In general the strategies used to do the assessment are largely addressed in how to conduct the assessment and are one key component in the planning process. Overall the strategies are classified as direct where actual student behavior is measured or assessed or indirect. Indirect measures include things like surveys, focus groups, and other activities that gather impressions or opinions about the program and/or its learning goals. Direct measures are most effective if they are also course embedded which means the work done by the student is actually work that counts towards the grade. Most studies that look at assessment data show that if the student work is also used in the grading criteria the student takes the activity more seriously. While indirect measures can be useful, assessment of learning must include mostly direct measures.

The following examples of strategies from a working paper by corbitt, gardiner and adams program assessment: getting to a practical ldquo how to rdquo model address general comments about different methods to do assessment of learning. It is also acceptable and often good to have multiple measures for the same goal. For example, as a result of an assessment of critical thinking, focus group discussion could be used to learn more about how the students viewed the assignment, etc.

exit exams

survey ndash an indirect measure of assessing student progress on learning goals through the use of attitudinal surveys. The advantages of surveys are that third party, off the shelf instruments are available and results can be compared with peer schools. Disadvantages include the cost, getting students to take the survey, and most importantly, the lack of direct measures of student learning. Surveys were historically the most popular assessment method for schools of business, but the aacsb has stated that direct measures must also be used. course embedded or performance based ndash direct program assessments based on assignments or exams students do as part of their normal coursework.

Advantages of course embedded assessments include no additional assignments or work for students or faculty, a direct measure of progress on school specific, mission linked learning goals actually covered in the curriculum, increased involvement of faculty and students in assessment, and ability to address deficiencies in individual student learning before graduation. The primary disadvantage is the time necessary to develop the assessment systems as well as the administrative time to collect and analyze the assessment data collected. course monitoring ndash in addition to other assessment methods, course syllabi, exams, projects, etc. Should be systematically and regularly monitored to see how class coverage aligns with slos. Assessment is important because of all the decisions you will make about children when teaching and caring for them. The decisions facing our three teachers at the beginning of this chapter all involve how best to educate children.

Like them, you will be called upon every day to make decisions before, during, and after your teaching. Whereas some of these decisions will seem small and inconsequential, others will be ldquo high stakes, rdquo influencing the life course of children. All of your assessment decisions taken as a whole will direct and alter children rsquo s learning outcomes. Below outlines for you some purposes of assessment and how assessment can enhance your teaching and student learning. All of these purposes are important if you use assessment procedures appropriately, you will help all children learn well.

The following general principles should guide both policies and practices for the assessment of young children: assessment should bring about benefits for children. Gathering accurate information from young children is difficult and potentially stressful. Assessments must have a clear benefit mdash either in direct services to the child or in improved quality of educational programs. Assessment should be tailored to a specific purpose and should be reliable, valid, and fair for that purpose. Assessments designed for one purpose are not necessarily valid if used for other purposes. In the past, many of the abuses of testing with young children have occurred because of misuse. Assessment policies should be designed recognizing that reliability and validity of assessments increase with children rsquo s age.

The younger the child, the more difficult it is to obtain reliable and valid assessment data. It is particularly difficult to assess children rsquo s cognitive abilities accurately before age six. Because of problems with reliability and validity, some types of assessment should be postponed until children are older, while other types of assessment can be pursued, but only with necessary safeguards. Assessment should be age appropriate in both content and the method of data collection. Assessments of young children should address the full range of early learning and development, including physical well being and motor development social and emotional development approaches toward learning language development and cognition and general knowledge.