FTCE Professional Education Test: Assessment

the consistency of a measurement over time and repeated measurements

can be determined by comparing a test score against some separate or independent observation of whatever is being measured

a test that does not unfairly favor a particular group

a test that has been carefully constructed and field-tested so that (ideally) it has a high degree of reliability and validity

a test that assesses students by comparing their performance to that of a norm group (ex: California Achievement Test)

a test that assesses students by comparing their performance to a per-determined level of mastery (ex: FCAT)

mean, median, and mode

determined by adding up all the scores and dividing this sum by the total number of scores that were added

the midpoint in a distribution of scores from highest to lowest

the score in a distribution that appears most frequently

used to describe the amount of spread

the greatest score minus the least score in a set of scores; the simplest measure of variability

a measure of dispersion of a set of data values about the mean of the data set

the total number of correct responses on an assessment

the distance in standard deviations from the mean of the scores on the assessment; (raw score - mean) / standard deviation

a value at or below which P percent of the data fall

values that divide an ordered data set into four portions, each of which contains approximately 1/4 of the data

scores derived from percentiles; compare test performance using nine intervals that are numbered 1 to 9

used to describe student's performance in comparison to the performance of an average student at a specified grade level

occurs before and during instruction

administered before instruction and are designed to identify students' strengths and weaknesses (e.g., pre-tests, student interviews, learning style inventories)

requires that new kindergarten students in Florida public schools be assessed for school readiness at the beginning of the school year (ESI-K and DIBELS)

assesses children's visual-motor/adaptive development, their language and cognition, and their gross motor skills

measures important skills that form the basis for early success in reading

most often used to determine students' academic achievement in each class or course, often for the purpose of grades (e.g., student projects, unit and chapter tests, standardized tests)

summative assessment tool which measures students' achievement on the Florida Sunshine State Standards; administered in grades 3-11; measures skills in reading, writing, science, and math

incorporates real-life application tasks and enables the teacher to directly assess meaningful and complex educational performances

same as authentic assessment; long been used in assessment of music, art, drama, and physical education

same as authentic assessment; long been used in science, math, social studies, and language arts

(aka teacher observation) uses systematic observational methods along with checklists, interviews, and questioning while students are engaged in learning activities

meaningful collection of student work; one of the best ways for students to engage in assessing their progress over time

include stories, essays, drawings, models, audio recordings, videos, powerpoints, and other mechanisms that allow students to demonstrate their acquisition of knowledge and skills

an assessment tool, listing skills or performances, that can used by teachers or students to monitor learning

provide an opportunity to discuss and question a student about what the student knows and is able to do

provide a way for students to respond in writing to a prompt by the teacher and to reflect on their own learning

performed by the students (e.g., grading their own papers, group participation, and portfolio assessment)

assessment by students of their classmates' products or performances