The purpose of assessment at WSU includes:
Assessment of Learning
This is the traditional role of assessment – to provide evidence of achievement of learning outcomes and to certify performance capability.
Assessment for Learning
This includes setting meaningful assessment tasks that engage students in learning the most important knowledge and skills for the subject. Assessment for learning privileges learning as a purpose of assessment.
The Assessment Guide aims to develop:
Assessment Literacy
This can be considered for staff and for students. Assessment literacy for staff is defined as knowledge about how to assess what students know and can do, interpret the results of these assessments, and apply these results to improve student learning and program effectiveness. For students, assessment literacy includes knowledge of the subject assessment function and process. More importantly, it involves the student becoming a confident self-evaluator of their own work, based on constructive feedback from earlier assessment tasks.
These purposes are fundamental to WSU Assessment Policy, and are elaborated in this Assessment Guide.