Classroom Assessment

Classroom assessment refers to student assessments that teachers design and administer themselves. The term usually is distinct from the standardized tests that are given in schools such as intelligence tests or tests used in statewide testing systems. A more formal definition of classroom assessment would be the teacher-directed systematic collection of information about students’ learning, traits, and abilities.

Classroom assessment can be used before, during, or after instruction and can be formal, with standardized procedures and predetermined scoring criteria, or informal, consisting of brief observations. This entry first describes the five basic approaches to classroom assessment. It then discusses the purposes of classroom assessment and how assessments are scored and interpreted.