Course Overview

Purpose

Most classroom assessments measure recall, recognition, or procedure-following—not thinking. This course teaches educators to design and evaluate assessments that require students to apply judgment, evaluate evidence, make decisions under uncertainty, and transfer knowledge. Participants learn to audit existing assessments, write rigorous items, and build assessment systems that actually tell you whether students can think.

Audience

K-12 teachers, assessment coordinators, instructional coaches, curriculum writers. Especially valuable for anyone who suspects their tests are measuring memory instead of understanding.

Prerequisites

None. No assessment or psychometrics background required.

Estimated Time

6-8 hours

Learning Outcomes

• Distinguish between assessments that measure recall, procedure-following, and genuine thinking, using concrete examples.
• Audit existing assessment items for the cognitive demand they actually require versus the cognitive demand they claim.
• Design scenario-based assessment items that require application of judgment, not just retrieval of facts.
• Write effective distractors that reveal specific misconceptions rather than tricking students.
• Construct assessments with varied item types (MCQ, select-all, matching, sequencing, multi-part) appropriate to the thinking being measured.
• Evaluate assessment items for ambiguity, bias, and alignment to learning objectives.
• Design self-grading assessments that maintain rigor while eliminating the need for manual scoring.
• Use assessment results diagnostically to identify patterns in student thinking, not just assign grades.