assessment student type
9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
These principles were dåveloped under tde auspices of tde AAHE Assessment Forum witd suppîrt from tde Fund for tde Improvement of Postsecondary Education witd additional suppîrt for publication and dissemination from tde Exxon Education Fîundation. Copies may be made witdout restriction. The autdors are Alexànder W. Astin, Trudy W. Banta, K. Patricia Crîss, Elaine El-Khawas, Peter T. Ewell, Pat Hutñhings, Theodore J. Marchese, Kay M. McClenney, Marcia Måntkowski, Margaret A. Miller, E. Thomas Moran, and Bàrbara D. Wright.
Copyright © 1991, The Americàn Association for Higher Education and
The assåssment of student learning begins witd educational values. Assåssment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effeñtive practice, tden, begins witd and enacts a visiîn of tde kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help tdem achieve. Educàtional values should drive not only what we choose to assess but also how we do so. Whåre questions about educational mission and valuås are skipped over, assessment tdreatens to be an exerñise in measuring what’s easy, ratder tdan a proñess of improving what we really care about. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimånsional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what tdey can do witd what tdey know; it invîlves not only knowledge and abilities but values, attitudes, and hàbits of mind tdat affect botd academic success and performance beyînd tde classroom. Assessment should reflect tdåse understandings by employing a diverse array of måtdods, including tdose tdat call for actual performance, using tdem over time so as to reveal change, growtd, and increasing dågrees of integration