Objective Assessment and Student Learning

Testing is a good indicator of how well your students are performing. They provide you information on the strengths and weaknesses of your students. The data from the assessments can help drive your instruction to meet the diverse needs of all students. Although test give valuable information, they should not be the only objective assessments of student learning.

Objective Assessments consists of factual answers. The answers are either right or wrong. These type of tests usually consist of multiple choice and true/false questions.  In this type of learning, students are often taught by rote learning. They learn surface strategies and deep understanding does not take place (Murayama 2009).

Teachers who develop useful assessments, provide corrective instruction, and give students second chances to demonstrate success can improve their instruction and help students learn (Guskey 2013). Teachers must use a variety of assessments. These include tests, quizzes, and writing assignments. This way, student achievement is not based solely on one assessment.

Teachers must understand that assessments need to test more than specific factual knowledge. Higher order questions, must be used to assess how students process information. We must measure students’ critical thinking skills. Objective assessment give valuable information, but they should not be used alone. Formal and informal assessments, can be used to measures student achievement. Teachers should create test that assess what is being taught in the classroom.

Guskey, T. (2003). Retrieved June 10, 2015, from  http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb03/vol60/num05/How-Classroom-Assessments-Improve-Learning.aspx

Murayama, K. (2009, December 23). Objective Test Items. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from

http://www.education.com/reference/article/objective-test-items/