Diagnostic Assessment: Examples & Overview. (2016, December 15). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-WEmsuvDsA

Example Diagnostic Tools | National Center on Intensive Intervention. (n.d.). Intensive Intervention. Retrieved July 19, 2021, from https://intensiveintervention.org/intensive-intervention/diagnostic-data/example-diagnostic-tools

The Importance of Diagnostic Assessments. (2018, April 25). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48zH8J7aco

Top Hat. (2019, September 16). Diagnostic Assessment Definition and Meaning. https://tophat.com/glossary/d/diagnostic-assessment/

What is a Diagnostic Assessment? (2021, March 5). Edulastic Blog. https://edulastic.com/blog/diagnostic-assessment/

An understanding of Assessment as Learning is essential in a digital age where information is readily accessible and teachers move from being the "knowledge-bearers" to knowledge-guides. Just as teachers guide students through the acquisition of knowledge, they must guide students through the process of understanding their own cognitive processes so that students learn to monitor their own learning and make adjustments.

Teachers can follow the following model in order to practise Assessment as Learning in their classroom: (adapted from WNCP, p. 42-43)

Teachers are also responsible for ensuring that students have a learning environment in which they feel comfortable and safe to learn as well as have ample time to practise what is being taught.

Assessment as learning. (2012, October 11). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njgyYUNkyAs

Assessment AS Learning. (2015, February 9). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVrLBeXGko

Assessment as Learning - ETEC 510. (n.d.). ETEC. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Assessment_as_Learning

Why is assessment important? - Engage in Assessment - University of Reading. (n.d.). University of Reading. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from https://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/why-is-assessment-important/eia-why-is-assessment-important.aspx

Summative assessment measures a student’s competence in a specific subject matter in line with the learning goals and objectives of the course or training. For instance, a science course will use experiments and other practical tests to evaluate a student’s knowledge at the end of the course. 

Summative evaluation is a standardized method of knowledge-based assessments. It has well-defined processes that reveal the student's competence in a field. These processes produce accurate and consistent results when they are used in similar contexts.

Summative evaluation has a flexible process that is practical and scalable. It is well-aligned and this makes it easy for the instructor to implement it as part of a training.   

Summative assessment respects clear teaching and learning boundaries. Before the instructor implements any summative assessment methods in the classroom, he/she must obtain informed consent from the students.

Since the key element of summative assessment is to evaluate what someone has learned up to that point in time, it always ends in having a concise summary of the outcomes of the assessment. This allows the teacher to compare the student's current performance with past performances, external standards, and other learners.

Summative evaluation prompts students to exhibit skills and demonstrate knowledge in different ways. 

Other things you should have in mind when it comes to summative assessment are: 

These are mini-examinations that happen at the end of a topic or section of training. They are used to determine how well a student understands key chapter concepts and help them prepare for the final examination at the end of the course. Quizzes, midterm assessments, and practice tests are common examples of chapter tests. 

These tests qualify candidates for a specific program; for instance, IELTS and TOEFL are standardized English-proficiency exams that demonstrate a candidate's competency in the use of the language. These tests are organized on a large scale and they make use of explicit scoring criteria for grading. 

Instead of an end-of-term examination, ask students to build a creative portfolio. A creative portfolio showcases the student's creativity, knowledge of the coursework, and how they have uniquely applied that knowledge.

Depending on the learning areas, a student's portfolio can include images, infographics, and small to medium-length texts like essays or one-pagers. As the learners build their portfolios, they also have the opportunity to reflect on how much they have learned. 

Oral summative assessments are used to get real-time and spontaneous responses from learners at the end of a course. The type of interview method you choose determines the kinds of questions you will ask during the process. A structured interview follows a defined conversational sequence that dictates its questions and structure.
Hands-on Performance Tasks

Hands-on performance tasks are practical, straightforward and help the instructor to assess the students' abilities directly. The instructor can ask students to solve a jigsaw puzzle and as they do this, she observes how they put a specific skill to work in the tasks. 

Getting students to execute tasks within small groups is a great way to test their knowledge. After a training on teamwork and conflict resolution, for instance, you should group the students, assign a task and watch how they create frameworks and solve a specific problem.

Book reports are creative summaries that demonstrate a student's literary skills. These reports show how students highlight the main points of a book using the reading and analytical skills discussed in the training or program. 

Formal essays allow students to demonstrate their level of knowledge about a subject matter. Essay writing is a useful skill that communicates one's idea and understanding of a concept. Ask your students to write essays on the core topics and themes discussed in class.
Book Reports

Book reports are creative summaries that demonstrate a student's literary skills. These reports show how students highlight the main points of a book using the reading and analytical skills discussed in the training or program. 

Formal essays allow students to demonstrate their level of knowledge about a subject matter. Essay writing is a useful skill that communicates one's idea and understanding of a concept. Ask your students to write essays on the core topics and themes discussed in class. 

This is a common method of summative assessment used in early childhood education. The instructor incorporates 1 or more standard activities into the student's playtime and then observes how the learners engage in the activity. Observing students' behaviors during playtime gives you a birds-eye view of how well they have assimilated knowledge from a previous lesson or class session. As you observe them, you need to make notes on any changes you notice. Write your observations down on a piece of paper or list them in a spreadsheet.

Disadvantages of Summative Assessment 

Many early childhood educators are uncomfortable with the idea of testing the young children they work with. This is because the assessment tools they know were designed primarily for older elementary-school students. Children taking these tests are assessed on isolated skills in ways that are unfamiliar to them, and the test results often do not reflect children's personal experiences or knowledge.
What is a performance-based assessment?
In general, a performance-based assessment measures students' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or units of study. Typically, the task challenges students to use their higher-order thinking skills to create a product or complete a process. Tasks can range from a simple constructed response (e.g., short answer) to a complex design proposal of a sustainable neighborhood. Arguably, the most genuine assessments require students to complete a task that closely mirrors the responsibilities of a professional, e.g., artist, engineer, laboratory technician, financial analyst, or consumer advocate.

In this instance, the teacher wanted to challenge her students to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills. She also wanted them to exhibit less codependence and more individuality while completing this assessment. The teacher did not want students to rely on her direction about how to complete each step of the assessment.

2. Select the appropriate course standards.

Once the goals were identified, she selected the Common Core standards to be addressed with this performance assessment. She decided that the assessment should measure students' understanding of conditional probability and rules of probability.

This was a very important step. We looked at the current worksheets that students were completing for the unit. Two-way frequency tables were a large part of the assignments. Next, we looked at what was missing and noted that there was very little relevant real-world application. As a result, we decided to create a performance-based assessment that was also reality-based. Moreover, this task would require students to analyze two-way frequency tables along with other charts and graphs.

After brainstorming a few different scenarios, we settled on a situation where the students would decide if an inmate should be granted parole or remain in prison. This scenario included five key components:

(See the Public Comments Session example below.)

Depending on the scenario, this step may or may not be needed. For this particular assessment, we wanted students to calculate the probability of the inmate returning to prison. For their review, I created seven different documents that included pie charts, bar graphs, and two-way frequency tables. All of the information was based on statistics from government agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Bureau of Justice Statistics.

We wanted to be careful not to "teach to the test" in preparing students for the performance-based assessment. We needed to strike a balance between teaching the content (e.g., probability given two independent events) and preparing students for the task (e.g., interpreting the validity of a media resource). We brainstormed six different formative assessments that would need to be in place before students completed the performance task. However, we also acknowledged that this part of our plan would need to be constantly reviewed and revised depending on student learning needs.

One easy way to have students complete a performance-based activity is to have them do a presentation or report of some kind. This activity could be done by students, which takes time, or in collaborative groups.

Student portfolios can include items that students have created and collected over a period. Art portfolios are for students who want to apply to art programs in college. Another example is when students create a portfolio of their written work that shows how they have progressed from the beginning to the end of class. The writing in a portfolio can be from any discipline or a combination of disciplines.

Dramatic performances are one kind of collaborative activities that can be used as a performance-based assessment. Students can create, perform, and/or provide a critical response. Examples include dance, recital, dramatic enactment. There may be prose or poetry interpretation. This form of performance-based assessment can take time, so there must be a clear pacing guide.

Projects are commonly used by teachers as performance-based activities. They can include everything from research papers to artistic representations of information learned. Projects may require students to apply their knowledge and skills while completing the assigned task. They can be aligned with the higher levels of creativity, analysis, and synthesis.

Teachers can expand the idea of performance-based activities by creating exhibits or fairs for students to display their work. Examples include things like history fairs to art exhibitions. Students work on a product or item that will be exhibited publicly. Exhibitions show in-depth learning and may include feedback from viewers.

A debate in the classroom is one form of performance-based learning that teaches students about varied viewpoints and opinions. Skills associated with debate include research, media and argument literacy, reading comprehension, evidence evaluation, public speaking, and civic skills. There are many different formats for debate. One is the fishbowl debate in which a handful of students form a half circle facing the other students and debate a topic. The rest of the classmates may pose questions to the panel.