Assessment

Assessment helps you track each student’s progress toward reaching learning goals and Common Core State Standards. It reveals students’ strengths and challenges. It also helps you gauge whether your practices and tools are meeting all students’ needs. 

What are the different forms of assessment?

  • Diagnostic: Often taking the form of tests, this kind of assessment serves as the starting point for understanding students’ strengths and needs.
  • Formative (ongoing): This kind of assessment can be informal (quick check-ins with each student) or formal (performance tasks, assignments).
  • Summative (final): At the end of each unit, these final assignments or projects measure student gain.

Why is it important to use assessments?

  • Map the learning journey: Assessments provide you and your students with a map of progress toward learning goals.
  • Help stay on track: Built into units, assessment gives you and your students insight into their progress in gaining skills and understanding. Assessments also help you identify students' struggles and refine your tools and practices to keep them on course.
  • Plan new routes: Final assessment results help you define goals for the next unit, choose practices and tools, recognize accomplishments and progress, and identify support for students. 

Supportive Resources

Read more about creating and selecting effective assessments in Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age.

Evaluate your assessments with the UDL Curriculum Self-check, Assessments.

For an overview of how to effectively use assessments, see “Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom” by Catherine Garrison & Michael Ehringhaus.