Standards-based assessment

In an educational setting, standards-based assessment is assessment that relies on the evaluation of student understanding with respect to agreed-upon standards, also known as "outcomes". The standards set the criteria for the successful demonstration of the understanding of a concept or skill.

In the standards-based paradigm, students have the freedom to demonstrate understanding in diverse ways, including (but not limited to) selected response (e.g. multiple choice tests), physical constructions, written responses, and performances. Of course, these are not new types of assessments, nor is the concept of differentiated assessment. The teacher uses all available observations and quantitative information to summarize learning with reference to a specific standard. With these data, a teacher can formulate the steps or actions that can be taken to gain mastery of a particular concept. That is, it aids in assessment for learning.

One of the key aspects of standards-based assessment is post-assessment feedback. The feedback a student receives from this type of assessment does not emphasizes a score, percentage, or statistical average, but information about the expectations of performance as compared to the standard. A standards-based approach does not necessarily dismiss a summative grade, percentage, or a measure of central tendency (such as a mean, or median). However, an assessment that does not reference or give feedback with respect to a standard would not be standards-based. There is a large body of evidence that points to the effectiveness of appropriate feedback.

The purpose of standards-based assessment is to connect evidence of learning to learning outcomes (the standards). When standards are explicit and clear, the learner becomes aware of his/her achievement with reference to the standards, and the teacher may use assessment data to give meaningful feedback to students about this progress. The awareness of one's own learning allows students to point to a specific standard of achievement and so strengthens self-regulation and meta-cognition, two skills generally understood to be effective learning strategies.

A common approach to standards-based assessment (SBA) is:

Example from the British Columbia Grade 3 Curriculum Package (September 2010):

Example from the New Zealand curriculum document Mathematics Standards for Years 1-8, by the end of year 5:

Respectively to the example from the British Columbia Grade 3 Curriculum Package:

A standards-based test is an assessment based on the outcome-based education or performance-based education philosophy. Assessment is a key part of the standards reform movement. The first part is to set new, higher standards to be expected of every student. Then the curriculum must be aligned to the new standards. Finally, the student must be assessed if they meet these standards of what every student "must know and be able to do". In the United States, a high school diploma which is given on passing a high school graduation examination or Certificate of Initial Mastery is awarded only when these standards are achieved. It is fully expected that every child will become proficient in all areas of academic skills by the end of a period, typically 10 years in the United States, but sometimes longer, after the passing of education reform bill by a state legislature. The United States federal government, under No Child Left Behind can further require that all schools must demonstrate improvement among all students, even if they are already all over proficient.

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