Why Assessment?

Assessment Is Needed for Learning

Assessment and feedback are crucial for helping people learn.  Assessment should mirror good instruction; happen continuously as part of instruction; and provide information about the levels of understanding that students are reaching.    In order for learners to gain insight into their learning and their understanding, frequent feedback is critical: students need to monitor their learning and actively evaluate their strategies and their current levels of understanding.  (How People Learn by Bransford, Brown, and Cocking 1999)

Individuals acquire a skill much more rapidly if they receive feedback about the correctness of what they have done.  One of the most important roles for assessment is the provision of timely and informative feedback to students during instruction and learning so that their practice of a skill and its subsequent acquisition will be effective and efficient.  (Knowing What Students Know: The science and design of educational assessment by Pellegrino, Chudowsky, and Glaser 2001)

Assessment Is Needed for Effective Teaching

Two important conclusions about the best college teachers:

• How do they prepare to teach?  They begin with questions about student learning objectives rather than about what the teacher will do.
• How do they check their progress and evaluate their efforts?  They have some systematic program to assess their own efforts and to make appropriate changes.  They assess their students based on the primary learning objectives rather than on arbitrary standards.

(What the Best College Teachers Do by Bain 2004)

“People tend to learn most effectively (in ways that make a sustained, substantial, and positive influence on the way they think, act, or feel) when

• they are trying to solve problems (intellectual, physical, artistic, practical, abstract, etc.) or create something new that they find intriguing, beautiful, and/or important;
• they are able to do so in a challenging yet supportive environment in which they can feel a sense of control over their own education;
• they can work collaboratively with other learners to grapple with the problems;
• they believe that their work will be considered fairly and honestly; and
• they can try, fail, and receive feedback from expert learners in advance of and separate from any summative judgment of their efforts.” – Ken Bain 2004