{"id":1110,"date":"2011-09-28T10:07:22","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T14:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ofd.ncsu.edu\/?page_id=1110"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:54:04","slug":"assessing-student-learning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/teaching-learning\/resource-directory\/assessing-student-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing Student Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Formative vs. Summative Assessment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Formative Assessment:<\/strong> Provides immediate feedback to gauge progress during a course. This allows you to identify deficiencies and adjust instruction before final grades are assigned. Think of this as a chef tasting soup while cooking so they can still make changes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Summative Assessment:<\/strong> Evaluates learning at the end of a unit or course, usually assigning a broad grade. It focuses on final outcomes rather than ongoing improvement. Think of this as serving the finished soup to patrons when it is too late to alter it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aligning Assessment with Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Aligning your assessments ensures you are accurately measuring learning at the correct outcome level, such as those defined by <a href=\"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/blooms-taxonomy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloom&#8217;s Taxonomy<\/a>. It also guarantees students have the opportunity to practice required skills before they are tested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best Practices:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensure all learning objectives are assessed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apply both formative and summative assessments to your most critical objectives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use Bloom&#8217;s Taxonomy to determine the specific evidence needed to prove mastery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All learning objectives should be assessed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critical learning objectives should employ both formative and summative assessments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Using <a href=\"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/blooms-taxonomy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a> to think about what evidence is required to assess mastery of each objective can be helpful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Choosing Assessment Tools<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Long-Term Assessments:<\/strong> Measure knowledge growth over a period of time, such as comparing student understanding at the start versus the end of a semester.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Immediate Assessments:<\/strong> Provide quick feedback right after a specific lecture or a complex topic. Examples include simple quizzes, minute papers, or sketches. Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are commonly used for these and can be graded or ungraded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Formative vs. Summative Assessment Aligning Assessment with Learning Objectives Aligning your assessments ensures you are accurately measuring learning at the correct outcome level, such as those defined by Bloom&#8217;s Taxonomy.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"parent":860,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"pageIntro\":\"Effective assessments must clearly measure whether your instructional goals and student learning objectives are being met. Both formative and summative assessments are vital to this process.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1110","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32768,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110\/revisions\/32768"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/provost.ncsu.edu\/ofe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}