Classroom Assessment Techniques

Classroom Assessment Techniques; A Handbook for College Teachers

Angelo, Thomas A., & Cross, Patricia (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (second edition).  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Purpose of Classroom Assessment

Students do not always learn as well as expected; that is, there are sometimes gaps between what has been taught and what has been learned.  Unfortunately, we sometimes never notice the gaps, or if we do, it is too late to remedy them.  To prevent this, teachers need a constant flow of accurate information on student learning.

Seven Characteristics of Classroom Assessment

1. Learner-Centered: focused on learning rather than teaching.
2. Teacher-Directed: depends on the judgment and knowledge of teachers.
3. Mutually Beneficial: benefits both students and teachers.
4. Formative: used to improve teaching, not evaluate overall effectiveness.
5. Context-Specific: what works in one class may not work in another.
6. Ongoing: uses a perpetual "feedback loop".
7. Rooted in Good Teaching Practice: takes what teachers already do and tries to make it more systematic, more flexible, and more effective.

Seven Basic Assumptions of Classroom Assessment (quoted verbatim)

1) The quality of student learning is directly, though not exclusively, related to the quality of teaching.  Therefore, one of the most promising ways to improve learning is to improve teaching.

2) To improve their effectiveness, teachers need first to make their goals and objectives explicit and then to get specific, comprehensible feedback on the extent to which they are achieving those goals and objectives.

3) To improve their learning, students need to receive appropriate and focused feedback early and often; they also need to learn how to assess their own learning.

4) The type of assessment most likely to improve teaching and learning is that conducted by faculty to answer questions they themselves have formulated in response to issues or problems in their own teaching.

5) Systematic inquiry and intellectual challenge are powerful sources of motivation, growth, and renewal for college teachers, and Classroom Assessment can provide such challenge.

6) Classroom Assessment does not require specialized training; it can be carried out by dedicated teachers from all disciplines.

7) By collaborating with colleagues and actively involving students in Classroom Assessment efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning and personal satisfaction.

Chapter Two: the Teaching Goals Inventory

The TGI is an assessment tool to help teachers identify and clarify their teaching goals. It consists of six clusters:

Chapter 3: First Steps

Formal and Informal

Effective teachers use both formal and informal feedback.  Formal feedback includes exams, term papers, homework, and lab reports.  Most teachers also already have a repertoire of techniques used to get informal feedback (e.g., questions, body language).

CATs

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are simple instruments used to get feedback.

Start Small

"Get your feet wet" with one or two CATs that require little planning or preparation.  They'll take less than 10 minutes of class time and less than an hour of your time outside class.

Suggestions

Chapter 4: Planning and Implementing Classroom Projects

The Classroom Assessment Project Cycle has three phases and nine steps:

PHASE I: PLANNING

1) choose a class

2) focus on an "assessable" question

3) design a classroom assessment project to answer that question.

PHASE II: IMPLEMENTING
4) Teach the "target" lesson

5) Collect feedback on the assessable question.

6) Analyze the feedback and turn the data into useful information.

PHASE III: RESPONDING

7) Interpret the results and use them to formulate a response designed to improve learning.

8) Communicate the results to students and try out the response.

9) Evaluate the project's effectiveness.

Starting with Goals

 An Alternate Route: Beginning With Questions Instead of Goals

Instead of choosing the route outlined above, you could do an audience analysis:  ask your students' questions. You might be surprised at, and informed by, the answers

Chapter 5: Twelve Examples of Successful Projects (see book for case studies)

PART TWO CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

This section of the book presents a variety of CATs.

Chapter 7: Techniques for Assessing Course-Related Knowledge and Skills

Two Problems:

Techniques to Assess Prior Knowledge, Recall, and Understanding

1) Background Knowledge Probe: goes beyond the usual "what courses in this area have you taken" approach to ask questions about specific seminal content.

2) Focused Listening: focuses students' attention on a single term, name, or concept and requires them to list several ideas closely related to that focus.

3) Misconception/Preconception Check: it seems harder to unlearn incorrect knowledge than learn something new.  Also, misconceptions can distort new information so it behooves us to ferret them out.  Constructing and administering tests of adherence to common misconceptions and preconceptions is especially useful in social and behavioral science courses.

4) Empty Outlines: students are provided with an empty or partially completed outline and have a limited amount of time to fill in the blank spaces.

5) Memory Matrix: a two-dimensional table where the rows and column headings are given but students must fill in the blank cells.

6) Minute Paper: the instructor stops class a few minutes early and asks (a) "What was the most important thing you learned in this class?" and (b) "What important question remains unanswered?".  Students write their responses on index cards or half sheets of paper.

7) Muddiest Point: similar to above, except the question is "What was the muddiest point in ____ (lecture, film, discussion, homework)?"

Techniques to Assess Analysis and Critical Thinking

8) Categorizing Grid: Students receive a grid with two or three important categories labeled along with a list of terms, images, equations, etc.  They are given limited time to sort the subordinate material into the correct categories.

9) Defining Features Matrix: requires students to sort concepts according to whether the presence (+) or absence (-) of defining features.

10) Pro and Con Grid: requires students to jot down quick lists of pros and cons regarding the topic under discussion.  Good for seeing both sides of an issue.

11) Content, Form, and Function Outlines: also called "What, How, & Why Outlines", this technique involves asking those three questions regarding a particular message (e.g., article, essay, billboard, ad, TV program).

12) Analytic Memos: a simulation exercise that requires students to write a one-page analysis of a problem or issue.  They are to write the memo to a fictitious person embodying a specific role (e.g., employer, client).

Techniques to Assess Synthesis and Creative Thinking

13) One-Sentence Summary: Asks students to answer, in one long grammatical sentence, the question "Who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why?"

14) Word Journal: students first summarize a text with a single word, then write a paragraph or two explaining why they chose that word.

15) Approximate Analogies: The instructor supplies the first half of an "A is to B as X is to __" analogy, and the students complete it.  Analogies are "approximate" because they need not meet the demands of formal logic.

16) Concept Maps: graphical outlines that show mental connections between concepts.

17) Invented Dialogues: two stages---in stage one, students assemble real quotations into dialogues.  In stage two, they invent plausible quotes that fit the speaker and the context.

18) Annotated Portfolios: contain a limited number of examples of creative work, accompanied by the students' own commentary on the significance of each example.

Techniques for Assessing Skill in Problem Solving

19) Problem Recognition Tasks: presents students with examples of common types of problems, and students have to identify the particular type of problem represented by each example.

20) What's the Principle?  Provides students with problems and asks them to state the principles that best apply to each problem.

21) Documented Problem Solutions: to promote awareness of the process used to solve problems, this technique prompts students to keep track of ("show and tell") and briefly describe all the steps they used to solve a problem.

22) Audio- and Videotaped Protocols: audio- or videotaping students whilst in the process of working out problems, analyzing the tape, and using it to promote metacognitive awareness.

Techniques for Assessing Skill in Application and Performance

Note:  I hope this gives you an idea of the flavor of the book.  Below are the names of the remaining Classroom Assessment Techniques.

23) Directed Paraphrasing

24) Applications Cards

25) Student-Generated Test Questions

26) Human Tableau or Class Modeling

27) Paper or Project Prospectus

Techniques for Assessing Learner Attitudes, Values, and Self-Awareness

28) Classroom Opinion Polls

29) Double-Entry Journals

30) Profiles of Admirable Individuals

31) Everyday Ethical Dilemmas

32) Course-Related Self-Confidence Surveys

Techniques for Assessing Students' Self-Awareness as Learners

33. Focused Autobiographical Sketches

34. Interest/Knowledge/Skills Checklists

35) Self-Assessment of Ways of Learning

Techniques for Assessing Course-Related Learning & Study Skills/Strategies/Behaviors

37) Productive Study Time Logs

38) Punctuated Lectures

39) Process Analysis

40) Diagnostic Learning Logs

Techniques for Assessing Learner Reactions to Instruction

41) Chain Notes

42) Electronic Mail Feedback

43) Teacher-Designed Feedback Forms

44) Group Instructional Feedback Technique

45) Classroom Assessment Quality Circles

Techniques for Assessing Learner Reactions to Class Activities/Assignments/Materials

46. RSQC2 (Recall, Summarize, Question, Comment, and Connect):

47. Group-Work Evaluations

48. Reading Rating Sheets

49. Assignment Assessments

50. Exam Evaluations

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