This document discusses different types of assessments used in education including screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring, and outcome/summative assessments. It also describes criterion-referenced tests which measure student performance against standards, and norm-referenced tests which compare students to a peer group. The document emphasizes the importance of reliability and validity in assessments so results can be used to accurately measure performance and drive instruction.

1. Types of Assessments
Elizabeth E. Walsh, Saint Leo University

2. Assessment Classifications
(Vogt, 2011).
• Screening – administered to all students to
determine baseline data and measure critical skills
that are high predictors of future student
performance.
• Diagnostic – follow-up to screening tests to measure
areas of need. Reading diagnostic assessments
measure proficiency in the five fundamental
elements of reading: phonics, phonemic awareness,
fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.
• Progress Monitoring - periodic formative
assessment to determine progress or whether
intervention methods are successful or if
instructional adjustments are necessary.
• Outcome Measurement/Summative – to determine
if adequate progress is being made.

3. •Running Records
•Curriculum Based
Measures (CBM)
•Florida Assessment
for Instruction in
Reading (FAIR)
•Statewide
Assessments
•End of Course Exams
(EOC)
•End of Chapter Tests
•Semester Tests
•Diagnostic Assessment
of Reading (DAR)
•Woodcock Reading
Mastery Tests
•Qualitative Reading
Inventory (QRI)
•Dynamic Indicators of
Basic Elementary
Literacy Skills
(DIBELS)
•Quick Phonics
Assessments –San
Diego Quick Phonics
Screener
Screening Diagnostic
Summative Formative

4. (Cole, R. 2014)

5. Print master
Interpreting Assessment Data

6. Criterion-Referenced Tests
Criterion-Referenced Tests (CRT) measure
students’ performance against standards or
key benchmarks that students are
expected to perform (Gunning, 2014, p.
68). These tests are used to measure
ability to perform overtime, and are used to
drive instruction. A teacher will use
assessment data to determine present
levels of performance and prior knowledge;
plan instruction and measure gains;
compare student’s individual performance
with the class, school, and district, or larger
population; and determine proficiency in
meeting the required standards. Scores
are shown as raw score, percentile, or
achievement level.

7. Norm-Referenced Tests “Norm-Referenced Tests
(NRT) compares the
performance of students to
that of a norming or
sampling group (Gunning,
2014, p. 64).”
These standardized tests
are used to determine if
students’ performance is
average, above average,
or below average
compared to the norm
group. Scores are
converted to percentile
rank, grade equivalent, or
stanine.

8. Informal
Reading
Inventories
Oral-Reading
Fluency
CRT
Standardized
Achievement
Tests
IQ Tests
NRT
Examples

9. Reliability and Validity
• Reliability and validity are important to maintain
integrity in data that is used to make educational
decisions like grades, placement, extra support
services needed, and to drive instructional needs.
• Having reliable and valid data makes it more
comparable from person to person and from year
to year.
• If a test is valid it is” almost always reliable, the
validity inferred from the assessments is essential
-- even more crucial than the reliability” (USF,
n.d., para 5).

10. • Reliability refers to the consistency in which an assessment
delivers similar results assuming it was given to the same
person or group again (Gunning, 2014). This means if two
observers were using the same rubric or guidelines to
observe or review the same student they would come to
similar results. The values for reliability coefficients range
from 0 to 1.0. “Generally, if the reliability of a standardized
test is above .80, it is said to have very good reliability; if it is
below .50, it would not be considered a very reliable test”
(USF, n.d., para. 4).
• Validity is the degree in which the assessment measures
what it intends to measure and the degree to which the
results can be used to make educational decisions
(Gunning, 2014). This means that the assessment tests the
material or strategy that was taught in a similar context.

11. References
Assessment Bubble Clip Art (2014). Education assessment and evaluation, Latin
American Educational Services. Retrieved from:
http://www.latinamericaneducationalservices.com/images/educational_assessment_header.jpg
Assessment Wordle. Retrieved from: http://www.teaching-learning.utas.edu.au/assessment/how-to-implement-
cra
Cole, R, (2014). EDTC 614 Integrating Technology: Formative vs. summative assessments.Retrieved
from: http://kingcolemedia.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/04/ColeR_LT6_VennDiagramFormativeSummativeAssessmentsJPEG.jpg
Gunning, T.G. (2014), Assessing and correcting reading and writing difficulties, 4th ed., Pearson
Education, Inc., Boston, MA.
School Teaching PowerPoint Template. Retrieved from:
http://www.freeppt.net/download-template/school-teaching-study-373.html
USF (n.d.). Classroom Assessment: Basic Concepts. Pinellas County School District and Florida Center
for Instructional Technology at University of South Florida.
Retrieved from: http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basicc.html
Vogt, M. & Shearer, B. (2011). Reading specialists and literacy coaches in the real world. Boston,
MA: Pearson.
Wechsler Intelligence Score Bell Curve Image. Retrieved from: http://www.bing.com/images/