Measuring Learning
Educators will use the word “assessment” to refer to ways in which instructors are measuring and evaluating learning. There are many creative, authentic, and meaningful ways that one might measure learning aside from homework and exams (no disrespect to these important tools!). Here, we will introduce you to strategies for equity-based grading and for designing assessments that are authentic, meaning that they are testing student ability to demonstrate knowledge in a relevant and applied setting.
Grades
Grades are the standard way that student performance is evaluated. Grades assign a numerical value to student work, but (perhaps counterintuitively) aren’t necessarily a good measure of student learning. This stems back to the original purpose of grades in the United States, which was to publicly rank students. As originally implemented, grades were not designed to provide actionable feedback for future improvement, but to stand as signals of status and privilege. Grades are recorded as having been implemented in the US as early as 1785, yet haven’t changed much in form since that time. Thus, the typical grading system in the US is still based on an A-F scale. This can have substantial impacts on students’ lives, as grades determine if students will continue onto more advanced courses, and influence the likelihood of getting into a graduate program or receiving fellowships.
Grades are an important tool for instructors and also allow for information about students across institutions and programs. But they are not always a measure of learning. Numeric evaluations often measure student behavior instead of knowledge. For example, have you ever taken a class that grades things like attendance, participation, or professionalism? These measures have very little reflection on how well a student has mastered the material, and therefore are not indicative of student learning.
Measuring Student Learning without Grades
At this point, you might be wondering what alternatives exist to traditional grading. Some examples of alternatives and discussion of their benefits and drawbacks can be found here, but these may not be immediately useful to you if you don’t have control over the grading method used in your course. However, you still have the ability to assess student learning and provide quality feedback—independent of grading—both of which can greatly improve student learning. Assessments can be divided into two categories: summative and formative.
Summative assessments are usually graded, cumulative measures of student learning that often take place at certain benchmarks, such as in the middle and end of the semester (think of summiting a mountain or reaching a goal). Exams, essays, and presentations are common forms of summative assessments. Most often, a summative assessment is the final time a student will demonstrate their knowledge—rarely is there chance for improvement. For that reason, they are often referred to as “high stakes”. While these assessments might be those that you are most familiar with, it is again likely that you are not designing summative assessments as a TA. However, you do have the opportunity to use formative assessments in your classrooms.
Formative assessments are for learning—designed to check in on learning and provide students opportunities to practice recall of knowledge, idea synthesis, and specific skills. Importantly, formative assessments are often iterative (complete more than once) and “low-stakes”, meaning that they do not have a heavy influence on grades, but can have a powerful influence on learning. Most formative assessments are coupled with feedback of the learner so they know what to do to improve their performance (see feedback section). This can encourage students to take risks without fearing point deductions for mistakes (and it reduces the amount of time you have to spend grading!). Examples of formative assessments that you could implement in your classroom include one-minute papers, muddiest point reflections, or iClicker questions – each of these activities provides a quick assessment of if students have mastered a concept. If they haven’t, both you and your students now are aware of this gap in knowledge and can revisit the concept.
summative and formative assessments
Both should meet the following criteria: