Formal and Informal Assessments

Formal Assessments

Formal Assessments

• FORMAL assessments are systematic, preplanned methods of testing students that are used to determine how well students have learned the material that is being taught in the classroom.

Types of Formal Assessments:

• Standardized tests are assessments in which the questions, instructions, scoring, and the way the test is administered are done in exactly the same way across individuals.
• (Example)Smarter Balance- This Common Core test can improve teaching and learning by providing information and tools for teachers and schools to help students succeed

Formal Assessments Cont:

• Program Tests- These are teacher made, or curriculum based tests, such as end of unit or chapter tests. They incorporate several skill sets learned and students can demonstrate their mastery on these skills

Types of Formal Assessments Cont:

• Essay Tests- Students write essays to demostrate, provide evidence of learning throughout a unit of study.
• Criterion-referenced Tests and Assessments- are designed to measure student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria or learning standard.

Informal Assessments

Informal Assessments

• INFORMAL ASSESSMENT IS A PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING INFORMATION THAT CAN BE USED TO MAKE JUDGEMENTS ABOUT CHILDREN’S LEARNING BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTERISTICS OR PROGRAMS USING MEANS OTHER THAN STANDARDIZED INSTRUMENTS.

Types of Informal Assessments:

• Written Samples - this entails any type of written work that students create to show their comprehension of material. It can take many forms, the essay being the most common.
• Project-Based Assignments - The student creates a project of some sort that illustrates his understanding of what he has learned over time.

Types of Informal Assessments Cont:

• Portfolios - this is an assessment tool that is great for helping students, as well as their teachers and parents, to see their progress over time. As students complete assignments, they put them into a single folder or portfolio. By looking at all of their work over the course of time, they can then see how they have improved and/or where they need more work.

Informal Assessments Cont:

• Tests and Quizzes - This is the typical way students are evaluated for their acquisition of knowledge, usually consisting of elements such as multiple-choice questions, true and false questions, short-answer questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, and so on.

Assessing to Learn