With all the different vocabulary associated with assessments, it’s enough
to make your head hurt.
As an educator you understand how important data can be to making informed decisions.
But where do you get that data?
What types of assessments are used for which decisions?
Let’s explore the different types of assessments and how the data collected can be used to
help improve student achievement!
Michigan educators understand that there are many forms of assessments.
Six types are often identified and used by Michigan educators –summative, formative,
interim or benchmark, universal screeners, diagnostic, and progress monitoring.
A summative assessment is an assessment OF learning and provides a snapshot of what a
student knows at a particular point in time.
Summative assessments gauge student performance against a defined set of content standards
and assigns a grade or proficiency level.
At the district level, summative assessments are usually used to evaluate student learning
at the end of a specific time period, such as a unit, semester, course or school year.
These assessments should validate what you know through other assessments.
Data from district summative assessments should be used at the district level.
Statewide summative assessments, including M-STEP and the Michigan Merit Exam, are mandated
by the state or federal legislation.
They provide academic performance information to the Michigan Department of Education about
the local districts for accountability purposes as well as to the residents of the state.
Standard information obtained from state summative assessments include student-level proficiency
which can be aggregated to the building, district, ISD and state levels, as well as sub-group
achievement.
Buildings and districts can also compare themselves to other buildings and districts across the
state and to overall state performance.
Summative assessment results can be used to make district level decisions on programming.
Although summative assessments are usually considered high-stakes tests and often gain
the most publicity, the formative assessment process is more important from a day-to-day
perspective and significantly impact student achievement when used correctly.
The formative assessment process acts as an assessment FOR learning; educators use the
results to inFORm instruction.
Examples of effective formative assessment tools include (but are not limited to) observational
and anecdotal practices, questioning, exit slips, discussion, peer- and self-assessment
strategies and kinesthetic assessment.
Formative assessment data provides direct information to the teacher about learning
at the student level and can be used to design the learning pathway.
An interim assessment, also known as a benchmark assessment evaluate student knowledge and
skills relative to a specific set of academic goals within a specific timeframe.
They are used to see if learners are on track to perform well on the summative assessment.
A district may also give a common benchmark assessment that includes several chapters
or units in a certain grade or subject at the end of a marking period.
Interim data can provide information on courses, content and programming at the building and
classroom level.
Another kind of assessment is a universal screener.
Universal screeners address a specific skill or ability (sensory, behavioral, developmental,
and/or academic) that is predictive of a later outcome.
Screeners are often low-cost, quick and easy to administer and score, repeatable and administered
to all students at least three times per academic calendar year.
They also provide identification of students who may need additional, diagnostic assessment
or intervention.
They should be reliable and valid, i.e., the assessment should have undergone psychometric
analyses.
Diagnostic assessments are another type of assessment.
Typically educators only administer these assessments to selected students to determine
the cause for a student’s performance by identifying strengths and gaps in student
skills, ability and knowledge.
They use the data provided from these assessments to plan, modify and differentiate instruction
and interventions.
Finally, the last type of assessment we will cover is progress monitoring.
Progress monitoring regularly and frequently assesses students in specific areas.
It informs instruction and the selection of interventions for the needs of an entire class,
a small group or an individual student working toward a specific goal.
If the students have not yet met the goal, an educator determines adjustments in curriculum,
instruction or environment.
Curriculum-Based Measurement or CBM for short is one type of progress monitoring.
Whew!
In a little over 6 minutes, we’ve covered summative, formative, interim or benchmark,
universal screeners, diagnostic assessments, and progress monitoring!
It is important to know about all of them so you can select the correct type of assessment
to get appropriate and accurate data for your needs!
Think about the assessments you used in your classroom in the last marking period or that
you saw others using.
Did your use of the data align with the intended purpose of each type of assessment?
Take a minute to jot down some notes about an assessment type you plan to incorporate
into your instructional practice.