Assessment

Assessment takes on many forms in the Jim Thorpe Area School District. The three main types of assessments are detailed below.

Assessment Types

Source: PDE SAS 

Summative assessments …

  • Seek to make an overall judgment of progress made at the end of a defined period of instruction.

  • Occur at the end of a grade level, course, or unit.

  • May be administered at certain grades for purposes of state or local accountability.

  • Examples include:

    • unit tests, projects, speeches, essays, etc.

    • mid-terms

    • final exams

    • state tests (PSSA, Keystones) 

 

Formative assessments…

  • Refer to a process integrated into instruction and learning, rather than a particular kind of assessment.

  • Involve collecting evidence about how student learning is progressing during the course of instruction

  • Provide teachers and students with feedback so that necessary instructional adjustments can be made to support learning.

  • Examples include:

    • questioning strategies

    • active engagement check-ins (i.e. response cards, white boards, think-pair-share)

    • exit tickets

    • analysis of student work based on rubrics and standards

    • journal entries

 

Diagnostic assessments...

  • Provide in-depth information relative to a student's strengths and needs 

  • Is often used to individualize instruction as it pinpoints specific skill deficits and areas for enrichment

  • May be used by teachers to differentiate instruction and by students in order to set personal goals for growth and achievement

  • Examples include: