assessment of student learning

Analytic Quality Glossary

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Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2004–9, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/

This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for amendments or additions. Page updated 18 February, 2009

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Assessment of student learning

core definition

Assessment of student learning is the process of evaluating the extent to which participants in education have developed their knowledge, understanding and abilities.

explanatory context

Assessment of student learning may be formative or summative.

Assessment, especially if it is summative, is usually graded.

Achievement of satisfactory summative grades is frequently used to signify progress or the achievement of an award. (The award of a Ph.D., for example, is a situation where summative grading is rarely used.)

Assessment covers the whole development of student learning evaluation, while grading refers to the specific attachment of marks/grades. The UK QAA (2000) notes:

Assessment plays a significant role in the learning experience of students. It determines their progression through their programmes and enables them to demonstrate that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is assessment that provides the main basis for public recognition of achievement, through the awarding of qualifications and/or credit.

Assessment is usually construed as being either diagnostic

, formative or summative. … Any assessment instrument can, and often does, involve more than one of these elements. So, for example, much coursework is formative in that it provides an opportunity for students to be given feedback on their level of attainment, but also often counts towards the credit being accumulated for a summative statement of achievement. An end-of-module or end-of-programme examination is designed primarily to result in a summative judgement on the level of attainment the student has reached. Both formative and summative assessment can have a diagnostic function. Assessment primarily aimed at diagnosis is intrinsically formative, though it might, rarely, contribute towards a summative judgement.

It is important to distinguish between assessment of student learning as described here and the USA notion of assessment as part of the assessment movement, which is more akin to improvement of the student experience (see assessment).

analytical review

Although there is a taken-for-granted view of what assessment of students does, there tend to be few definitions of this notion of assessment.

The UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2000) in its Code of Practice states:

Assessment is a generic term for a set of processes that measure the outcomes of students’ learning, in terms of knowledge acquired, understanding developed, and skills gained. It serves many purposes. Assessment provides the means by which students are graded, passed or fail. It provides the basis for decisions on whether a student is ready to proceed, to qualify for an award or to demonstrate competence to practise. It enables students to obtain feedback on their learning and helps them improve their performance. It enables staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching.

UMIST (2001) notes:

Assessment: a generic term for a set of processes that measure the outcomes of students’learning, in terms of knowledge acquired, understanding developed and skills gained.

Walvoord and Anderson, (1998, p. 2):

define assessment as the systematic gathering and analyzing of information to improve student learning

T. Dary Erwin (1991, p.14) wrote:

Assessment is defined as the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students. More specifically, assessment is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and using information to increase students’ learning and development

Wojtczak (2002) defines assessment of students in the context of medical education as follows:

Assessment: A system of evaluation of professional accomplishments using defined criteria and usually including an attempt at measurement either by grading on a rough scale or by assigning numerical value. The purpose of assessment in an educational context is to make a judgment about the level of skills or knowledge, to measure improvement over time, to evaluate strengths and weaknesses, to rank students for selection or exclusion, or to motivate. Assessment should be as objective and reproducible as possible. A reliable test should produce the same or similar scores on two or more occasions or if given by two or more assessors. The validity of a test is determined by the extent to which it measures whatever it sets out to measure. One can distinguish three types of assessment: Formative assessment, Summative assessment, Criterion-referenced assessment

associated issues

related terms

See also