Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching: Assessment

1.During a lesson, a teacher asks three students to solve one problem on small whiteboards and holds them up. What is this check for?

2.At the end of a three-week unit, students complete a task that is scored and entered as the unit result. What kind of assessment is that?

3.Before a fractions unit, a short quiz shows who can already name a half and who cannot. How should the teacher use it?

4.A teacher keeps notes of what she sees: "11:10, Milo used the tens rod without a prompt." What tool is this?

5.A writing rubric scores ideas, organization, and conventions on separate rows. What kind of scoring is that?

6.A teacher wants one quick judgment of a story's overall effect, not a score for each trait. Which approach fits?

7.Students use a checklist while drafting: topic sentence, two facts, closing. The teacher uses the same list later. What is the checklist good for?

8.A continuum for "explains a character" runs from "names the character" to "explains a change with evidence." How is a continuum different from a single right answer?

9.Students circle on their own paper: "I can do this alone," "I need a hint," or "I am stuck." Then the teacher glances at the marks. What is this?

10.Partners swap explanations and each writes one question the explanation does not yet answer. What is the main benefit, and the main limit?

11.The objective is "measure length to the nearest centimeter." Which assessment matches it most closely?

12.A teacher needs to sample many facts quickly, with answers that can be scored the same way for every student. Which format fits?

13.The teacher wants to see how a student's writing has changed over six weeks. Which collection fits?

14.During a conference the teacher asks, "Which part of this piece are you proud of, and what will you change?" What does the conference add that a score alone does not?

15.A science objective says students will carry out a fair test of two ramps. A written quiz asks only for the definition of "fair." What is the gap?

16.An item about farms is missed by students who have never seen a farm, though they can do the same arithmetic with buses. What is threatened?

17.Two teachers score the same set of essays with the same rubric and give very different scores. What is weak?

18.A student answers 18 of 20 items correctly. The report also says his percentile is 61. Which statement is accurate?

19.A family asks what a grade-equivalent score of 4.2 means for their second grader. What is the careful explanation?

20.A criterion-referenced math check says a student has met the regrouping target and not yet the fraction target. What does that report emphasize?

21.A published reading test reports how a student scored relative to a national group of third graders. What kind of information is that?

22.The class scores are 10, 10, 10, 14, and 40. The teacher wants the typical score, not the one pulled up by 40. Which number should she report as typical?

23.A standardized achievement test and an aptitude test are both in a student's file. Which distinction should the teacher keep straight?

24.A scaled score of 210 this year and 214 next year comes from the same test series. Why not compare the raw scores instead?

25.A family sees a standard deviation noted beside a score and asks what it is. Which explanation is sound?

26.The teacher wants assessment information before a unit, during the unit, and after the unit. Which set matches that order?

27.Informal assessment during reading workshop includes listening to one student read and noting which words he solves. Why keep doing this if a formal test exists?

28.Results of a Friday exit slip show half the class still confuses area and perimeter. The plan for Monday starts a new measurement topic. What should happen?

29.A rubric level says "uses evidence" but does not say how much or what kind. Students and the teacher disagree about scores. What would tighten the rubric?

30.An English learner knows the science content in discussion but misses items with long idioms. The test is meant to measure the science. What adjustment protects that purpose?

31.A student has an accommodation of extended time. On a classroom quiz the teacher says accommodations are only for the state test. What is the error?

32.A teacher gives a test of 10 items, all on one tiny fact, and concludes the student has mastered the whole unit. What is the problem?

33.Observation of sharing during play is used to judge a social goal. The teacher watches only the students nearest her chair. What bias does that introduce?

34.A scoring guide for a poster gives points for required labels and for a stated conclusion, and none for glitter. Why leave glitter out?

35.Students keep a graph of their own weekly reading minutes and accuracy on a short check. The teacher reviews it with them. What is the graph doing?

36.A selected-response item has two choices that are both defensible. Students who understand the idea split between them. What should the teacher do with the item?

37.The mean of a quiz is 8, the median is 9, and the mode is 10, out of 10. A student scored 8. Which comparison is fairest to tell him?

38.A teacher uses the same oral reading record every Friday and looks for a pattern across four weeks, not a single stumble. Why wait for the pattern?

39.When explaining a score to a caregiver, the teacher says, "He can regroup with two digits. He is not yet steady with a zero in the tens." Why is this better than "He's a 72"?

40.A journal entry asks, "What is still confusing about the water cycle?" The teacher reads them and groups students by the confusion. What use of assessment is this?

41.A performance task and a short quiz both claim to measure "explains a cause." Students who explain well aloud do poorly on the quiz because of reading load. What should the teacher conclude?

42.A teacher calculates the class mean after every quiz and never looks at which items were missed. What decision can she not make well?

43.Selected-response items are used to check vocabulary. An essay is used to check whether students can defend a claim. Why not use only one format?

44.A student with a visual impairment cannot see the standard print map on the test of map skills. A tactile map is allowed. What is the tactile map?

45.Peer assessment directions say "be nice" and nothing else. Comments are "good job" or "bad." What is missing?

46.A teacher stores only the final score and throws away the work. A caregiver asks what the child should practice. What limit has the teacher created?

47.Two forms of a quiz are meant to be equivalent. One form uses harder vocabulary for the same math. Students do worse on that form. What should the teacher not claim?

48.A running record shows accurate reading and weak comprehension questions. A word-list score is high. Where should the next lesson focus?

49.A teacher gives feedback as "22/30" with no comment. Students ask what to fix and she says "study." What is weak about the feedback?

50.For a speaking objective, the teacher uses a checklist during short presentations and keeps a recording. Why add the recording?

51.A pretest and a matching posttest use the same skills with different numbers. Most students move from missing regrouping to doing it. What can the teacher reasonably say?

52.A rubric is shared before students draft. Several students aim their revision at the "evidence" row. Why share it early?

53.An age-equivalent score is in a report. A colleague says it means the child "has the mind of a seven-year-old." What is the accurate caution?

54.Students sort their exit slips into "I can teach this" and "I still need a model." The teacher pulls a small group from the second pile the next day. This is assessment used to do what?

55.A teacher notices that items she wrote the night before have two correct answers and unclear wording. When should she have checked them?

56.The same student scores high on a test of taught fraction skills and low on a test labeled aptitude that uses unfamiliar puzzles. What should the teacher not do?

57.A scoring guide awards points for "creativity" with no definition, and two teachers disagree on every paper. Which change best improves consistency?

58.A teacher wants a record of how often a student uses a strategy during math, not a single end score. Which tool fits?

59.Students assess a classmate's explanation using two prompts: "I heard this claim" and "I still need this evidence." Why these prompts?

60.A portfolio includes first drafts the student wanted removed. The teacher keeps them beside the final piece, with the student's note on what changed. Why keep the drafts?

61.A test item uses a sports context the teacher never taught, though the skill was taught with measurement. High-skilled students miss it. What is the likely cause?

62.The teacher reports a raw score of 16 out of 20 and also says the student met 4 of 5 unit targets. Why might she share both?

63.A colleague wants to use one student's standardized score to decide the whole class's reading groups. What is the misuse?

64.Observation notes say "off task" with no time, no task, and no behavior. Why is that note weak?

65.A teacher gives a retake after reteaching, and records the later score because it matches the policy that the goal is the skill. What principle is that?

66.Items at the start of a test are so hard that students quit before later items they could do. What does that do to the results?

67.A family asks the teacher to explain a percentile of 40. Which wording is accurate?

68.The mode of quiz scores is 7, the median is 8, and one student asks "what did most people get?" Which number answers that question?

69.A teacher uses a screening at the start of the year to find students who may need a closer look in reading. What should the screening not be used to do by itself?

70.Students write the answer to one problem and also mark how sure they are. Many are sure and wrong. How can the teacher use the confidence marks?

71.An essay prompt does not say whether students should use evidence from the text. Scores then depend on who guessed that rule. What was missing?

72.A teacher photographs lab setups and scores them with a three-point guide: labeled, fair, measured. Why is the photo useful?

73.Results are shared with a student as "You are below average." He stops trying. What would be a more professional report of the same result?

74.A teacher aligns each quiz item to an objective and finds three items that match no objective. What should happen to those three?

75.Self-assessment ratings are rosy: every student marks "mastered," and the work shows otherwise. What should the teacher add?

76.A test given on Monday and a parallel form on Thursday to the same class, with no teaching in between, produces very different class scores. What does that suggest?

77.A teacher records a percentile and a list of missed phonics patterns. A teammate says only the percentile matters for teaching. What is the better view?

78.During a conference, the teacher does most of the talking and the student leaves with no note. What would make the conference an assessment that teaches?

79.The class mean is high, but three students scored near the bottom on the same two items. A plan that looks only at the mean will miss what?

80.A teacher lets students choose a piece for the portfolio and requires a sentence: "This shows I can ___." Why require the sentence?

81.A quiz is given the period after a lesson, and a similar quiz three weeks later, with no grade attached to the later one. The later scores drop. What might the teacher need?

82.The directions say "explain," but the scoring guide gives full points for a single word. Students who wrote explanations score the same as students who wrote one word. What is misaligned?

83.A teacher uses exit slips, a quiz, and a short performance, and all three show trouble with the same idea. Why is that convergence useful?

84.A student rushes and misses items he answers correctly when given a minute more, and his plan allows extra time. The teacher refuses it on a "quick check." What is the cost?

85.The teacher posts anonymous class results: "Most of us can name the stages. Many of us still mix up two of them." Why keep names off?

86.A rubric row for conventions is weighted as much as the row for the argument in a lesson whose objective is the argument. What is the risk?

87.A teacher tries a new explanation and compares the next day's exit slips with the day before. What is she using the slips to judge?

88.A student copies a definition perfectly and cannot use it on a new example. A test of copying would miss what?

89.The school gives a yearly achievement test in the spring. The teacher also checks the target skill every Friday. Why keep the Friday checks?

90.A teacher changes a student's answers before scoring so the class mean looks higher for a meeting. What professional line has she crossed?

91.A listening objective is checked by a written test the student must read alone. He fails, though he answers the same questions when they are spoken. What is the fix?

92.Students practice with items that look like the later test, and the teacher also teaches the idea with models and new examples. What is the line she should not cross?

93.A range of scores is very wide on a quiz the teacher expected everyone to pass after a week of teaching. What is a reasonable first look?

94.The teacher asks students to bring a piece that shows improvement and a piece that still needs work. What can this pair show that two polished pieces cannot?

95.A score report includes subscores for word reading and for comprehension. The total is average. The comprehension subscore is low. Where should instruction lean?

96.A teacher times a fact quiz and also records which facts were missed. She uses the missed facts for the next practice and does not post times. Why keep times off the wall?

97.Before grading a stack, the teacher scores three papers with a colleague and compares. They adjust a fuzzy level, then score the rest. Why score the three first?

98.A student asks how a project grade was decided. The teacher cannot point to criteria. What should she put in place before the next project?

99.Classroom evidence says a student reads grade-level text. A single subtest from two years ago says he does not. Which evidence should lead tomorrow's book choice?

100.A teacher includes one item that asks students to do the skill in a new situation, not only the example from class. Why include that item?

101.The teacher marks errors on a math page and returns it with no time to correct. Students file the pages and repeat the same errors next week. What was missing?

102.A speaking checklist includes "faces the audience" and "states a reason." A shy student states strong reasons while looking at his notes. How should the two rows be used?

103.The teacher gives the assessment in the morning to one group and after recess to another, and the later group does worse on the same items. What should she consider before concluding they know less?

104.A teacher wants to know if students can collaborate, so she grades only the final poster, which one student may have made. What evidence is missing?

105.Students predict their quiz score, then compare it with the result and write why they were off. What habit is this meant to build?

106.A report shows a high score and a note that several items were not reached. The teacher treats the score as a full measure of the unit. What caution applies?

107.The teacher returns work with codes (A for agreement, E for evidence) that the class has practiced. Students then revise one marked place. Why teach the codes first?

108.At a family meeting the teacher brings the rubric, two dated samples, and one next step. She does not lead with a rank against classmates. Why that set of materials?