ASSESSMENT BASICS: Timeless Fundamentals and Essential Mindsets
Part 2 in a series on Big Ideas and Honest Truths about Assessment
It is the enduring ideas in assessment rather than the latest trends that are most worthy of our attention. Relying on taxonomies, such as Bloom’s, Webb’s, and SOLO, is useful in understanding the organization and sequence of learning. Whether you and your school/district emphasize selected choice questions or Socratic questioning and dialogue, all types of learning can be developed and assessed. From cognitive to behavioral theories of learning and from Gestalt to Skinner, the fundamentals of best practice in assessment (as well as teaching and learning) have remained constant.
When I first started teaching I was given this advice: Tell them what they are going to learn, teach them, find out what they learned. Then Madeline Hunter(1) gave us this lesson plan model: Stated Objectives, Anticipatory Set, Modeling, Checking Understanding, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Closure. In the 1980s being A Nation at Risk (2) led to required accountability and in the 1990s AYP measures let to comparisons from multiple and sometimes contradictory sources of data, i.e., proficiency vs. growth.
By the 21st century there were many new trends in educational assessment, making it even more difficult to comprehend and sustain. Consider these few: constructivist, competency, problem and project-based, comprehensive and communal standards (aka Common Core) gamified, blended, personalized, flexible, and flipped.
Despite these recurring and time-consuming changes, there are longstanding assessment principles and practices that are effective and productive. By relying on these principles way we can be sure to treat our students, teachers, and schools, as assessment VIP’S. 
V = VARIED: Assessment has multiple purposes from pre-assessment to large-scale measures of learning. It relies on a continuum of methodology including classroom appraisals, formative assessments, and summative/large-scale measures.
I = INTEGRAL: Assessment is seamless and incorporated throughout teaching and learning. It is
INTENTIONAL in its sequence and cycle and also in engaging of learners in assessment and as assessors.
ILLUMINATING: Effective assessment, in turn, illuminates learning and informs teaching. When assessment aligns with learning intentions, it offers usable insights into learning, informs inferences made about progress and outcomes, and guides the next steps.
P = PRACTICAL concerning student’s readiness, resources, and tempo of learning as well as the desires and necessities of constituents.
PURPOSEFUL and planned to support learning intentions and processes. Designed to meet the circumstances and expectations of learners.
S = SYSTEMIC AND SEQUENTIAL: Develops and proceeds in ways that are educationally integrated and supportive.
SOUND: Technically sound assessment is valid (clear, accurate, precise) and reliable (consistent, dependable)
- Madeline Hunter lesson plan design https://thesecondprinciple.com/teaching-essentials/models-of-teaching/madeline-hunter-lesson-plan-model/
- A Nation at Risk: from Archives at the U.S. Department of Education https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html