The Purpose of Tests and Testing

A few days ago I shared this information with teachers for them to use to assess the assessments they give and serve as a guide for them to use to determine if the assessments they use are serving the purpose they intend.  The key for teachers is to use all tests as a formal assessment of the learning that is occurring within the classroom.  Formal assessments involve testing students in the midst of an ongoing instructional unit/sequence and then using the test results to improve or adjust instruction to enhance understanding or the skills or concepts.  Even a test at the end of a unit that is intended to be summative can still be formative when used by the teacher to measure the effectiveness of instruction.  The 10 questions listed below are from a Blog titled, Life Of An Educator by Justin Tarte.  I've included the link because I've found lots of useful information:

Life of an Educator- Justin Tarte

10 questions to ask yourself before giving an assessment

1). What's the point and purpose of the assessment?

2). Is this a preventative check-up (formative) type assessment or an autopsy (summative) type assessment?

3). Did your students have any voice and input into the assessment design and/or assessment process?

4). Are you able to assess more than one learning objective/goal with this assessment or is the assessment isolated to one specific learning objective/goal?

5). Is the assessment aligned to what you are currently teaching in a format similar to the way you've been conducting your instruction?

6). Will you provide multiple assessment formats for students to demonstrate their mastery/skills in a way of their choosing or will there be just one format? 

7). Does the assessment have a learning component to it that supplements the current learning objectives and goals?

8). Does the assessment allow for students to self-assess and track their overall understanding of the content/skills?

9). Are there a wide-range of questions at varying degrees of difficulty? What is the ratio of level 1 basic recall questions to level 4 higher order thinking questions?

10). Will you allow redos of this assessment? If not, please refer back to your answers in questions 1 and 2. Does this affect your decision not to allow redos?