Assessment, Grading, and Feedback

Insung Jung (Professor of Education) & Siaw Eng Tan (Doctoral Student)

*This article was written in 2017. The academic titles stated above are those held at the time of writing.

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What Is Assessment?

Definition

Assessment is the systematic collection and analysis of information from diverse sources to make informed judgments of student learning and improve future teaching and learning. As an integral part of instruction, assessment determines whether learning objectives are being met, identifies areas for further learning, and offers information about the effectiveness of teaching. As William (2013) argues, assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning.

Roles of assessment

In the following passage, Angelo and Cross[1] (1993, p.3) clarify the role of assessment in college teaching.

“Through close observation of students in the process of learning, the collection of frequent feedback on students’ learning, and the design of modest classroom experiments, teachers can discover about how students learn and, more specifically, how students respond to particular teaching approaches. Classroom assessment helps individual college teachers obtain useful feedback on what, how much, and how well their students are learning. Faculty can then use this information to refocus their teaching to help students make their learning more efficient and more effective.”

Regardless of how carefully a teacher designs and implements his or her teaching, there is no certainty that the students actually learn what is taught. Assessment is the tool to measure the effectiveness of teaching to discover if the instructional activities help students achieve the learning objectives.

For teachers, assessment helps them:

• • identify students’ learning needs in the future,

  • refine and modify teaching approaches to accommodate gaps in learning, and

  • communicate feedback to students about their strengths and weaknesses.

For students, assessment can help them:

• • clarify teachers’ expectations for the course content and activities,

  • know their own strengths and weaknesses in a specific course, and

  • plan and manage the next steps in their learning

For institutions, assessment helps them:

• • identify the problems and limitations in the current instructional practices,

  • design new policies or strategize ways to overcome current challenges, and

  • make decisions to improve current education systems.

In the paper released by The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) on assessment for learning (OECD/CERI, 2008), it is reported that information retrieved from ongoing formative assessment done by teachers in their classroom not only goes beyond the evaluation of their own teaching and learning, but is also essential at the school and policy level to identify areas for improvement and development throughout the education systems (shown in Figure 1). More consistent use of formative assessment throughout education systems may help stakeholders address the very barriers to its wider practice in classrooms.

Figure 1: Information gathered at each level of the system can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses and to shape strategies for improvement

(Source: OECD/CERI, 2008, p.5)

Grading and Feedback

Grading and feedback are the most important ways of assessment because they are the tools teachers use to communicate with their students. In order to help students understand and use them for learning improvement, grading and feedback should be purposeful, clear and consistent. For details, see Harvard University Bok's Center’s Grading and Responding to Student Work.

Grading criteria

Developing criteria for grading may seem like a lot of work initially, but in fact it saves you time in grading and responding to students in the long run.

• 1. First, plan the different types of work you will ask students to do for the learning objectives or outcomes. Examples include: essays, quizzes (paper-based or online), examinations (paper-based or online), lab reports, class participation, online discussion and oral presentations. For more details, visit: Formative and Summative Assessments.

  2. Then identify and clarify the most important aspects in the assessment. It could be creativity, clarity, analytical thinking, critical thinking, thorough research, and so on.

  3. Finally, transform those important aspects you’ve identified into grading criteria.

For some sample criteria, visit the following sites:

• • Grading Class Participation

  • Grading for Essays and Papers

  • Sample Scoring Rubrics

  • Assessing Student Writing

And more resources on grading:

• • Yes Virginia, There’s a Better Way to Grade – “While we in higher education keep using it, our grading system is broken, argues Linda B. Nilson, and she offers some concrete ways to fix it.” in the Inside Higher Education

  • Contract Grading + Peer Review: Here’s How it Works by Professor Cathy Davidson

Feedback

Feedback can be the most powerful influence on learning and achievement if effectively applied. Here are some useful tips for effective feedback.

• • Responding to student writing

  • Five research-based tips for providing students with meaningful feedback

  • Good feedback practices: Prompts and guidelines for ….

Samples from ICU faculty members

• • Professor Suzanne Quay (Language Education) – “Assessment and learning: Video-documentary projects”

  • Professor Shaun K. Malarney (Anthropology) – “Rubrics and student learning”

[1] Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: a handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass