Selecting Assessments
Assessment should be both formative (along the way) and summative (near or at the end), and multiple measures should be built into an assessment plan. Assessment should measure student performance and capture specifically the skills required to achieve a learning outcome. Assignment grades should not be used to assess a learning outcome unless the grade equates to a score that specifically measures the skills associated with achievement of the outcome.
When choosing an assessment, be certain you know why you are using it, who will assess and be assessed, what outcome it will measure, and what the scores will help you know or understand about student learning. Include direct measures, that is, assessments that require student performance directly related to a learning outcome.
Direct Measures of Learning Outcomes
Each assumes a clear relationship to a given outcome.
- Ratings of student performance
- Rubric scores on projects, presentations, research, written work, or other assignments
- Portfolios
- Quiz or test scores
- Results of student performance observations
- Results of skills-based or lab-based performance
- Results from student response systems
Indirect Measures of Learning Outcomes
- Course grades (will not give any information related to achievement of individual outcomes)
- Grades on projects, presentations, research, written work, or other assignments unless a rubric or scoring criteria clearly relate the assignment to a specific outcome
- Scores on external exams for entry into other programs unless the exam has isolated content scores that can be directly related to a specific outcome
- Satisfaction surveys
- Course evaluation surveys