MATCHING LEARNING TARGETS WITH ASSESSMENT METHODS
In an outcome-based approach, teaching methods and resources that are used to support learning as
well as assessment task and rubrics are explicitly linked to the program and course learning outcomes.
Biggs and Tang (2007) call this constructive alignment.
Constructive alignment provides "how-to" by verifying that the teaching-learning activities (TLAS) and
the assessment tasks (Ats) activate the same verbs as in ILOs. Hence, it is vital that the teacher considers
the domain learning and the level of thinking he/she would like to measure.
Learning Targets and Assessment Methods (McMillan,2007)
A learning target is defined as a description performance that includes what learners should know and
be able to do. It contains the criteria used to judge student performance. It is derived from national and
local standards. This definition is similar to that of the learning outcome.
*Knowledge and simple understanding Pertains to mastery of substantive subject matter and
procedures in the revise Bloom’s taxonomy, this covers the lower order thinking skills of remembering,
understanding and applying.
*Deep understanding and reasoning Involve higher order thinking skills of analyzing, evaluating and
synthesizing.
*To asses skills, performance assessment is obviously the superior assessment method.When used in
real-life and meaningful context, it becomes an “authentic assessment”.
*Products are most adequately assessed through performance tasks.
*Student affect cannot be assessed simply by selected-response or brief-constructed response tests.