Components of good assessments

A good assessment will compare a student's current knowledge to past knowledge, compare a student's knowledge to that of his peers, and compare a student's knowledge to that of a predetermined goal. All standardized assessment results will include something from the student's past, such as their 8th grade reading scores compared to their 9th grade reading scores. There will be something in the results that say where the student compares to other students, such as their reading ability is in the 80th percentile. Then, there will be something that talks about whether or not the student met objectives pre-determined by the state, such as a student being able to divide fractions at 85% proficiency.