Evaluating assessments and tests: Not just an "add-on"

So, your students have completed all their assessments and tests for the year, you’ve finished marking them all, submitted their grades, and now it’s all over until next time. Right?

Wrong! The oft-forgotten step of evaluation is the part which best helps improve the quality and effectiveness of tests and assessments. Informal evaluation generally occurs, when teachers notice that particular parts of an assessment aren’t working – a question is worded ambiguously; students are spending too much time on project work – and adjustments may be made to the task for the next round of students. But formalising this process means that all of these glitches can be picked up, along with other valuable information, to help make assessment as worthwhile as possible.

Evaluation and assessment can often be terms which are used interchangeably, but for these purposes their meanings are quite different. Assessment here refers to tasks which students undertake so that teachers can assess their level of competence in a course; on the other hand, evaluation means the process used by teachers to evaluate how effective these assessment tasks have been in meeting their aims.

The best evaluation focuses on a particular objective of the assessment task. For example, this could include whether or not the task promoted deep learning for students or whether the task enabled a high number of students to gain a required minimum knowledge or skill level. A variety of evaluation measures can be collected, depending upon the objective being evaluated. Evaluation might answer questions such as:

• Was the assessment task valid? (Did it assess the skills or knowledge it was intended to?)
• Was the assessment task reliable? (Did it assess in an accurate way? Would the same results occur next time?)
• What were the learner perceptions of the task?
• Was the task relevant for students?
• Did the task motivate students?
• What was the quality of the feedback given to students?

Methods of evaluation can be both qualitative and quantitative, and in fact a mix of techniques often yields the most useful results. Furthermore, collecting evaluation data from both students and teachers can give an appropriate blend of perspectives.

Quantitative methods can include surveys or questionnaires, such as evaluation forms commonly used for students with Likert scales for them to indicate levels of agreement with statements such as, “I found the assessment task relevant to my needs”, or “The time and effort required to complete this task was reasonable”. Analysis of student results can also be included, and is particularly relevant for item-analysis of multiple-choice questions, but can also be very useful in addressing other questions.

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