers covers everything including assessment techniques that will shape the skills of students. Another thing is that it allows teachers to satisfy the needs of students when teaching a subject. This will help a lot to score high marks in a subject. Teachers should give more importance to reviews, the reputation of an institute, fees, flexibility, and technologies before joining a course online.