Types of Assessments
Quiz and Test Items
This type of assessment consists of simple, content-focused questions that:
Assess for factual information, concepts, and discrete skills.
Use selected-response or short-answer formats.
Are convergent- typically have a single, best answer.
May easily be scored using an answer key (or matching scoring).
Are secure (known in advance).
Academic Prompts
Academic prompts are open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically, not just recall knowledge, and to prepare a response, product, or performance. Such questions or problems:
Require constructed responses under school exam conditions.
Are open, with no single best answer or solution strategy.
Are often ill structured, requiring the development of a strategy.
Involve analysis, synthesis, evaluation, or a combination of the three.
Require an explanation or defense of an answer and methods used.
Require judgment-based scoring, using criteria and performance standards.
May or may not be secure.
Additional Reading on Performance Tasks:
Appendix Resources
Performance Tasks
A performance task is a complex challenge that mirrors the issues and problems faced by adults. Ranging in length from short-term tasks to long-term, multi-staged projects, they yield one or more tangible products and performances. These tasks also provide students an opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can demonstrate concerning a given concept.
Some common characteristics of authentic performance tasks and products are:
realistic.
requires judgment and innovation.
asks a student to “do” the subject.
replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are tested in the workplace, community, and home.
assesses a student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task.
allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, and consult.
resources, obtain feedback on performances, and refine performances and products.