80. Ms. Thompson is a third-grade special education teacher. She recently taught a science unit on plants and prepares to give an end-of-the unit assessment on the topic that involves answering some multiple-choice questions and short responses. The final letter grade from this assessment will be used to select students for challenging science projects. Which of the following is the type of assessment the teacher is using?
Answer: C
Ms. Thompson is using a summative assessment.
A summative assessment is used to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. In this case, Ms. Thompson's end-of-unit assessment on plants will determine the final letter grades, which will subsequently be used to select students for challenging science projects.
A) Diagnostic
A diagnostic assessment is designed to identify students' strengths and weaknesses before instruction begins. Since Ms. Thompson is assessing students' knowledge after completing the science unit, this option does not apply.
B) Formative
Formative assessments are conducted during the learning process to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback. Ms. Thompson's assessment is not intended for ongoing feedback but rather for evaluating overall understanding at the end of the unit, making this option incorrect.
C) Summative
A summative assessment measures student learning at the conclusion of an instructional period. Ms. Thompson's assessment fits this definition perfectly, as it aims to determine what students have learned about plants after the unit has been completed.
D) Norm-referenced
Norm-referenced assessments compare a student's performance against a group, often determining relative performance rather than mastery of content. While Ms. Thompson is evaluating student performance, her focus is on grading based on knowledge of the science unit rather than comparing student performance to peers, so this option is not applicable.
Conclusion
The correct answer is summative assessment because it accurately describes the purpose of Ms. Thompson's end-of-unit assessment aimed at evaluating student understanding after instruction. All other options either describe assessments that occur before or during instruction or do not fit the context of grading based on individual mastery of the content.