Figure 2.

Choosing the Right Assessment

ASSESSMENT METHOD LEARNING Extended Performance Personal TARGET Selected Response Written Assessment Communication Response Good match for Not a good Can be used if Knowledge Good match for assessing mastery of tapping matchtoo time- assessor asks Mastery elements of understanding of consuming to questions, evaluates knowledge. relationships cover everything. answers, and infers among elements masterybut a timeof knowledge. consuming option. Good match only for Written Assessor can Can be used if Reasoning descriptions of watch students assessor asks student Proficiency assessing understanding of complex problem solve some to "think aloud" or some patterns of solutions can problems and asks follow-up reasoning out of provide a window infer their questions to probe context. into reasoning reasoning reasoning. proficiency. proficiency. Not a good match. Can assess mastery of Good match. Strong match when Skills the knowledge the students need to Assessor can skill is oral perform the skill well, but cannot observe and communication measure the skill itself. evaluate skills as proficiency; not a they are being good match performed. otherwise. Not a good match. Strong match only Good match. Can Not a good match. Ability to Can assess mastery when the product assess the Create of the knowledge is written. Not a attributes of the Products students need to good match when product itself. create quality the product is not products, but cannot written. assess the quality of products themselves. Source: Adapted from Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It RightUsing It Well By R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, 2006, Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute. Copyright 2006 by ETS. Reprinted with permission.
(Chappuis, Chappuis, and Stiggins, 2009)