Assessment 1
Official recognition that an institution meets required standard
Accreditation
A set of signs used as a scale against which a performance or product is placed in an evaluation.
Descriptors
A detailed description of a specific level of student performance expected of students. A defined measurement or standard serves as a point of reference by which process performance is measured.
Benchmark
A test intended to measure the test-taker's innate ability to learn, given before receiving instruction.
Aptitude test
Aspects or categories in which performance in a domain or subject area will be judged. Separate descriptors or scoring methods may apply to each dimension of the student's performance assessment.
Dimensions
A test that requires students to answer questions in writing. Responses can be brief or extensive. Tests for recall, ability to apply knowledge of a subject to questions about the subject, rather than ability to choose the least incorrect answer from a menu of options.
Essay test
A standardized test designed to efficiently measure the amount of knowledge and/or skill a person has acquired, usually as a result of classroom instruction. Such testing produces a statistical profile used as a measurement to evaluate student learning in comparison with a standard or norm.
Achievement test
Observations which allow one to determine the degree to which students know or are able to do a given learning task, and which identifies the part of the task that the student does not know or is unable to do. Outcomes suggest future steps for teaching and learning.
Formative assessment
Evaluating by asking for the behavior the learning is intended to produce. The concept of model, practice, feedback in which students know what excellent performance is and are guided to practice an entire concept rather than bits and pieces in preparation for eventual understanding.
Authentic assessment
It is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards, and using the resulting information to document, explain and improve performance.
Assessment
Qualitative and quantitative descriptions of student behavior plus value judgments concerning the desirability of that behavior. Using collected information (assessments) to make informed decisions about continued instruction, programs, and activities.
Evaluation
An assessment where an individual’s performance is compared to a specific learning objective or performance standard and not to the performance of other students. In criterion-referenced assessments, it is possible that none, or all, of the examinees will reach a particular goal or performance standard
Criterion referenced tests
Reporting to the public on educational process to show trends within and relationships among school data. Summative data is used for making decisions about resources, people, and institutions
Accountability
Assessment that involve examination of student work or performance, such as embedded test questions, written papers, oral presentations, student projects, competence interviews, performances, or portfolios. Assessment results will be even more convincing if different assessment strategies triangulate to support the same conclusion.
Direct assessment
Performance descriptors that indicate how well students will meet expectations of what they should be able to think, know or do. They are descriptive benchmarks against which performance is judged. These criteria or standards may be described in varying gradients of success as in rubrics or in grades. Often they are stated in terms of percentages, percentiles or other quantitative measures.
Criteria