The Difference Between

Assessment and Evaluation

H. Stephen Straight
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Teaching Assistant Orientation
28 August 2002
What Is Teaching?
Brainstorm:
Think of different ways to define
teaching.
Write down at least three different
definitions of teaching.
Pair up with someone to choose the best
ONE of your six-plus definitions.
Share your definitions with the group, one
at a time in sequence.
Definitions of Teaching
To present information, insights.
To reveal knowledge or skill.
To help students learn.
NOTE: All of the above can be
accomplished either deliberately or
incidentally.
That is, you can teach by means of explicit
instruction, ongoing guidance, deliberate
modeling, or accidental example.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
Implement research-based best
practices.
Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
Good Practice in UG Education
(after Arthur Chickering & Zelda Gamson 1989)

1. Maximizes student/faculty contact.

2. Develops student cooperation.
3. Uses active learning techniques.
4. Gives feedback promptly.
5. Emphasizes time on task.
6. Communicates high expectations.
7. Respects learners diversity.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
Implement research-based best
practices.
Think of at least one way to implement
each item of practice.
Write down each example.
Pair up with the person next to you to
choose the best example of each.
Share your findings with the group.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
Implement research-based best
practices.
Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
But first we need to distinguish
assessment from evaluation.
Assessment vs. Evaluation
What are the three most striking
differences between the two?
If we had time, Id have you
Think
Write
Pair
Share
Dimensions of Difference Between
Assessment and Evaluation
Timing
Focus of Measurement
Relationship Between Administrator &
Recipient
Findings, Uses Thereof
Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria, Measures
Thereof
Standards of Measurement
Relation Between Different Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Timing

to Improve Learning
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Focus of Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Focus of Measurement
How Learning Is Going
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Administrator/Recipient
Relationship
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Administrator/Recipient
Defined Criteria/Goals Relationship
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Findings, Uses Thereof
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Findings, Uses Thereof
Areas for Improvement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Ongoing Modifiability
of Criteria, Measures
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative: Ongoing Summative: Final to

to Improve Learning Gauge Quality
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Ongoing Modifiability
Problems Are Clarified of Criteria, Measures
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Standards of
Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is Going Whats Been Learned
Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-
Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Standards of
Ideal Outcomes Measurement
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Relation Between
Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Coperative: Learn Relation Between
from Each Other Objects of A/E
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective: Internally Prescriptive:External-

Defined Criteria/Goals ly Imposed Standards
Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive at
Areas for Improvement an Overall Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As Fixed: To Reward
Problems Are Clarified Success, Punish Failure
Absolute: Strive for Comparative: Divide
Ideal Outcomes Better from Worse
Coperative: Learn Competitive: Beat
from Each Other Each Other Out
Summary of Differences
Dimension of Difference Assessment Evaluation

Timing Formative Summative

Focus of Measurement Process-Oriented Product-Oriented

Relationship Between
Reflective Prescriptive
Administrator and Recipient

Findings, Uses Thereof Diagnostic Judgmental

Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria,

Flexible Fixed
Measures Thereof

Standards of Measurement Absolute Comparative

Relation Between Objects of A/E Coperative Competitive

Assessment vs. Evaluation
If we had time, Id have you Think, Write,
Pair, Share to come up with examples of
assessment and evaluation to show that:
The multidimensionality of the difference

between them, and the variation in each

dimension, result in a very diverse array of
examples, the majority of which are
neither assessment nor evaluation but
rather hybrids.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
Implement research-based best
practices.
Put the examples into practice.
Employ an assessment-informed model
of teaching focused on measurable
student learning outcomes.
How to do this?
Employ an assessment-
informed model of teaching
Define learning outcomes (desired by
teachers and/or learners) well in advance.
Assess progress toward outcomes, by and
for both teacher and learner, continually
during learning.
Evaluate attainment of outcomes rigorously
as each learning opportunity concludes.
Moment-by-moment, meeting-by-meeting,
course-by-course, semester-by-semester.
Measures of Learning

If we had time, Id also have you examine

examples of ways to measure learning with
the aim of showing:
that any measurement of learning can be
used either for assessment or for
evaluation purposes,
but that some measures are better for one
than for the other.
Ways to Improve Teaching
and Learning
Implement research-based best practices.
Employ an assessment-informed model of
teaching focused on measurable student
learning outcomes.
Be vocal about what youre doing to
improve your teaching and your
students learning and listen to others
stories about what they are doing.
Five Assessment Principles
(after Thomas Angelo & Patricia Cross 1993)
To improve their The best assessment
teaching, faculty must derives from teachers
define learning questions about their
outcomes and measure own teaching.
their attainment. Systematic assessment
To improve their can be an intellectually
learning, students must challenging source of
learn how to use faculty satisfaction.
feedback to assess their Assessment provides an
own progress (= self- impetus for active
assessment). student involvement, a
proven best practice.
Sources
Chickering & Gamson, Change (the
journal of the Amer Assn for Higher Ed)
Apple, Process education teaching
institute handbook (Pacific Crest)
Angelo & Cross, Classroom assessment
techniques: A handbook for college
teachers, Second edition (Jossey-Bass)
Presenter: Steve Straight
H. Stephen Straight
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education,
Binghamton University - SUNY
Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics
Co-Director, Harpur College Linguistics Program
Associate Director, Center for Research In Translation
mailto:straight@binghamton.edu
607.777.2150 (secretary: Deborah Dunn)
607.777.2824 (private voice mail)
607.777.4831 (fax)