Assessment is a common tool used in education, in the workplace, and even at home to help track personal growth and progress. However, the importance of assessment in the self-improvement process is often underestimated. It’s the key to understanding ourselves, and by extension, our full potential.
Here, we go over exactly what assessment entails and the various methods used to evaluate people. We also discuss how assessing ourselves can benefit us at all ages and in all areas of life.
What is Assessment?
Many of us have participated in an assessment at some point in our lives. From grade school tests to employee evaluations in the workplace, assessments can be an invaluable tool when it comes to analyzing performance and progress.
An assessment involves looking at various facets of a person’s being, analyzing how well someone can perform certain tasks, or master certain feats. Any given assessment may use both qualitative and quantitative data to measure a person’s capabilities.
Many of us rely on authority figures to evaluate us early on in life. Parents will give us praise, validation, and rewards for a job well done, while teachers give us tests, projects, and ultimately, grade us compared to our peers.
Many of us continue to receive assessments from outside sources well into adulthood. Our college professors, managers, and bosses all observe and evaluate our performance on a regular basis.
As we grow older, we also develop the tools necessary to look at ourselves and those around us with an objective eve. We gain the critical thinking skills that we need to observe and evaluate. This makes it possible to perform peer-to-peer assessments, and more importantly, self-assessments.
Self-assessment is an integral part of the goal-setting process. For most of us, our hopes and dreams change throughout life as we grow and mature. When you can step back and evaluate yourself, you can see more clearly the changes you need to make to meet your evolving wants, needs, and desires.
Self-assessment is a lifelong process that’s key to growing and developing as a person. Whether it’s a work-mandated evaluation or an exercise in self-improvement, reflecting on yourself is a healthy and productive way to work on improving your performance in all areas of life.
The Difference Between Testing and Assessment
When many people think of assessments, they think of multiple-choice tests. While testing plays an important role in assessing students, workers, and the like, however, it’s only a small part of a bigger picture. Testing is often used because it’s a quick, easy way to gather a large amount of concrete data from a group of people.
However, no matter how well-designed a test might be, it won’t give you a comprehensive look into a person’s inner workings. We are all complex creatures, and our talents, abilities, and potential are impossible to measure using a simple A, B, C, D format.
An assessment differs from a test in that it aims to look at performance instead of knowledge. It allows people to demonstrate their full potential instead of reducing their experiences to a series of simple questions. A good assessment goes far beyond traditional testing to examine a person’s capabilities from multiple angles.
In essence, even though all tests are a form of assessment, not all assessments must be in the form of a test. There are plenty of ways to evaluate an individual that goes beyond reading, writing, and multiple choice answers, making it possible to evaluate a wider section of the population.
Types of Assessment
There is no single type of assessment used to gauge progress. Instead, you can choose from several assessment styles based on your individual needs. The type of assessment you use will depend on factors such as time constraints, data collection methods, and desired outcomes.
Formative Assessment
One of the most popular assessment styles in both the workplace and the classroom is the formative assessment. This method of evaluation offers an immediate solution for anyone who is struggling to keep up with their peers.
In a formative assessment, either you or a third party monitor your behavior for a brief period of time. They observe how you handle different obstacles and come up with novel solutions to the problems that you face. In the classroom, this may include grasping and remembering new material. In the workplace, it may concern finishing certain projects or hitting your weekly numbers.
After a brief observation period, you can reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. In a self-assessment, it’s up to you to give yourself an honest evaluation. If a third party is involved, they may offer objective feedback that can help you to pinpoint where you excel and where you need work.
Interim Assessment
While an interim assessment tends to have a longer observation period than a formative assessment, it still gives you relatively quick feedback that allows you to jump on the road to self-improvement as quickly as possible.
An interim assessment can last days, weeks, or in some cases, even months. You or a third party track your progress in any given area during this time, keeping careful notes on your competencies and your weaknesses.
This type of assessment gives you more data to draw from when it comes time to evaluate yourself. You’ll gain a better idea of what you need to do to improve your performance at work, school, or any other area of life.
During an interim assessment, you can also make changes to yourself in real-time. If you or an observer notices an issue with how you conduct yourself, you have the opportunity to change your behavior, observe yourself carefully, and see if you notice any positive improvements.
Often, interim assessments tend to be more of a formal process than a formative test. Because they can last for a decent length of time, it’s important to keep careful records. Otherwise, you may end up forgetting key findings on your journey to self-improvement. Most interim assessments involve tools such as written projects, essays, multiple-choice tests, and more.
Summative Assessment
Because formative and interim assessments offer near-immediate feedback, they provide a solution for change in the short-term. However, if you’re looking to evaluate your progress in the long-term, these types of assessments may not be the right choice for you.
Instead of observing you as you work or learn, a summative assessment looks at the end result of your efforts towards self-improvement. You look at your progress to see if your end goals have been reached, whether they might be personal, professional, or academic.
It’s not always easy to definitively measure whether your desired outcome has been reached. Often, our goals are more qualitative than quantitative. Most summative assessments compare your progress after a period of work against a standard or benchmark.
A summative assessment offers a long-term approach to looking at performance in school, in the workplace, and beyond. It can help you as an individual to see where you need to concentrate your efforts for improvement in the future.
What’s more, summative assessments can help institutions and businesses learn how to better serve the public. By seeking feedback from those they serve, schools, companies, government bodies, and more can figure out how to improve and streamline their practices in the long-term.
Confirmative Assessment
A confirmative assessment is similar to a summative assessment in that it analyzes performance data often years after the fact. This type of evaluation is designed to offer an even longer-term picture of a person or institution’s performance.
For example, a school may have a confirmative assessment for its alumni to see if teaching methods used years ago were effective in the long run. They may test to see if students remember information or concepts that they learned years ago. In this way, schools can check to see if their teaching policies not only help students to memorize information in the short-term but to understand it on a deeper level.
Methods of Assessment
While there are different types of assessments based on the timeframe, scope, and feedback given, assessments also differ on how they measure performance. There are three main types of assessments that compare individuals against a variety of different standards.
Norm-Referenced Assessment
As the name suggests, a norm-referenced assessment compares a person’s average against the average norm for people in their grade, age range, profession, or any other metric. Norm-referenced assessments are often highly subjective, but can still be an invaluable evaluation tool.
Many schools rely on norm-referenced assessments to give students fair grades, especially when they reach higher levels of education. A grading curve, for example, helps to ensure that an overly difficult test doesn’t skew the class average.
Companies also use norms set by other employees, or by divisions in companies within the same field. They use these numbers to ensure that their own employees are keeping up with industry standards and that the company doesn’t fall behind the competition. By evaluating employee performance in this way, businesses can root out productivity problems before they spiral out of control.
Criterion-Referenced Assessment
Unlike a norm-referenced assessment, a criterion-referenced assessment tends to be less objective and more quantitative in nature. This type of evaluation is based on predetermined learning criteria or a specific set of standards.
This type of assessment is most often used to see whether or not someone possesses a certain body of knowledge or a particular skill set. In education, it can help teachers to see if their curriculum is effective and if their students are on par with others in their grade level. In industry, it can help companies to know if their employees are all up to snuff in their area of expertise.
Many of us are familiar with the criterion-referenced assessment. Most schools that use an A to F grading scale rely on universal standards for percentages that match each letter grade. Some companies also offer similar work scores for employees who are being assessed.
Ipsative Assessment
While norm- and criterion-referenced assessments measure your progress against that of others, an ipsative assessment pits you against yourself. You measure your current progress against your previous performance to see how much you’ve grown.
One of the most common ways to perform an ipsative assessment is by recording goals and giving yourself a set amount of time in which to achieve them. For example, you may want to raise your grade by a letter or gain a promotion before the year is out.
After some time has elapsed, you can reflect and see if you’ve accomplished your goals. If not, you can evaluate your actions and see where you may have gone wrong. This will help you to continue growing as a person, eventually becoming who you need to be to achieve your dreams.
While norm- and criterion-based assessments can make people feel demotivated or inferior compared to their peers, an ipsative assessment doesn’t usually affect self-confidence. Even if you are behind the others around you, this type of evaluation lets you know that you’re still improving at your own unique pace.
Standardized vs. Alternative Assessments
Standardized assessments are commonly used in schools to check the progress of students against others in the area, or even throughout the country. In a standardized test, every person in a group of participants offers the same questions. In schools, standardized tests are often divided up by grade level.
The entire test is standardized, which means that all participants are expected to take it under the same conditions. This helps to eliminate any extraneous variables that may give one group an unfair advantage over another. Factors such as the length of the test, the time of year in which it’s taken, and even the instructions given are the same for every test taker across the board.
Alternative assessments, on the other hand, have no set scale for analysis. These evaluations, also known as authentic, performance, or comprehensive assessments, are different based on who is giving and taking the evaluation. They can be tailored to suit a particular individual or area as needed, making them a versatile testing choice. There are many different common methods of alternative assessment, including:
- Observation: Simply watching someone can give you great insight into their behavior. Whether you observe yourself or have someone else do it, doing so can help you to figure out areas where you need to improve yourself.
- Essays: Sometimes, it can help to put things in writing. An essay assessment can help you to put how you think and feel into words, giving you a deeper understanding of your inner workings.
- Interviews: Interviewing is another great way to get in touch with yourself. Answering interview questions forces you to take a close look at your life, and often, to think about things more objectively. You don’t necessarily have to enlist the help of another, but can also think up challenging questions with which to interview yourself.
- Performance: Artwork is one of the purest forms of self-expression, helping us to get in touch with and understand ourselves. You can assess your emotional and mental state by practicing dance, singing, painting, sculpting, and much more.
- Journals: During a long-term assessment, it can help to keep daily logs to monitor your progress. Keeping a journal is a great way to assess yourself and your progress over time, especially in an emotional sense.
- Open-Ended Tests: Not all tests have to be standardized or even multiple choice. Teachers can use tests with open-ended questions to give them unique and individual material to assess.
Assessment in the Classroom
Assessment is an important part of schooling at any age, from kindergarten to college. It affects just about every facet of our modern education system, including issues such as:
- Assigning grades for end-of-term reports
- Grade placement
- Advancement of gifted students
- Special accommodations for students in need
- Teaching support
- Curriculum outlines
- State and federal funding
Assessment is the best possible way to get students to demonstrate their understanding of any new course matter. Without proper assessments, it’s impossible to tell how a student is doing and if they’re retaining the necessary information from one grade level to the next. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of any individual or those of an entire classroom.
Evaluation in school is about more than just grades and funding, however. It’s a way to improve instruction from teachers of all experience levels to promote a more effective learning environment. A thorough student assessment can let faculty know if education standards are being met, and if not, help schools to set new goals for their students. Future assessments can determine if these goals are being met.
Most students are used to receiving assessments from their teacher in the form of grades, gold stars, and more. However, some schools also encourage peer assessment. Students observe and analyze each other in the same way that their teacher might, then give feedback on performance or progress. Peer evaluations not only offer invaluable insights but also help younger students to hone their evaluation skills.
Once students are old enough to observe themselves objectively, they can practice self-evaluation. Unfortunately, many of us tend to be a little bit lenient when it comes to judging ourselves. It’s important that a student is mature enough to consider both their strengths and their drawbacks before asking them to perform a self-evaluation.
Students aren’t the only ones in the education system who can benefit from an assessment. Many schools hold teacher evaluations to determine how both students and administration perceive an educator’s performance. This can let a teacher know if those around them feel that their methods are effective, and offer up solutions for change if not.
Many schools have their students evaluate their teachers each semester or on an annual basis. This allows them to keep up with how well their staff is meeting the needs of their students and address any growing issues early on in the game. Teacher evaluations also help the administration to create better instruction for students and help them to keep up with their academic peers.
Assessment at Work
Assessments don’t stop when we leave school and enter the workforce. Employee evaluation is an important part of just about any career, used to measure job performance using measures such as competence, work ethic, and social-emotional intelligence scores.
A well-designed evaluation can help a company to assess any given employee’s strengths and weaknesses. By knowing a person’s unique skill set, management can place that person in just the right role. Evaluations help to ensure that every individual in a company is working a job that’s suited to their talents. This helps to reduce waste and redundancy while making for happier, more productive workers.
Assessments can also gauge the effectiveness of work teams. Group evaluations test to see how well given people are able to work together and whether or not their skills complement each other. Through evaluations, companies can work to build stronger, more cohesive departments.
Because evaluations can point out the strengths and weaknesses of both individuals and teams, they’re a helpful tool when it comes to employee training and development. By knowing what a team needs to work on, management can arrange for the right type of on-site or online training for their workforce. Similarly, they avoid wasting company time and money by training employees in areas where they already excel.
In general, employee training refers to teaching workers a completely new set of skills. Development, on the other hand, builds on the existing knowledge of an employee. Both can help to create a happier and more productive workforce.
It’s a good idea to evaluate employees during and after a training session to ensure that they’ve met the goals of the course. If employees struggle to retain information or hone their new skills, management may need to find a different training course for more long-lasting results.
Evaluations go far beyond training courses in the workplace, however. They’re a constant affair. Many businesses continuously monitor the performance of their employees and compare it against industry or company standards. All employees are expected to meet certain minimum requirements to keep their division running smoothly. For example, some employees may be expected to deliver presentations each quarter, while others may be expected to hit certain annual numbers.
A proper assessment is the only way that companies can discern which employees aren’t meeting their standards. This allows them to go on and organize training or development programs. An employer who doesn’t evaluate his or her employees is responsible for any drops in productivity that could be solved with a simple training session.
Assessments in the workplace don’t necessarily have to focus on a person’s weaknesses or lack of technical knowledge. Companies can also use employee evaluation as a tool to motivate, recognize, and reward hard-working employees.
Assessments can offer motivation by showing employees how well they’re doing, either compared to their past selves or to their peers. Even if they’re not doing as well as expected, a well-made assessment can show employees just how easy it is to make the changes that they need to reach their career goals.
Similarly, bosses and managers can look at employee evaluations to single out those who have shown exceptional performance or progress over time. They may consider high-performing employees for additional duties or promotions to higher roles. Many companies also consider employee evaluations when considering salary or yearly raises. Dedicated employees are more likely to keep up the hard work if they see a direct correlation between the hours they put in and their pay.
Companies don’t just use assessments for existing employees. Many have procedures for hiring new employees where they compare the two on particular, quantifiable metrics. This can be easier and fairer than traditional hiring practices, which rely primarily on an applicant’s resume and cover letter. This can give certain candidates a powerful lead, even if they’re less qualified than the competition.
Instead, using a standardized assessment for all new applicants allows a company to look at potential employees objectively. They can see how two individuals compare on important performance metrics and hire accordingly.
Evaluation in the business world works both ways. It’s not just employers who evaluate their employees. Many companies also value the feedback of their workers. It can help them learn how to streamline company processes and minimize wasted time, money, and energy. Engaging employees also helps them to feel happier, more productive, and decrease turnover rates in the workplace.
The Bottom Line on Assessments
Assessments are an important part of life for all of us, from the time we hit school to the time we retire from a lifelong career. While there are many different types of assessments that rely on a whole host of different metrics to evaluate, they all serve a similar purpose.
Constantly assessing ourselves helps us to keep sight of our strengths and weaknesses, guiding us as we work our way down the road towards self-improvement. Without the ability to step back and look at ourselves critically, we will never know what changes we need to make to achieve our goals. Evaluating ourselves and having others assess us from their own perspective is the best way to gain insight into your full potential.