The Difference Between

Assessment and
Evaluation
H. Stephen Straight
Vice Provost for Undergraduate
Education

Teaching Assistant Orientation

28 August 2002

What Is Teaching?

Brainstorm:

Think of different ways to define

teaching.
Write down at least three different
definitions of teaching.
Pair up with someone to choose the
best ONE of your six-plus definitions.
Share your definitions with the group,
one at a time in sequence.

Definitions of Teaching

To present information, insights.

To reveal knowledge or skill.
To help students learn.

NOTE: All of the above can be

accomplished either deliberately or
incidentally.
That is, you can teach by means of explicit
instruction, ongoing guidance, deliberate
modeling, or accidental example.

Ways to Improve Teaching

and Learning

Implement research-based best

practices.
Employ an assessment-informed
model of teaching focused on
measurable student learning
outcomes.

Good Practice in UG
Education (after Arthur Chickering &
Zelda
Gamson 1989)
1. Maximizes
student/faculty contact.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Develops student cooperation.

Uses active learning techniques.
Gives feedback promptly.
Emphasizes time on task.
Communicates high expectations.
Respects learners diversity.

Ways to Improve Teaching

and Learning

Implement research-based best

practices.

Think of at least one way to

implement each item of practice.
Write down each example.
Pair up with the person next to you to
choose the best example of each.
Share your findings with the group.

Ways to Improve Teaching

and Learning

Implement research-based best

practices.
Employ an assessment-informed
model of teaching focused on
measurable student learning
outcomes.

But first we need to distinguish

assessment from evaluation.

Assessment vs. Evaluation

What are the three most striking

differences between the two?
If we had time, Id have you

Think
Write
Pair
Share

Dimensions of Difference
Between Assessment and
Evaluation
Timing

Focus of Measurement
Relationship Between Administrator &
Recipient
Findings, Uses Thereof
Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria,
Measures Thereof
Standards of Measurement
Relation Between Different Objects of A/E

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Timing
Ongoing to Improve
Learning

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Focus of
Measurement

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Focus of
How Learning Is
Measurement
Going

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Administrator/Recipi
ent Relationship

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Administrator/Recipi
ent Relationship

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals
Findings, Uses

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Findings, Uses

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Formative:
Summative: Final
Ongoing to Improve to Gauge Quality
Learning
Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Areas for
at an Overall
Improvement
Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As

Fixed: To Reward

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Process-Oriented: Product-Oriented:
How Learning Is
Whats Been
Going
Learned
Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Areas for
at an Overall
Improvement
Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As

Fixed: To Reward

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Areas for
at an Overall
Improvement
Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As
Problems Are
Clarified

Fixed: To Reward
Success, Punish
Failure

Absolute: Strive for Comparative:

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Areas for
at an Overall
Improvement
Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As
Problems Are
Clarified

Fixed: To Reward
Success, Punish
Failure

Absolute: Strive for Comparative:

Assessment

Evaluation

(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)

Reflective:
Internally Defined
Criteria/Goals

Prescriptive:Extern
al-ly Imposed
Standards

Diagnostic: Identify Judgmental: Arrive

Areas for
at an Overall
Improvement
Grade/Score
Flexible: Adjust As
Problems Are
Clarified

Fixed: To Reward
Success, Punish
Failure

Absolute: Strive for Comparative:

Summary of Differences
Dimension of Difference

Assessment

Evaluation

Timing

Formative

Summative

Focus of Measurement

Process-Oriented

ProductOriented

Relationship Between
Administrator and Recipient

Reflective

Prescriptive

Findings, Uses Thereof

Diagnostic

Judgmental

Ongoing Modifiability of
Criteria, Measures Thereof

Flexible

Fixed

Standards of Measurement

Absolute

Comparative

Relation Between Objects of

A/E

Coperative

Competitive

Assessment vs. Evaluation

If we had time, Id have you Think, Write,

Pair, Share to come up with examples of
assessment and evaluation to show that:
The multidimensionality of the difference
between them, and the variation in each
dimension, result in a very diverse array
of examples, the majority of which are
neither assessment nor evaluation
but rather hybrids.

Ways to Improve Teaching

and Learning

Implement research-based best

practices.

Put the examples into practice.

Employ an assessment-informed
model of teaching focused on
measurable student learning
outcomes.

How to do this?

Employ an assessmentinformed model of

Define learning outcomes (desired by
teaching
teachers and/or learners) well in advance.

Assess progress toward outcomes, by and

for both teacher and learner, continually
during learning.
Evaluate attainment of outcomes rigorously
as each learning opportunity concludes.

Moment-by-moment, meeting-by-meeting,
course-by-course, semester-by-semester.

Measures of Learning

If we had time, Id also have you

examine examples of ways to measure
learning with the aim of showing:
that any measurement of learning can
be used either for assessment or for
evaluation purposes,
but that some measures are better for
one than for the other.

Ways to Improve Teaching

and Learning

Implement research-based best

practices.
Employ an assessment-informed model of
teaching focused on measurable student
learning outcomes.

Be vocal about what youre doing to

improve your teaching and your
students learning and listen to
others stories about what they are
doing.

Five Assessment Principles

(after Thomas Angelo & Patricia Cross
1993)

To improve their
teaching, faculty
must define learning
outcomes and
measure their
attainment.
To improve their
learning, students
must learn how to use
feedback to assess
their own progress (=
self-assessment).

The best assessment

derives from teachers
questions about their
own teaching.
Systematic assessment
can be an intellectually
challenging source of
faculty satisfaction.
Assessment provides
an impetus for active
student involvement, a
proven best practice.

Sources

Chickering & Gamson, Change (the

journal of the Amer Assn for Higher Ed)
Apple, Process education teaching
institute handbook (Pacific Crest)
Angelo & Cross, Classroom assessment
techniques: A handbook for college
teachers, Second edition (Jossey-Bass)

Presenter: Steve Straight

H. Stephen Straight

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education,

Binghamton University - SUNY

Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics

Co-Director, Harpur College Linguistics Program
Associate Director, Center for Research In Translation

mailto:straight@binghamton.edu

607.777.2150 (secretary: Deborah Dunn)

607.777.2824 (private voice mail)
607.777.4831 (fax)