The 5 Most Common Student Assessment Types

The concept of student assessment has evolved greatly in recent years. No longer is student evaluation a simple test or pen and paper-based examination. Now, student assessment includes a much more expansive range of educational activities. Quality student assessment requires an educator to be more efficient and effective to help all students achieve at a high level and is a crucial component of imparting high-quality education.

Student Assessment: A Brief Overview

In simpler terms, assessment refers to the comprehensive approach of collecting data to determine what students know (knowledge) and are able to do (performance).

Student evaluation provides information so that both teachers and students understand learning progress while facilitating planning to address met and unmet learning standards.  The process itself is a complicated mix of art and science.  While there are proven assessment strategies and approaches, discerning what a student has learned takes artful, professional experience and evaluation methods.

What is the Purpose of Student Assessment?

Different educators can use the same assessment instrument for different purposes.  While the collective goal of student appraisal is to evaluate student learning, an educator should always identify goals for how they intend to use assessment data to improve teaching strategies.  The use of student assessment data falls into two testing categories: formative and summative.

Formative assessment is used as a short-term tool to determine the success of individual lessons or concepts. An educator chooses formative assessment at various points of a lesson or unit as a checkpoint.  The formative data guides both the teacher and the student toward learning goals and helps both adjust their content strategies to facilitate success in reaching achievement benchmarks.

Summative assessment is a summation of what the student has learned over time.  Summative assessment data typically occurs at the end of a learning period and creates a comprehensive evaluation of the student’s learning.  These assessments typically measure student knowledge based on set standards or performance expectations. Summative assessments work best at the conclusion of instruction on given topics.

Both summative and formative assessments are important evaluative tools.  

Formative assessment is necessary to ensure that learning is effective through the smaller partitions that lead to the greater summative evaluation down the line. Those more significant assessments usually take the form of end-of-chapter tests or end of semester/year standardized exams, but can also be as simple as a chapter test. While controversial, these tests are required to ensure a high accountability environment and compare learning among educational institutions for consistency.

What Are Some Common Student Assessment Types?

Regardless of the educator’s purpose for an assessment, there are many types of testing for either purpose. With a firm understanding of the end goal for student appraisal, the educator can make the most effective choice to meet those goals.

1. Diagnostic Assessment

Diagnostic assessment is a tool that helps evaluate a student's existing knowledge base or understanding of a topic or certain domain. Frequently used as a pre-test prior to beginning a unit, these diagnostic assessments enable educators to modify their learning curriculum to meet the needs of students. Diagnostic assessment can help determine a student’s strengths and areas that need attention as well as recognize and resolve student misperceptions.  

2. Ipsative Assessment

Ipsative assessments compare student performance to their previous performance on the same topic(s).  In ipsative assessment, students are often given a module on a previous learning segment and then reevaluated. The data gathered from the second assessment determines how well the student has maintained this knowledge over time and whether they have made improvements.  

For best results, this process can be completed multiple times on the same topic(s), if needed.

3. Norm-referenced Assessments

Norm-referenced assessments are student assessment types that compare learners’ performance to that of their peers. These appraisals document whether the students achieved better or worse than the average learner by weighing their marks against the outcomes from a specified group of students (same age and grade level) who completed the same examination.  

Student scores are then distributed through a process frequently referred to as the bell curve.  Using a standard data spread, norm-referenced assessments distinguish the highest and lowest performers, regardless of whether they achieved learning standard goals or not.  

Educators use these norm-referenced assessments for the following purposes:

• Assessing students’ fundamental reading and math mastery.
• Making college admissions or program-eligibility decisions such as for SAT or ACT examinations.
• Analyzing kids’ readiness for preschool and kindergarten.
• Determining specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, autism, or nonverbal learning disability.

4. Criterion-referenced Assessment

Criterion-referenced assessments measure learners’ understanding against specific and predetermined education benchmarks or expectations of what the students need to learn and be able to do.  These pre-specified standards are how learners prove that they have fulfilled the required educational outcomes.

Educators use criterion-referenced assessments for the following purposes:

• Determining educational accomplishments of students compared with previously defined learning standard goals for a particular grade or age level.
• Recognizing knowledge gaps or educational insufficiencies that need scaffolding.
• Assessing the efficacy of a course, learning experience, or educational program.
• Estimating progress toward the objectives and goals described in the standards.

Assessment Tools and Purpose

Different tools for assessment meet different objectives, as described below. Different assessment tools are often used to meet summative or formative assessment indicators.

Formative

• In-class activities - Responding to prompts, finishing worksheets, and responding to verbal questions
• Homework - Practice throughout the learning episode used to reinforce and practice knowledge and skills
• Quizzes, polls, surveys - Quick checks on critical learning components
• Self-Assessment - Students use rubrics or other learning criteria to reflect on their current level of performance and understanding
• Peer Assessment - Peers use scoring manuals (rubrics) to examine each other’s work

Summative

• Capstone Projects - Research projects, senior theses, oral examinations, dissertations, etc. demonstrating a student’s cumulative knowledge over time
• Standardized tests (i.e. state testing, SAT, ACT) - Externally mandated assessments of student learning

Both

• Chapter / Unit, Mid-Term, and Final Examinations - Assessments at the end of a unit of study or learning episode

In a Nutshell

Learning is an ongoing process that cannot be successfully measured from a single assessment type. As the educational field constantly evolves, educators must incorporate and understand multiple evaluation methods to ensure students are each learning and achieving at high levels.