The purpose of assessing student knowledge is to determine whether students have learned the standard or objective taught. Assessments can be either formal, informal, formative, or summative.
Formal Assessment: This usually involves a written or typed document in which the student receives a grade or score based on performance. A formal assessment can be in the form of a test, quiz, or paper.Informal Assessment: This does not always involve a written or typed document and usually takes place in a more casual setting. There are many different forms of informal assessments, such as an observation, portfolio, or project.
Formative Assessment: These are ongoing assessments that take place throughout the course of a semester or unit of learning.Formative Assessments evaluate the course or unit goals in chunks or smaller pieces.
Summative Assessment:This type of assessment takes place at the end of a semester or unit of learning. Summative Assessments evaluate all of the course or unit goals at once.
When it comes to assessing student knowledge, there are many options. Click on the links at the top of the page to learn more about the different types of assessments available.References
ATHERTON J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; Forms of Assessment [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/assess_form.htm Accessed: 25 July 2010
Carnegie Mellon. 2010. http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/basics/objectives.html. Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh, PALearning Connection-Teaching Guide. 2002. Assessment: Using Objective Assessments. http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Resources/PD-ot/Using%20TellUs%202/Resources/TG-writing%20objective%20assessment.doc. University of South Australia.
vuDAT. 2009. http://vudat.msu.edu/objective_assess/. Michigan State University.Wikipedia. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assessment. Wikimedia Foundations, Inc.
Wright, Barbara. 2010. Strengths and Weaknesses: Tests, Portfolios, Interviews, Surveys, and Inventories. http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search%A7ion=PDF3&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=170. Eastern Connecticut State University.