Assessment
Domain 3, Assessment, tests how candidates choose, design, interpret, and use assessments to support learning and make fair decisions.
Core concepts
- Formative assessment occurs during learning and produces feedback used to adjust teaching; summative assessment occurs after learning and documents achievement. Diagnostic assessment identifies prior knowledge or misconceptions before instruction.
- Criterion-referenced tests compare performance to a standard or objective; norm-referenced tests compare a student to a norm group. Interpret percentile ranks and grade equivalents cautiously.
- Validity means the assessment measures what it claims; reliability means consistency; bias means unfair advantage or disadvantage for a group. An assessment can be reliable but invalid.
- Performance tasks, portfolios, and rubrics (analytic or holistic) can assess complex outcomes. Rubrics should describe observable criteria and performance levels.
- Feedback should be specific, timely, and actionable, not just a grade or 'good job.'
- Accommodations change access (e.g., extended time, read-aloud) without changing what is measured; modifications change expectations. Follow IEP/504 plans and confidentiality rules (FERPA).
- MTSS/RTI uses screening and progress monitoring to adjust instruction.
Worked example
A fifth-grade teacher gives an exit ticket on two-step word problems. Six of 24 students miss both items, most by choosing the wrong operation. She reviews the error pattern, retaches operation selection in a small group with worked examples, and gives a parallel set of problems. Reasoning: the exit ticket is formative and criterion-referenced; the error analysis targets the misconception; the parallel task checks whether reteaching worked. She does not curve the quiz or move on.
Traps
Do not confuse reliability with validity. Do not use a single norm-referenced score to make a high-stakes placement. Do not treat accommodations as modifications. Do not give feedback that is only praise. Match assessment format to the objective (multiple choice cannot measure oral fluency well). Protect student data.