Assessment: A Refresher and Overview

3. How we use assessment?

The purposes listed in the previous chapter are often categorized into three groups:

Assessment-of-learning - An evaluation of what has been learned or the quality of a performance, generally at the end of a learning period. Normally individual, but can be grouped. Generally conducted by an external agent (the instructor, expert, or audience, external exam). Generally represented by a numerical score, or summative symbol. Note, research shows that as soon as students get a grade, the learning often stops.

Assessment-for-learning - The kind of data gathering that helps direct future instructional or study decisions. Low-stakes evaluation to drive feedback and improve learning. 

Assessment-as-learning - Low and high stakes tasks that are given where the main goal is to promote learning through the doing of the task. An example includes the effortful recall and retrieval practice implicit on a test or quiz. Or whenever learning is improved through the completion of an assignment or doing a performance.  

You may also see assessment divided into these two types:

Formative Assessment - The goal of formative assessment is to gather feedback that can be used by the teacher or the students to guide improvements in the ongoing learning and teaching context.

Summative Evaluation - The goal of summative evaluation is to measure the level of success of proficiency that has been obtained, generally at the end of an instructional unit, measured against a pre-determined reference point. It's the point at which you "draw a line in the sand" and measure progress or achievement. It normally has some degree of weightiness or significance imposed on it by one or more stakeholders, such as a grade, a ranking with implications, a diagnosis, or an audience.