Assessing Student Learning Elena Marcum CUR-528 Assessment of Learning Teresa Lao January 7, 2015

Assessment As an Professional Military Education (PME) instructor, I had a duty and responsibility to motivate, inspire and teach my students to become leaders in their respective Air Force careers. As an Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Course (AFJROTC) high school teacher, my responsibility was to motivate and inspire high school students to become respectable citizens. Either way, assessment played huge role in knowing if my students understood the impact they have and will have in the world.

Definition of Assessment Examples & Explanations Overview Definition of Assessment 3 Types of Assessments Examples & Explanations

Definition Assessment: In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, and skill acquisition of students from preschool through college and adulthood (The Glossary of Education Reform for Journalists, Parents, and Community Leaders, 2013) . Is collecting information about student learning, using what you know about the material and delivering the material to the students, and guiding discussions and asking question in order to know that students understand and comprehend the material given. Assessment is the ongoing process of: Establishing clear, measurable expected outcomes of student learning Ensuring that students have suffi cient opportunities to achieve those outcomes Systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well student learning matches our expectations Using the resulting information to understand and improve student learning

Three different types of assessments Diagnostic Formative Summative Diagnostic Assessment Diagnostic assessment can help you identify your students’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and capabilities, and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Knowing students’ strengths and weaknesses can help you better plan what to teach and how to teach it. Formative Assessment Formative assessment provides feedback and information during the instructional process, while learning is taking place, and while learning is occurring. Formative assessment measures student progress but it can also assess your own progress as an instructor. For example, when Assessment is the process of gathering data. . Summative Assessment Summative assessment takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process. Typically, no more formal learning is taking place at this stage, other than incidental learning which might take place through the completion of projects and assignments (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004)

Three different types of assessments Pre-tests These were used first day of class to indicate where our students stood with the material. It was a multiple choice test with scenarios and either 3 or 4 options to choose from. Formative tests After several days of teaching the material to the students, they used a case study to pick out the material that was discussed. A formative test was given, once I had results, I went over the answers with the students, I chose to pick a student who had the wrong answer to hear their rationale on why they chose that answer. Once given, another student would speak out and show them where they went wrong. I took notes of all this information and used it to improve myself as an instructor. I did this for every subsequent class, I learned something new from every class.

Three different types of assessments Summative tests After all discussions during the formative test and post-evaluations, the next day the students took their summative tests. The results proved that the students understood their mistakes, and applied what they learned during the formative test to the summative test.

Example and an explanation Diagnostic: Pre-tests, self-assessments, discussion board responses, and interviews (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004). Formative: When implementing a new activity in class, you can, through observation and/or surveying the students, determine whether or not the activity should be used again (or modified) (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004). Summative: Rubrics, often developed around a set of standards or expectations, can be used for summative assessment. Rubrics can be given to students before they begin working on a particular project so they know what is expected of them (precisely what they have to do) for each of the criteria (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004). Rubrics also can help you to be more objective when deriving a final, summative grade by following the same criteria students used to complete the project (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004). Types of Diagnostic Assessments  Pre-tests (on content and abilities)  Self-assessments (identifying skills and competencies)  Discussion board responses (on content-specific prompts)  Interviews (brief, private, 10-minute interview of each student) Types of Formative Assessment  Observations during in-class activities; of students non-verbal feedback during lecture  Homework exercises as review for exams and class discussions)  Reflections journals that are reviewed periodically during the semester  Question and answer sessions, both formal—planned and informal—spontaneous  Conferences between the instructor and student at various points in the semester  In-class activities where students informally present their results  Student feedback collected by periodically answering specific question about the instruction and their self-evaluation of performance and progress Types of Summative Assessment  Examinations (major, high-stakes exams)  Final examination (a truly summative assessment)  Term papers (drafts submitted throughout the semester would be a formative assessment)  Projects (project phases submitted at various completion points could be formatively assessed)  Portfolios (could also be assessed during it’s development as a formative assessment)  Performances  Student evaluation of the course (teaching effectiveness)  Instructor self-evaluation

Definition of Assessment Examples & Explanations Conclusion Definition of Assessment 3 Types of Assessments Examples & Explanations

References Hanna, G. S., & Dettmer, P. A. (2004). Assessment for effective teaching: Using context-adaptive planning. Boston, MA: Pearson A&B. Just Science Now! (n.d.). Assessment-inquiry connection. http://www.justsciencenow.com/assessment/index.htm Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.