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Source : Macalester College Terms and Definitions Assessment Over the years, assessment has been used to describe either a process toward improvement, or a process toward accountability, sometimes both. At Macalester, our goal for assessment is the continual improvement in the quality of the curricular and co-curricular programming offered by the College to its students. Following are a few descriptions of assessment that we've found especially useful: "Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning." (Huba and Freed p. 8) "…A systemic and systematic process of examining student work against our standards of judgment, it enables us to determine the fit between what we...

Source : American Public University System Assessment The systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development. (Palomba & Banta, 1999) An ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance. (Angelo, 1995) Benchmarking An actual measurement of group performance against an established standard at defined points along the path toward the standard. Subsequent measurements of group performance use the benchmarks to measure progress toward achievement. (New Horizons for Learning) Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives Si...