AS we start the new school term, let us begin with the end in mind. This means planning for assessments with as much effort as we plan to deliver effective lessons.

Assessment plays an integral role in the educational process. It is the gathering of information from a variety of sources that accurately reflects how well a student is mastering the curriculum expectations. Assessments should reveal how well students have learnt what we want them to learn, while the instruction ensures that they learn it. As such, assessments should be fit for purpose, thus the need to plan effectively for assessments. Assessments being fit for purpose means that best practices are employed to ensure they are aligned with curriculum outcomes by using a table of specifications or a test blueprint.

Assessments in the classroom can be used for myriad purposes. Two of the more predominant uses are to guide learning – aimed at increasing student learning in relation to the curriculum learning outcomes/competencies or standards, and to measure learning – provide evidence that students have achieved a learning outcome or otherwise gained skills throughout the course. Planning for assessment means brainstorming how to gather evidence that learning has occurred. Here are five things to consider.

What is the purpose of the assessment?

Developing a test blueprint or table of specification

Checking the curriculum requirements

Clarifying learning objectives

Establishing a clear performance criterion (rubric)

To ensure that students get the most out their education experience, there must be an alignment between content/curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. The alignment of these ensures that they reinforce each other and provide a good assessment experience for the students as well as provide the teacher with the information they are trying to solicit. To achieve this cohesion between the three, the application of Bloom’s cognitive levels is an effective resource that ensures curriculum and instruction maps to assessment. As teachers, we are all familiar with the cognitive levels of Bloom. In ascending order of thinking skills, we have knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Here are two examples of carrying out this alignment.

If the learning objective requires students to recall, recognise, or identify (lower cognitive level: knowledge) then objective items can be used such as fill-in-the-blank, matching, labelling, or multiple-choice that demonstrates students’ ability to recall and recognise terms, facts, and concepts.

If the learning objective requires students to create, generate, plan, produce, design (higher cognitive level: evaluation), then tasks such as research projects, musical compositions, performances, essays, business plans, website designs, or set designs can be used that require students to make, build, design, or generate something new.

Finally, learning occurs over time and one size does not fit all. So students should be given multiple and varied opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Apply your professional judgement to ensure that students are assessed fairly and without bias. Assessment methods must be appropriate and compatible with the purpose and context of the assessment.

Jeneve Swaby is an assessment/measurement specialist. She is the founder and CEO of Psychometric Associates, offering professional development courses to teachers in educational assessment and conducts psychometric and data analysis on all forms of assessment – educational, medical, psychological, credentialing, workplace. Jeneve may be contacted at psychometric.associates@gmail.com.