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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYcGO1Izs-U

We conduct performance assessments for many reasons.
Two importance reasons are about the student and the teacher.

For the student, it gives them the chance to engage what they have learned to a real life situation. This can be an interesting experience for them and a different way for their skills to be tested. It isn't paper and pencil anymore nor a lecture style class.

For the teacher, it allows them to reflect if their lessons are practical and meaningful and provides accurate results about the student's knowledge and application of it.

As adults in the work field, we are evaluated based on our performance. Students will one day grow up and have similar careers thus having a taste of a performance assessment can better prepare students for what is to come.

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An example would be of an ESL students going to the supermarket and successfully checking-out. Are they able to communicate in English with the staff, create a grocery list, locate the items in the store, count the money, apply discounts and finally, check-out. This can be considered a PBL activity (project-based learning). Students can then evaluate themselves and give feedback on how well they think they performed and the difficulties of all these tasks. These tasks are not based on memorization, test-taking skills nor knowledge acquirement. They challenge students on the application of their prior knowledge and using them to solve problems/challenges.

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Importance

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234709045_Assessment_of_Young_Learners

PBL

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-performance-assessment/2019/02

Definition

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/performance-assessment

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www.researchgate.net needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding.

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What is it?

A performance assessment is to evaluate a student's understanding of a subject and if they're able to apply their knowledge in specific situations" (Indeed Editorial Team).

The difference between a standardize test and an assessment of this sort is the application part. Students have to apply the knowledge they have learned.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-performance-assessment/2019/02

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Project-based learning is nothing new. More than 100 years ago, progressive educator William Heard Kilpatrick published "The Project Method," a monograph that took the first stab at defining alternatives to direct instruction. Predictably, the document sparked a squabble over definitions and methods-between Kilpatrick and his friend and colleague John Dewey.

Not much has changed. Today, despite major advances in ways to measure learning, we still don't have common definitions for project-based learning or performance assessment.

Sometimes, for example, performance assessment is framed as the opposite of the dreaded year-end, state-required multiple-choice tests used to report on schools' progress. But in fact, many performance assessments are standardized and can-and do-produce valid and reliable results.

Experts also emphasize the "authentic" nature of performance assessment and project-based learning, although "authentic" doesn't always mean lifelike: A good performance assessment can use simulations, as long as they are faithful to real-world situations. (An example: In science class, technology can simulate plant growth or land erosion, processes that take too long for a hands-on experiment.)

In the absence of agreed-upon definitions for this evolving field, Education Week reporters developed a glossary based on interviews with teachers, assessment experts, and policy analysts. They've organized the terms here generally from less specific to more specific. These terms aren't mutually exclusive. (A performance assessment, for instance, may be one element of a competency-based education program.)

Proficiency-based or competency-based learning: These terms are interchangeable. They refer to the practice of allowing students to progress in their learning as they master a set of standards or competencies. Students can advance at different rates. Typically, there is an attempt to build students' ownership and understanding of their learning goals and often a focus on "personalizing" students' learning based on their needs and interests.

Project-based learning: Students learn through an extended project, which may have a number of checkpoints or assessments along the way. Key features are inquiry, exploration, the extended duration of the project, and iteration (requiring students to revise and reflect, for example). A subset of project-based learning is problem-based learning, which focuses on a specific challenge for which students must find a solution.

Standards-based grading: This refers to the practice of giving students nuanced and detailed descriptions of their performance against specific criteria or standards, not on a bell curve. It can stand alone or exist alongside traditional letter grading.

Performance assessment: This assessment measures how well students apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities to authentic problems. The key feature is that it requires the student to produce something, such as a report, experiment, or performance, which is scored against specific criteria.

Portfolio: This assessment consists of a body of student work collected over an extended period, from a few weeks to a year or more. This work can be produced in response to a test prompt or assignment but is often simply drawn from everyday classroom tasks. Frequently, portfolios also contain an element of student reflection.

Exhibition: A type of performance assessment that requires a public presentation, as in the sciences or performing arts. Other fields can also require an exhibition component. Students might be required, for instance, to justify their position in an oral presentation or debate.

Performance task: A piece of work students are asked to do to show how well they apply their knowledge, skills, or abilities-from writing an essay to diagnosing and fixing a broken circuit. A performance assessment typically consists of several performance tasks. Performance tasks also may be included in traditional multiple-choice tests.
With thanks to: Paul Leather, director for state and local partnerships at the Center for Innovation in Education; Mark Barnes, founder of Times 10 Publications; Peter Ross, principal at Education First; Scott Marion, executive director at the Center for Assessment; Sean P. "Jack" Buckley, president, Imbellus; Starr Sackstein, an educator and opinion blogger at edweek.org; and Steve Ferrara, senior adviser at Measured Progress.
Have we missed any terms that confuse you? Why not write and tell us?

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Here's a handy glossary on terms like project-based learning, competency-based learning, and standards-based grading.

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Here is an example of what we use in the classroom.

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What is assessed

https://inkforall.com/copy-editing/readability/early-reading-diagnostic-assessment/#1_Phonemic_and_phonological_awareness

Forms and Procedures

https://www.readinga-z.com/helpful-tools/about-running-records/

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Early reading diagnostic assessment helps monitor students' progress and needs. It is designed to measure what students know, can do, and need to do to become proficient readers at their level.

The reading assessment measures students' skills in the five components of reading. These are phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, reading comprehension, and fluency.

Let's delve a little deeper.

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment: An Overview

The Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (ERDA) assesses the early reading skills of kindergarten, first, second and third-grade students. The ERDA aim to provide additional information to help teachers aid students in their learning journey.

ERDA includes items on all five of the components of reading (phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, and fluency). Additionally, the ERDA helps students and teachers understand the role and relative importance of phonemic and whole-word decoding skills in reading. ERDA also helps teachers monitor students' growth in their reading skills throughout the year.

The reading diagnostic instrument identifies students' strengths and weaknesses for specific interventions. Knowing which students are doing well or not so well at any time allows teachers to intervene with additional instructional strategies.

The ERDA also give parents important information about their child's reading skills. It encourages students' growth in reading and the prompt revision of their home-school learning environment to better support their learning.

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessments

1. Phonemic and phonological awareness.

Phonemes, rhymes (kindergarten only), rimes, and syllables are subtests that assess a child's ability to hear sound units in spoken language. They are used to determine the child's phonemic and phonological awareness comprehension. While phonemes, rimes and syllables apply to all grades (kindergarten to grade 3), rhymes apply to only kindergarten.

Subtests that assess phonics are letter recognition and pseudoword decoding. A letter is shown to kindergarten and first-grade children to assess letter recognition. Afterwards, they are asked to point to the letter and say its name. Grades one to three children are administered with pseudoword decoding. They are offered a list of pseudo-words and must pronounce them as quickly and accurately as possible.

From kindergarten to grade three, fluency is assessed by word reading and passage fluency subtests. A child is presented with a list of words to read aloud in order to assess word reading. Passage fluency is measured by listening to the student read a series of brief, and informational passages aloud. Each passage is in ascending order of difficulty and scored based on time and accuracy.

To assess a student's receptive vocabulary, set of pictures is shown and a word is said to the student. The student is then asked to point to the picture representing the word. Assessment of synonyms, word opposites, definitions, and multiple meanings provide other indicators of student's vocabulary.

Word items, sentence items with target words in context, and passage items are used by ERDA to accurately assess student comprehension. For word items, kindergarten and first-graders are asked to read one or two words and point to a picture that accurately represent the word.

Assessment by sentence items requires the student to read a sentence of high-frequency words aloud and respond to a comprehension question in some instances.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

The Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment measures a child's skills in different areas essential for reading. These tests are designed for children beginning to read (kindergarten, first, second and third-grade students).

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment measures a child's phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, and fluency. Results of these reading tests identify students' strengths and weaknesses and help teachers and parents develop intervention strategies.

Frequently asked questions

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Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment: An Effective Guide - INK

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Early reading diagnostic assessment helps monitor students' progress and needs. It is designed to measure what students know, can do, and need to do to become proficient readers at their level. The reading assessment measures students' skills in the five components of reading. These are phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, reading comprehension, and fluency.

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You’re always quickly jumping from book to book to make the levels harder or easier for the student. They may answer all your questions easily and you have to jump 2 levels, then again another 4 levels, then you notice it was too high of a jump so you go down 2. Once you narrow the student down to almost the right level, then it’s a slow progress to diagnose exactly what level he is. There is a form for each given book that you use when you narrow down their level. This form with the questions assess phonetic awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, intonations, etc. If needed, you may also assess their writing and test taking skills.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7qhJZzuiLQ

One of my personal favorite is called “Running Records” where you assess the student’s reading level.

We use this assessment to accurately record their level, consider and implement a learning strategy on how to progress them to the next level, categorize them with other students who are in similar groups so they may all be challenged together and to understand what homework to give out to them on a digital reading platform.

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EHE Distance Education and Learning Design

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This is a verbal way for students to express their ideas regarding a subject and for the teacher to get gauge knowledge and opinions in realtime.

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Mind maps can be used for generating ideas, clarifying opinions and setting goals for the course.

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Surveys can be used to gauge a student's understanding or opinion on a subject

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Diagnostic assessments are pretests. They happen at the beginning of a unit, lesson, quarter, or period of time. These are usually not graded.

Diagnostic assessments can thus help identify strengths and areas of improvement for the student. Giving a pre-test can be valuable to the students if you give the same assessment at the end of the unit to see how much the students have learned.

Reference:
Diagnostic Assessment: Evidence Insight

Accessed September, 24 2022, from https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Diagnostic_Assessment_Tool.pdf

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Nisbet, J. (2019, January 30).

9 Summative Assessment Examples to Try This School Year.

Accessed September, 22, 2022, from https://www.prodigygame.com/in-en/blog/summative-assessment/

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Questions from the Education Alliance to help determine if a summative test is culturally biased or culturally responsive:

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Questions from the Education Alliance to help determine if a summative test is culturally biased or culturally responsive:

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Are there enough supporting details so that students can comprehend the cultural content being provided?

Do the testing materials show bias that relates to ethnicity, sex, culture, religion, class, or processes?

Have members of different cultural groups been represented?
Are members of different cultural groups positively portrayed?

Have the test developers made sure that the cultural content is comprehensible to all the test takers?

Is cultural content about the students' home culture and language accurate and up-to-date?

Are members of different class groups positively portrayed?

Are there traditional and non-traditional depictions of gender?

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The Education Alliance is dedicated to providing effective programs for public schools, along with tools and resources to promote best practice. Below you will find resources, toolkits, and white papers published by the Alliance.

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Depending on a school district’s demographic, summative assessment — including standardized tests — can present biases if a group of students is unfairly graded based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or social class.

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Because summative assessment occurs at the end of units or terms, teachers can fail to identify and remedy students' knowledge gaps or misconceptions as they arise.

Unfortunately, by this point, there's often little or no time to rectify a student's mark, which can affect them in subsequent units or grades.

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"Teaching to the test" refers to educators who dedicate more time teaching lessons that will be emphasized on district-specific tests.

A survey. conducted by Harvard's Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism asked teachers whether or not "preparing students to pass mandated standardized tests" affects their teaching.

A significant 60% said it either "dictates most of" or "substantially affects" their teaching.

While this can result in higher scores, curriculum distortion can prevent students from learning other foundational subject areas

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Rigid and strict assignments or tests can lead to a regurgitation of information. Some students may be able to rewrite facts from one page to another, but others need to understand the "why" before giving an answer.

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Perceived Disadvantages of Summative Assessments

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Perceived Disadvantages of Summative Assessments

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This portfolio can be used as evidence of the student's learning and progress

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Students can write OR Illustrate a short story based on their level (ESL students)

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Dubbing a levelled story for kindergarten and lower primary students. Students can also retell a story in their own words (ESL students)

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Summative assessments help teachers and administrators alike, in improving curriculum and curriculum planning. Standards-driven instruction plays a large role in schools today. When summative assessments show consistent gaps between student knowledge and learning targets, schools may turn to improved curriculum planning or new curriculum to fill those learning gaps.

Summative assessments can serve as a guide to improving teaching methods. We all use different teaching methodology within the classroom.Summative assessments can help us collaborate and improve teaching methods from year to year.

Please note: The data that is collected using a summative assessment can help teachers, schools, and districts make decisions based on the instruction that has already been complete. This contrasts formative assessment, as formative assessment can help teachers and students during the instruction process. It is important to understand the difference between the two, as both assessments, along with pre-assessment, can play an important role in education.

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What is the assessment?

Summative assessments measure student progress as an assessment of learning and provide data for the teacher, school leaders and district leaders.

They're valuable when it comes to communicating student progress, but they don't always give clear feedback on the learning process and can foster a "teach to the test" mindset if you're not careful.

Plus, they're stressful for teachers. One Harvard survey found 60% of teachers said

"preparing students to pass mandated standardized tests" "dictates most of" or

"substantially affects" their teaching.

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Summative Assessment: Overview & Examples

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What is the assessment?
These assessments are given at the beginning of a unit or topic. "Diagnostic assessments are sets of written questions (multiple choice or short answer) that assess a learner’s current knowledge base or current views on a topic/issue to be studied in the course." - https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/10_s2_02_diagnostic_assessment.html#:~:text=Diagnostic%20assessments%20are%20sets%20of,be%20studied%20in%20the%20course.

References:
https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/10_s2_02_diagnostic_assessment.html#:~:text=Diagnostic%20assessments%20are%20sets%20of,be%20studied%20in%20the%20course.

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Diagnostic Assessment: Examples & Overview

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What is the assessment and why is it used?
According to Popham (2011), formative assessment is a process that "involves the gathering and analysis of assessment-elicited evidence for the purpose of determining when and how to adjust instructional activities or learning tactics in order to achieve learning goals" (p. 14).

It is an example of 'assessment for learning'.

What makes a good formative assessment?
"The most useful formative assessments share some common traits:

They assess skills and content that have been derived from the backward planning process. They seek to assess the key learning milestones in the unit or learning sequence.

They are actionable. They are designed so that student responses either clearly demonstrate mastery of the skills and content, or they show exactly where mastery is lacking or misunderstanding is occurring.

When possible, they are student-centered. Using an assessment where students measure themselves or their peers, or where they're prompted to reflect on their results, puts students in charge of their own learning. It allows students to consider their own progress and determine positive next steps. Unfortunately, student-centered formative assessments don't always yield the easiest and most actionable information for teachers, so their benefits have to be weighed against other factors."

How to use formative assessment results:
"Formative assessments are generally used for planning future instruction and for helping students drive their own learning. In terms of future instruction, how you use assessment data most depends on what kind of results you get.

If 80% or more demonstrate mastery, you'll likely want to proceed according to plan with subsequent lessons. For individual students not demonstrating mastery, you'll want to find ways to interject extra support. This might mean a differentiated assignment, a guided lesson during independent work time, or support outside of class.

If between 50% and 80% demonstrate mastery, you'll need to use class time to have structured differentiation. You'll need to build this into the next lesson(s) if it isn't already planned. This means different activities or guided instruction for different groups of students. Students who've demonstrated mastery could engage in an extension activity or additional practice, or serve as support for other students. Students still attempting mastery could receive additional guided practice or additional instructional materials like multimedia resources or smaller "chunks" of content.

If fewer than 50% demonstrate mastery, you'll need to do some whole-class reteaching. There are many approaches and concrete strategies for reteaching."

How do you know what type of formative assessment to use?
"When it comes to choosing, the most important question is: What type of skill or content are you seeking to measure?

Content knowledge ("define," "identify," "differentiate") is generally the easiest to assess. For less rigorous objectives like these, a simple fist-to-five survey or exit ticket can work well. An edtech tool can also work well here, as many of them can score and aggregate multiple-choice responses automatically.

Higher-order thinking skills ("analyze," "synthesize," "elaborate") are generally more difficult and time-consuming to assess. For this, you'll likely use a different question type than multiple choice and need to allow more time for students to work. A good option here is to have students do a peer assessment using a rubric, which has the double benefit of allowing them to reflect on their own learning and cutting down the time you need to spend assessing the work. This can be done through an LMS or another project-based learning app, or through old-school paper and pencil; it just depends on your preference. Because students -- and adults, too -- often don't know what they don't know, self-assessments may be less accurate and less actionable for these types of skills.

Process-oriented skills ("script," "outline," "list the steps") also tend to be more difficult to assess. Graphic organizers can work well here, allowing teachers (or peer reviewers) to see how students arrived at their results. STEM apps for higher-order thinking and coding apps can also make this assessment information more accessible."

Example:
- Exit tickets (cards): "Teachers typically use exit tickets to assess what students have understood from the day's lesson. Exit tickets are not a test, but a way to understand students' comprehension of a particular topic. With this information, teachers can adjust instruction and plan how to best meet student needs by modifying and differentiating instruction. Exit tickets allow teachers to see where the gaps in knowledge are, what they need to fix, what students have mastered, and what can be enriched in the classroom." - https://www.edutopia.org/practice/exit-tickets-checking-understanding

- Fist to Five: "Fist to Five asks students to indicate the extent of their understanding of a concept or procedure by holding up a closed fist (no understanding), one finger ( very little understanding), and a range up to five fingers (I understand it completely and can easily explain it to someone else). For example, after giving instructions for a lab acitivity, teachers might ask for a Fist to Five to do a quick check on whether students understand the directions before proceeding with the lab." - https://www.perry.kyschools.us/userfiles/-12/My%20Files/Teacher%20Leadership%20Academy/Lesson%20Planning%20Resources/Formative%20Assessments/Fist%20to%20Five.docx?id=1723#:~:text=Fist%20to%20Five%20is%20a,for%20a%20task%20are%20given.

References:
https://pdo.ascd.org/lmscourses/PD11OC117/media/DI-Assessment_M1_Reading_Assessment.pdf

https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/types-of-assessment/

https://resourced.prometheanworld.com/types-of-summative-formative-assessment/

https://www.edutopia.org/practice/exit-tickets-checking-understanding

https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/teachers-essential-guide-to-formative-assessment

https://www.perry.kyschools.us/userfiles/-12/My%20Files/Teacher%20Leadership%20Academy/Lesson%20Planning%20Resources/Formative%20Assessments/Fist%20to%20Five.docx?id=1723#:~:text=Fist%20to%20Five%20is%20a,for%20a%20task%20are%20given.