ABSTRACT
The assessment of students’ academic progress is a driving force in education. Informal assessments occur throughout the academic year as part of students’ daily classroom experiences. The term standardized refers to the idea that the examination or other assessment is administered to different students, using the same procedures for everyone. An observational assessment occurs when a teacher observes students while they are engaged in particular activities and then assesses student learning based on those observations. Performance-based assessments require students to complete actual tasks rather than simply to respond to questions on a written examination. The students’ growth in learning over the course of these assessments becomes a part of the overall evaluation of their learning. To understand why test validity is important in terms of student motivation, think about the value that is placed on test results and the critical decisions, based on those scores, that can be made for both students and teachers.
