1. Trends in Assessment
Suzanne Ehrlich, EdD

2. Types of
Assessments
Traditional -------- Authentic
Selecting a Response ---------------------------- Performing a Task
Contrived --------------------------- Real-life
Recall/Recognition ------------------------------ Construction/Application
Teacher-structured -------------------------------Student-structured
Indirect Evidence ------------------------- Direct Evidence
Authentic also known as:
Performance, Alternative, Direct

3. Cyclical

4. Real-time or post correction?
• What do you do when your assessment isn’t
working for you? Change it in the moment or
wait for to revise post delivery?
• In what ways do you know your assessment is
effective? How do you measure this?

5. Process for developing
assessments
• Identify standards (which do you use?)
• Write clear objectives
• Identify target performance
(higher order cognitive skills)
• Choose performance criteria
• Create scoring rubric
• Develop instructional activities

6. Common activities to consider:
• Guided-discovery learning
• Interactive lecture
• Student teaching
• Problem solving
• Projects
• Self/Peer Assessment
• Student presentations
• Self-study
• Reading
• Technology
• Role playing
• Consulting

7. How do you design instructional
activities?
• What resources do you use?
• Do you always consider the learning
outcomes?
• What types of learning have you
identified when developing activities?
• Do you include assessment of the
activity? If so, how?

8. External challenges
• Time-intensive to manage, monitor, and
coordinate
• Challenging to grade in a consistent manner
• Susceptible to a more subjective (and
potentially biased) approach to grading
• Demanding additional instruction, orienting
students to unfamiliar tasks such as
emulating professional writing or
presentations
• Difficult to implement in large-enrollment
courses

9. Corrective Feedback
• In ESL/SLA research
• Initial feedback should focus on effective behaviors demonstrated
by the student.
• Initial feedback should focus on a mastery criteria known to
students.
• Corrective feedback should focus on the effectiveness (or
ineffectiveness) of the strategy employed by the student.
• Corrective feedback should focus on error patterns, not specific
errors.
• Corrective feedback should use examples and nonexamples to
help illustrate effective behavior.
• Corrective feedback should be selective.
• Effective feedback includes student elaboration.
• Effective feedback focuses on increasing effort to use the strategy.
• Effective feedback includes establishing goals for improving
specific behaviors on subsequent attempts.
• Effective feedback is provided immediately after the practice
attempt and just before the next practice attempt.

10. Corrective feedback (cont’d)
• “Although many teachers are reluctant to provide
what they perceive to be negative feedback
because they are concerned about its impact on
self-esteem and motivation, research clearly
shows that the absence of explicit feedback can be
considerably more detrimental to students in both
areas.“
(Masterminds, 2001)
http://www.calhoun.k12.al.us/makes%20sense/Adobe%20Reader/DO%20NOT%20OPEN%20program%20files/Skill%20instruction/HOW%20to
%20teach%20skills/During%20Tactics/SKILL%20Feedback.pdf

11. Good feedback practice:
1. helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, standards);
2. facilitates the development of reflection and self-assessment in learning;
3. delivers high quality feedback that helps learners self-correct;
4. encourage interaction and dialogue around learning (peer and teacher-
student);
5. encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem;
6. provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired
performance;
7. provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape their
teaching.

12. Examples of using other disciplines
• Free medical terminology course (http://www.dmu.edu/medterms/)
• Group feedback/evaluation for group projects
(jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/altmangroupprocessrubric.pdf)
• Protocols for discussion
(http://educon20.wikispaces.com/Protocols+Examples)

13. Questions for Discussion
• How might you use questioning and discussion in your classroom in a way
that gives you formative assessment information on all students?
• How can you use assignments and tests as effective formative assessment?
• How could you design and implement a balanced assessment system that
includes pre- and post assessments for learning?