In this guide
A teacher sets a test on Friday, marks it on Monday, enters the marks in a register and moves on to the next chapter. The test measured something. But did it help any child learn? CTET keeps returning to that question, because the syllabus asks for "distinction between assessment for learning and assessment of learning", "school-based assessment", "continuous and comprehensive evaluation" and "formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness levels of learners".
Expect scenario questions that describe what a teacher does and ask you to name the kind of assessment, and questions on the purpose of CCE, portfolios, rubrics and feedback. The principle behind almost every correct option: assessment exists to improve learning, not just to record it.
Three purposes of assessment
| Type | Purpose | Who uses the information | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment for learning | To find gaps and adjust teaching while learning is happening | Teacher and learner | Asking questions mid-lesson; feedback on a draft; exit slips |
| Assessment of learning | To judge and report what has been learnt at the end | Teacher, parents, school | Term-end exam, unit test, board exam |
| Assessment as learning | To help learners monitor and direct their own learning | Learner | Self-assessment with a checklist; peer review; learning journals |
"As learning" is the one children do themselves. It builds metacognition: thinking about one's own thinking.
Formative, summative and diagnostic
| Point | Formative | Summative | Diagnostic |
|---|---|---|---|
| When | During teaching | At the end of a unit or term | Before teaching, or when a difficulty appears |
| Main question | "How is it going, and what next?" | "How much was learnt?" | "What exactly is the difficulty, and why?" |
| Nature | Ongoing, informal, low stakes | Formal, graded | Focused, detailed |
| Link | Mostly assessment for learning | Mostly assessment of learning | Leads to remedial teaching |
A placement assessment, a fourth kind, places a learner at the right starting level.
Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced
- Norm-referenced: compares a child with others ("came 5th in class", percentiles). Good for selection; poor for learning.
- Criterion-referenced: compares a child's performance with a fixed standard ("can add two-digit numbers with regrouping"). This is what learning outcomes and CCE favour.
Continuous and comprehensive evaluation
The RTE Act, 2009 lists "comprehensive and continuous evaluation of the child's understanding of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same" among the things the academic authority must consider when laying down curriculum and evaluation. The two words mean:
- Continuous: assessment is spread across the year and built into teaching, not saved for exams.
- Comprehensive: it covers all areas of development: scholastic (subjects) and co-scholastic (health, arts, attitudes, values, social skills).
CBSE ran a formal CCE scheme for some years and later withdrew it, but the principle stays in CTET and in NEP 2020.
What NEP 2020 changes
NEP 2020 asks for a shift from summative assessment that tests rote memory to regular, formative, competency-based assessment that tests higher-order skills such as analysis, critical thinking and conceptual clarity. Points worth knowing:
- A holistic, 360-degree progress card that includes self-assessment and peer assessment alongside the teacher's assessment.
- School examinations in Grades 3, 5 and 8 conducted by the appropriate authority, to track progress rather than to rank.
- Board exams redesigned to test core capacities, with the option of taking them more than once.
- PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) as a national assessment centre that sets norms and standards.
Bloom's taxonomy for framing questions
Benjamin Bloom and colleagues published a taxonomy of educational objectives in 1956. Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl revised it in 2001, changing nouns into verbs and placing "create" at the top.
| Level (revised, 2001) | Original (1956) | Sample question on plants |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Remember | Knowledge | Name the parts of a plant. |
| 2. Understand | Comprehension | Explain why leaves are green. |
| 3. Apply | Application | Which plant would grow best in a dark corner, and why? |
| 4. Analyse | Analysis | Compare how a cactus and a lotus are adapted to their surroundings. |
| 5. Evaluate | Evaluation | Is cutting trees for a road justified? Give reasons. |
| 6. Create | Synthesis | Design a school garden plan for a dry area. |
The 1956 order ends with synthesis then evaluation; the revised order ends with evaluate then create. CTET has asked both, so read the question carefully.
Tools and techniques
| Tool | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Observation | Watching children during activities | Skills, attitudes, participation |
| Anecdotal record | Brief, factual note of a significant incident | Behaviour and development over time |
| Checklist | Yes/no list of behaviours or steps | Quick checks: "can measure with a ruler" |
| Rating scale | Degree of a quality, such as 1–5 | Participation, presentation |
| Rubric | Criteria with a description of each level of quality | Projects, writing, fair and transparent marking |
| Portfolio | Collection of a child's work over time, often with reflections | Showing progress and growth |
| Self- and peer-assessment | Learners judge their own or each other's work against criteria | Assessment as learning |
| Concept map | Learner links ideas in a diagram | Checking understanding of relationships |
| Oral questions, projects, quizzes | Varied tasks | Different ways to show learning |
A good assessment is valid (it measures what it claims to) and reliable (it gives consistent results).
Feedback that helps
- Specific: "Your second paragraph needs an example" beats "Good" or "Poor".
- Timely: while the child can still act on it.
- About the task, not the child. Avoid "you are careless".
- Forward-looking: says what to do next.
- Descriptive before numeric: comments help more than marks alone.
Worked classroom questions
Scenario 1
At the end of a lesson, each child writes on a slip one thing they learnt and one question they still have. The teacher reads the slips and plans the next day's lesson. This is:
(a) assessment of learning (b) assessment for learning (c) summative assessment (d) placement
Best answer: (b). The information is used to adjust teaching.
Scenario 2
A teacher wants to know why several children write 45 + 38 = 713. The teacher gives them a few carefully chosen sums and talks to each child about their steps. This is:
(a) diagnostic assessment (b) summative assessment (c) norm-referenced testing (d) placement
Best answer: (a). The children add each column separately (5 + 8 = 13, 4 + 3 = 7) and write 7 and 13 side by side, without regrouping. The correct answer is 83. Diagnosis leads to remedial teaching on place value.
Scenario 3
"Suggest a new ending for the story" belongs to which level of the revised Bloom's taxonomy?
Answer: Create, the top level.
Practice MCQs
Q1. Assessment as learning mainly involves:
(a) board exams (b) standardised tests (c) teachers ranking students (d) learners reflecting on and monitoring their own learning
Q2. The main purpose of formative assessment is to:
(a) improve teaching and learning during the process (b) grade students (c) promote students (d) compare schools
Q3. "Comprehensive" in CCE refers to:
(a) testing the full syllabus
(b) using only written tests
(c) testing throughout the year
(d) covering scholastic and co-scholastic areas of development
Q4. A portfolio is most useful for:
(a) ranking children
(b) testing memory
(c) showing a child's progress over time
(d) selecting children for admission
Q5. In the revised Bloom's taxonomy, the highest level is:
(a) evaluate (b) analyse (c) create (d) synthesis
Q6. A tool that lists criteria and describes levels of quality for each is a:
(a) checklist (b) rubric (c) anecdotal record (d) cumulative record
Q7. Which is an example of criterion-referenced assessment?
(a) "The child can read a short paragraph aloud with expression"
(b) "The child came third in class"
(c) "The child is in the top 10 percentile"
(d) "The child scored above average"
Q8. NEP 2020 recommends a holistic progress card that includes:
(a) only board marks
(b) only attendance
(c) self-, peer- and teacher assessment
(d) only co-scholastic grades
Answers
- (d).
- (a).
- (d). "Continuous" is (c).
- (c).
- (c). Synthesis belongs to the 1956 version.
- (b).
- (a). It is judged against a standard, not other children.
- (c).
What to do next
- Draw the for/of/as table and the formative/summative/diagnostic table from memory.
- Write one question at each Bloom level for a chapter you will teach.
- Make a four-level rubric for a Class 5 poster.
- Read RTE, NEP and NCF for CTET to connect assessment with policy.
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Central Board of Secondary Education website .
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