It seems that assessment is one of the “hot topics” in education today and yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. We hear the words: formative assessment, common assessment, summative assessment, and so forth, but what really is an assessment? Simply put, an assessment is anything that we use to determine if our students have “learned” what we want them to know. We often think of this as a “test” but most often an assessment is not a “test” at all. It is a quick check of student learning that may be written but might be oral as well. Effective assessments are anything that allows us to quickly and easily find out what a student knows and adjust instruction accordingly.

A good example of assessment is something that most teachers do every day: student questioning. In order for questioning to be effective as an assessment tool, it must be random and the questions must target the learning objective. Questions must address the areas teachers want the students to know and answers must show that students have an understanding of the the objective. Students also need to be selected randomly to make sure that every student is equally responsible and likely to be called on. There are even good cell phone apps that will select students randomly for a teacher and even allow him or her to note correct responses.

Another excellent way to do a quick assessment is to use a single, written, open-ended question that asks for a student to list several things they know or have learned. This question can be given as an “exit ticket,” at the beginning of class or anywhere in the class. A teacher can quickly evaluate students’ responses for understanding and group them by understanding allowing the teacher to adjust instruction accordingly.

Remember, a problem, a paragraph, a question, writing on a desk or board, a game, group work or anything that a teacher normally does in class can be used as an assessment if it is individually measurable and targeted toward the learning objective. Assessment done in this way should be easier, not harder and can be very effective as a way of adjusting instruction quickly.