Assessment Terminology

This section presents two broad categories of assessment. The first is traditional assessment, which often involves the kind of written testing (e.g., multiple choice, matching) and grading that is most familiar to instructors and learners. To achieve a passing score on a traditional assessment, the learner usually has a set amount of time to recognize or reproduce memorized terms, formulas, or data. There is a single answer that is correct. Consequently, the traditional assessment usually assesses the learner’s progress at the rote and understanding levels of learning. However, carefully crafted scenario questions can assess higher levels of learning.

The second category of assessment is authentic assessment. Authentic assessment requires the learner to demonstrate not just rote and understanding, but also the application and correlation levels of learning. Authentic assessment generally requires the learner to perform real-world tasks and demonstrate a meaningful application of skills and competencies. In other words, the authentic assessment requires the learner to exhibit in-depth knowledge by generating a solution instead of merely choosing a response.

In authentic assessment, there are specific performance criteria, or standards, that learners know in advance of the actual assessment. The terms “criteria/criterion” and “standard” are often used interchangeably. They refer to the characteristics that define acceptable performance on a task. Another term used in association with authentic assessment is “rubric.” A rubric is a guide used to score performance assessments in a reliable, fair, and valid manner. It is generally composed of dimensions for judging learner performance, a scale for rating performances on each dimension, and standards of excellence for specified performance levels.