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High-Stakes Assessment


High-stakes assessment of student learning often involves the evaluation of a student's final "product," whether it is a term paper, final exam, or collaborative project. Students will be better prepared for high-stakes assessment by providing them with frequent and timely low-stakes assignments.


SOme Characteristics of high-stakes assessment

  • Encourages synthesis across an entire course or discipline
  • Requires creation of discipline-specific products (reasearch papers, presentations)
  • Is often summative, requiring demonstration of the degree to which students have learned key course concepts and skills
  • Usually represents a larger percentage of the course grade

Examples of High-Stakes Assignments

Beginning with sample course learning goals, the following chart can help you identify an effective high-stakes classroom assessment or appropriate types of questions.

If you want to assess students’… then assign or give
Ability to define key course terminology and/or recall factual information
Synthesis of key course concepts
Application of discrete research, technical, performance, or meta-cognitive skills
Ability to transfer knowledge or skills and apply them to new situations
Creation of new knowledge
  • Creative projects, e.g., original videos, artwork, or websites
  • Presentations
  • Research projects
  • Thesis or dissertation
  • Original literary written assignments
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