Assessment
Purposes, test quality, and critique
Assessment answers a single question: did the learning occur? Diagnostic assessment finds prior knowledge and gaps before instruction. Formative assessment is ongoing and typically ungraded, such as quizzes, oral questions, and in-flight coaching, and it exists to adjust teaching. Summative assessment judges achievement at the end, as with a final test, stage check, or practical test. Written, oral, and performance tests measure different things; performance testing requires clear standards and a checklist.
Characteristics of a good test are heavily tested: validity (measures what it claims to measure), reliability (consistent results across administrations), usability (practical to give and score), objectivity (scoring free of instructor bias), comprehensiveness (samples the whole objective), and discrimination (separates stronger from weaker learners).
Critique is assessment delivered to a person. Effective criticism is objective, timely, specific, constructive, and, when it touches personal shortcomings, private. It targets behavior rather than the person and closes with a plan. Effective questions are clear, concise, single-idea, adapted to the learner's ability, and have a definite answer; allow wait time and avoid leading questions.
Traps: validity versus reliability (a scale can be repeatable and still wrong), formative versus summative, and the word discrimination, which is a desirable test trait and not bias.
Rule of thumb: validity is accuracy of measurement; reliability is repeatability. Give the critique as soon as possible after the performance, while memory is fresh.