Historical background of assessment

1. Short History of Assessment
By Jeanne Pfeifer

2. Major Changes in Assessment
Norm Referenced Tests
Criterion Referenced Tests
Authentic Assessment

3. Norm Referenced
1920
World
War I—
IQ
Screening

4. Norm Referenced
 Based on “the Bell Curve”
 Use standardized tests
 Comparing students to students
 Want to create a spread
– Item analysis
– Distinguish items: High achievers get correct
and low achievers get wrong
 Used for screening people in and out

5. Criterion Referenced
1920 1970
Criterion
Referenced
Testing
Began

6. Criterion Referenced
 Specific standards established
 Certain information/learning is necessary to
continue the next steps of learning.
 Students learning is compared to the criteria or
standards (NOT to each other)
 Assumption: If students do not reach standards,
find other means of teaching students
 Banks of testing items created to match different
types of curriculum (mostly multiple items)

7. Authentic Assessment
1980s
Authentic
Assessment
1920 1970

8. Authentic Assessment
 Not all of what we teach can be assessed by
paper and pencil tests nor by multiple
choice items
 Students need to demonstrate what they
learned: performance based (based on
constructivist learning theory)
 Assessment is different than testing or
grading (closer to diagnosis)
 Multiple means of assessment

9. Examples of Authentic
Assessment
 Rubrics (specific criteria—teaching is planned
around criteria)
 Includes attention to non-academic or difficult to
assess
– Cooperative learning
– Critical thinking skills
– Social learning
 Differentiates summative vs. formative assessment
 Portfolios

10. Rubrics
 Have “layers”
 May be based on developmental levels
 May be “weighted” for different categories at
different times of the years
 Need to be sensitive to the time to present to
learners
– Too early=overwhelming (haven’t taught it yet)
– Too late=not useful for modifying or developing
products
 Eventually students can develop rubrics (they have
internalized the criteria)