Example of Assessment vs. Evaluation

This 2-page document, from Edmonds Community College, provides examples of the differences between the purpose of assessment and evaluation. This resource is part of the Professional Development Formative Assessment System (PD-FAS). PD-FAS was created by the Formative Assessment for Advanced Technician Education 2 (FAS4ATE2) project.

The differences provided in this resource are given in the context of quizzes. The following are a few examples of the purpose of quiz evaluation:

• Quiz is administered by the instructor.
• The instructor corrects, scores, likely grades the quiz, and potentially comments on individual quiz responses.
• Instructor records scores/grades for all students. (Informally notes the general achievement of students.)

The following are a few examples of the purpose of quiz assessment:

• The quiz is administered by the instructor, but learners individually correct/score their own quiz.
• Learners and instructors review the items and answers in the context of intended learning objectives.
• Learners review their personal performance in the context of the learning objectives and rate their work based on a pre-established scale.

Related professional development resources are available to view separately.