ProfEd Assessment of Learning — LET Practice Questions

Formative assessment is assessment for learning—it happens while instruction is ongoing and guides teaching decisions. A teacher uses formative assessment to check understanding mid-lesson and adjust instruction accordingly. For example, if a teacher asks students to explain a concept in their own words during a lesson and notices confusion, she can slow down, reteach, or use a different approach before moving forward. This differs from summative assessment, which measures final achievement for grades or certification.

Norm-referenced assessment compares a student's score to the scores of a reference group (norm group), answering the question Where does this student rank relative to peers? A student scoring in the 75th percentile on a norm-referenced test outperforms 75 percent of the comparison group. This approach is useful for identifying relative strengths and selecting advanced learners, but it assumes a comparison group exists. DepEd uses both norm-referenced (for placement, scholarships) and criterion-referenced (for mastery in K-12) assessment.

A test item has two jobs: be at the right difficulty level and separate high performers from low performers. A difficulty index of 0.92 means 92% of students got it right, so almost everyone passes it, making it too easy. But worse, the discrimination index of 0.05 means the item does not separate strong students from weak ones; even weak students are getting it right by luck or because it is trivial. Together, these numbers signal the item is not useful for assessment. For example, if an item is 'What is 2+2?' many will answer correctly, but so will students who just guess. Such items should be discarded to save time on the test and focus on items that reveal true understanding.