High Yield Assessment

The current talk about high yield instructional strategies based on the work on Robert Marzano, John Hattie, McRel, CRISS and others must be followed-up with a discussion of effective and high yield assessment strategies. Here are a few of the best ways to know what students know, understand, and can do.
Transparent and Visible Goals
Expected outcomes are clearly and plainly posted at the start of instruction and set the direction for learning. There are check-in points during instruction to make sure learning is moving forward and to confirm understanding. Work-alongs that identify goals and track learning support this strategy.
Feedback
Consistently shown as a high yield strategy, important elements include timeliness, specificity to a target/goal, and non-judgmental yet authentic comments. Feedback that informs correction shows students how to reduce the gap between their achievement and the expected level of performance.
Differentiated
Just as with instruction, there are ways to adjust assessment to meet the needs of diverse learners. Sequence tests in order of difficulty and have stopping points for selected students. Adjust vocabulary assignments for speakers of other languages: They may be required to define the word while other students use it in a storytelling context. Technology-based adaptive tests respond to test takers' answers by adjusting level of difficulty.
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