The Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation

1
The Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation

• H. Stephen Straight
• Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
• Teaching Assistant Orientation
• 28 August 2002

2
What Is Teaching?

• Brainstorm
• Think of different ways to define teaching.
• Write down at least three different definitions
  of teaching.
• Pair up with someone to choose the best ONE of
  your six-plus definitions.
• Share your definitions with the group, one at a
  time in sequence.

3
Definitions of Teaching

• To present information, insights.
• To reveal knowledge or skill.
• To help students learn.
• NOTE All of the above can be accomplished
  either deliberately or incidentally.
• That is, you can teach by means of explicit
  instruction, ongoing guidance, deliberate
  modeling, or accidental example.

4
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning

• Implement research-based best practices.
• Employ an assessment-informed model of teaching
  focused on measurable student learning outcomes.

5
Good Practice in UG Education (after Arthur
Chickering Zelda Gamson 1989)

• 1. Maximizes student/faculty contact.
• 2. Develops student cooperation.
• 3. Uses active learning techniques.
• 4. Gives feedback promptly.
• 5. Emphasizes time on task.
• 6. Communicates high expectations.
• 7. Respects learners diversity.

6
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning

• Implement research-based best practices.
• Think of at least one way to implement each item
  of practice.
• Write down each example.
• Pair up with the person next to you to choose the
  best example of each.
• Share your findings with the group.

7
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning

• Implement research-based best practices.
• Employ an assessment-informed model of teaching
  focused on measurable student learning outcomes.
• But first we need to distinguish assessment
  from evaluation.

8
Assessment vs. Evaluation

• What are the three most striking differences
  between the two?
• If we had time, Id have you
• Think
• Write
• Pair
• Share

9
Dimensions of Difference Between Assessment and
Evaluation

• Timing
• Focus of Measurement
• Relationship Between Administrator Recipient
• Findings, Uses Thereof
• Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures
  Thereof
• Standards of Measurement
• Relation Between Different Objects of A/E

10
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Timing




11
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Focus of Measurement



12
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Focus of Measurement



13
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Administrator/Recipient Relationship


14
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals Administrator/Recipient Relationship


15
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Findings, Uses Thereof

16
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Findings, Uses Thereof

17
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures
18
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Formative Ongoing to Improve Learning Summative Final to Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures
19
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Fixed To Reward Success, Punish Failure
Standards of Measurement
20
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Process-Oriented How Learning Is Going Product-Oriented Whats Been Learned
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Fixed To Reward Success, Punish Failure
Absolute Strive for Ideal Outcomes Standards of Measurement
21
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Fixed To Reward Success, Punish Failure
Absolute Strive for Ideal Outcomes Comparative Divide Better from Worse
Relation Between Objects of A/E
22
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Fixed To Reward Success, Punish Failure
Absolute Strive for Ideal Outcomes Comparative Divide Better from Worse
Coöperative Learn from Each Other Relation Between Objects of A/E
23
Assessment n Evaluation (various sources, but
especially Dan Apple 1998)
Reflective Internally Defined Criteria/Goals PrescriptiveExternal-ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic Identify Areas for Improvement Judgmental Arrive at an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible Adjust As Problems Are Clarified Fixed To Reward Success, Punish Failure
Absolute Strive for Ideal Outcomes Comparative Divide Better from Worse
Coöperative Learn from Each Other Competitive Beat Each Other Out
24
Summary of Differences
Dimension of Difference Assessment Evaluation
Timing Formative Summative
Focus of Measurement Process-Oriented Product-Oriented
Relationship Between Administrator and Recipient Reflective Prescriptive
Findings, Uses Thereof Diagnostic Judgmental
Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures Thereof Flexible Fixed
Standards of Measurement Absolute Comparative
Relation Between Objects of A/E Coöperative Competitive
25
Assessment vs. Evaluation

• If we had time, Id have you Think, Write, Pair,
  Share to come up with examples of assessment and
  evaluation to show that
• The multidimensionality of the difference between
  them, and the variation in each dimension, result
  in a very diverse array of examples, the majority
  of which are neither assessment nor
  evaluation but rather hybrids.

26
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning

• Implement research-based best practices.
• Put the examples into practice.
• Employ an assessment-informed model of teaching
  focused on measurable student learning outcomes.
• How to do this?

27
Employ an assessment-informed model of teaching

• Define learning outcomes (desired by teachers
  and/or learners) well in advance.
• Assess progress toward outcomes, by and for both
  teacher and learner, continually during learning.
• Evaluate attainment of outcomes rigorously as
  each learning opportunity concludes.
• Moment-by-moment, meeting-by-meeting,
  course-by-course, semester-by-semester.

28
Measures of Learning

• If we had time, Id also have you examine
  examples of ways to measure learning with the aim
  of showing
• that any measurement of learning can be used
  either for assessment or for evaluation purposes,
• but that some measures are better for one than
  for the other.

29
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning

• Implement research-based best practices.
• Employ an assessment-informed model of teaching
  focused on measurable student learning outcomes.
• Be vocal about what youre doing to improve your
  teaching and your students learning and listen
  to others stories about what they are doing.

30
Five Assessment Principles(after Thomas Angelo
Patricia Cross 1993)

• To improve their teaching, faculty must define
  learning outcomes and measure their attainment.
• To improve their learning, students must learn
  how to use feedback to assess their own progress
  ( self-assessment).

• The best assessment derives from teachers
  questions about their own teaching.
• Systematic assessment can be an intellectually
  challenging source of faculty satisfaction.
• Assessment provides an impetus for active student
  involvement, a proven best practice.

31
Sources

• Chickering Gamson, Change (the journal of the
  Amer Assn for Higher Ed)
• Apple, Process education teaching institute
  handbook (Pacific Crest)
• Angelo Cross, Classroom assessment techniques
  A handbook for college teachers, Second edition
  (Jossey-Bass)

32
Presenter Steve Straight

• H. Stephen Straight
• Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education,
  Binghamton University - SUNY
• Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics
• Co-Director, Harpur College Linguistics Program
• Associate Director, Center for Research In
  Translation
• mailtostraight_at_binghamton.edu
• 607.777.2150 (secretary Deborah Dunn)
• 607.777.2824 (private voice mail)
• 607.777.4831 (fax)