Knowledge and Employability Courses Implementation Workshop
Workshop: Assessment
Today our goal is to become familiar with assessment. At the end of this workshop you
will be able to:
 increase your understanding of the purpose of assessment
 identify effective types of assessment
 select effective assessment strategies for different learning scenarios
 increase your awareness of assessment resources.
For this workshop you will need access to the Knowledge and Employability Studio
(Online Guide to Implementation), chart paper or overhead projector and a copy of the
Types of Assessment Chart. Length: approximately 45 minutes.
Introduction
Assessment is the gathering and considering of information about what a student
knows, is able to do and is learning to do. Assessment, evaluation and communication
of student achievement and growth are essential parts of the teaching and learning
process. In small groups, discuss what is effective assessment.
Alternative Introduction
If in a large group, you may wish to try the opener described below.
Ask participants to clap their hands but give no other instructions. Ask participants to
stop and inform them that, based on their clapping, you are now going to rate their
efforts. Assign a variety of marks from high to low with no explanation as to what your
criteria is for evaluation.
Discuss with the group. Ask participants, “How did you feel about being evaluated on
your clapping?” Responses might include that people were unaware they would be
evaluated, participants had no idea what the criteria was for the clapping, it was
frustrating or embarrassing because they didn’t know why they got a low mark, they
didn’t know what was expected.
With the same group, tell them that you are again going to evaluate their clapping ability
but before you begin you would like to collaboratively develop some evaluation criteria.
Possible criteria might include volume, rhythm, originality and variety. Once the
evaluation criteria have been chosen, tell participants that they will be rated on a 4-point
scale with 4 meaning excellent, 3 meaning good, 2 meaning fair and 1 meaning requires
improvement.
Have participants clap their hands again and then rate their efforts. Ask participants how
they felt about being evaluated using established criteria. Responses might include that
they felt confident as they knew how they would be evaluated, they had criteria to guide
their performance and they knew why they received the mark that they did.
This activity demonstrates the importance of communicating to students the purpose of
assessment and developing and sharing criteria with students as a way to facilitate and
enhance learning.
Knowledge and Employability Courses Implementation Workshop
©Alberta Education, 2006
Workshop: Assessment
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Effective assessment:
 is meaningful to both the teacher and students (Will I obtain information about
what my students know or are able to do?)
 motivates students to higher levels of achievement (Could I use this information
to modify my instruction?)
 assists students to develop the capacity for self-assessment (Will this information
be used by the student, or by me, to decide how to improve future student
performance?).
The most effective assessment in Knowledge and Employability courses is continuous,
collaborative, comprehensive and based on clear criteria.
Please refer to the Assessment section located on Level 04 of the Teacher Workstation
of the Knowledge and Employability Studio (Online Guide to Implementation) for the
descriptions of continuous, collaborative, comprehensive and criteria-based.
Categorizing types of assessment activity
1. Individually or in groups, brainstorm the different types of assessment you have
used in your classroom in the past. A chart has been provided for your convenience.
2. Categorize your assessment list based on the types of assessment listed in the chart
at the end of this workshop. Discuss the rationale behind your choices.
3. Read and become familiar with the assessment techniques listed in the Knowledge
and Employability Studio (Online Guide to Implementation).
4. Use this information to help decide which assessment strategy(ies) best suit the
following scenarios described below.
How would you assess if students:
 understand the parts of a paragraph
 are able to follow safety procedures in a science class
 are able to build a picnic table
 are able to give an effective oral presentation
 understand how to convert fractions into decimals
 are able to identify geographical regions of Canada
 are able to set appropriate goals independently
 are organized
 are choosing appropriate academic and occupational courses based on their career
goals
 are succeeding in their off-campus/work experience/workplace practicum.
Culminating Activity
Create three new assessment activities that you will be able to take back to your
classroom. To assist you with this task, please refer to the Knowledge and Employability
Studio (Online Guide to Implementation) Level 04 of the Teacher Workstation for
assessment tools that include criteria for designing performance assessment tasks,
rubrics, checklists.
Knowledge and Employability Courses Implementation Workshop
©Alberta Education, 2006
Workshop: Assessment
Page 2 of 4
Closing Activity
Discuss as a group.



What would you see if you were using a variety of assessment tools and
techniques?
How will you actively involve students in assessment?
How have your views of assessment changed?
Types of Assessment
Continuous
Collaborative
Knowledge and Employability Courses Implementation Workshop
©Alberta Education, 2006
Comprehensive
Criteria-based
Workshop: Assessment
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Additional References
Alberta Assessment Consortium. A Framework for Communicating Student Learning.
Edmonton, AB: Alberta Assessment Consortium, 1999.
———. A Framework for Student Assessment. Edmonton, AB: Alberta Assessment
Consortium, 1997.
———. How to Develop and Use Performance Assessments in the Classroom.
Edmonton, AB: Alberta Assessment Consortium, 2000.
Alberta Education. “Assessment.” Knowledge and Employability Studio (Online Guide
to Implementation), Level 04 Teacher Workstation. 2005.
http://www.learnalberta.ca/content-teacher/kes/pdf/or_ws_tea_03_assess.pdf.
———. “Tools.” Knowledge and Employability Studio (Online Guide to
Implementation), Level 04 Student Workstation. 2005.
http://www.learnalberta.ca/content-teacher/kes/index.html?launch=true.
Evaluating Group Processes. [Video.]
http://www.learnalberta.ca/Launch.aspx?content=%2fcontent%2fellal%2fsmil%2f
evaluatinggroup.smil.
Knowledge and Employability Courses Implementation Workshop
©Alberta Education, 2006
Workshop: Assessment
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