Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) provide in-the-moment feedback for students and instructors, from which both parties can make adjustments to improve learning. CATs, a type of formative assessment, are almost always ungraded and anonymous and can be distinguished from other forms of assessment. Angelo & Cross (1993) wrote the book on CATs titled Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers.
Value for faculty
- Purpose: Gain a snapshot of learning/experience at the whole-class level for adjustments to teaching including pacing and focus
- No/Low Stakes: Requires minimal investment of time and effort to design and implement
- Student-Faculty Relationship: Indicates an ethic of care and a willingness to be responsive to student feedback
Value for students
- Purpose: Pause to reflect on learning and provide anonymous feedback to instructor, increasing metacognitive abilities and course improvement
- No/Low Stakes:Allows for a low-stress way to self-assess progress and express points of confusion/questions
- Student-Faculty Relationship: Increases a sense of the learning community and the value of communicating with instructors
50 CATS TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Reference: Angelo, T., and Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
A short, simple questionnaire prepared by instructors for use at the beginning of a course or at the start of new units or topics; can serve as a pretest; and typically elicits more detailed information than CAT2.
Focuses students’ attention on a single important term, name, or concept from a lesson or class session and directs students to list ideas related to the “focus.”
Focus is on uncovering prior knowledge or beliefs that hinder or block new learning; can be designed to uncover incorrect or incomplete knowledge, attitudes, or values.
In a limited amount of time, students complete an empty or partially completed outline of an in-class presentation or homework assignment.
Students complete a table about course content in which row and column headings are complete but cells are empty.
Perhaps the most frequently used CAT; students answer two questions: What was the most important thing you learned during this class? and What important question remains unanswered?
Considered by many as the simplest CAT; students respond to one question: What was the muddiest point in _________ ? Well-suited to large, lower-division courses but not to those that emphasize integration, synthesis, and evaluation.
Students complete a grid containing two or three overarching concepts and a variety of related subordinate elements associated with the larger concepts.
Students categorize concepts according to the presence or absence of important defining features.
Students list pros/cons, costs/benefits, advantages/disadvantages of an issue, and question or value of competing claims.
In an outline form, students analyze the “what” (content), “how” (form), and “why” (function) of a particular message (e.g. poem, newspaper story, billboard, critical essay); also called “What, How, & Why Outlines."
Students write a one- or two-page analysis of a specific problem or issue to help inform a decision-maker.
III. Assessing Skills in Synthesis and Critical Thinking
The CATs in this group focus on synthesis. Each stimulates the student to create and allows the faculty to assess original intellectual products that result from a synthesis of course content and the students' intelligence, judgment, knowledge, and skills.
Students answer the questions: Who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why? about a given topic and then create a single informative, grammatical, and long summary sentence.
Involves a two-part response; first, the student summarizes a short text in a single word. Second, the student writes one or two paragraphs explaining the word choice.
Students simply complete the second half of an analogy (a is to b as x is to y) described as approximate because the rigor of formal logic is not required.
Students draw or diagram the mental connections they make between a major concept and other concepts they have learned.
Students synthesize their knowledge of issues, personalities, and historical periods into the form of a carefully structured illustrative conversation; two levels of invention (select and weave quotes from primary sources or invent reasonable quotes that fit characters and context).
Students assemble a very limited number of examples of creative work and supplement them with their commentary on the significance of examples.
IV. Assessing Skills in Problem-Solving
The CATs in this group focus on problem-solving skills of various kinds – recognition of types of problems, determining principles and techniques to solve, perceiving similarities of problem features, and the ability to reflect and then alter solution strategies.
Students recognize and identify particular problem types.
Students identify principles to solve problems of various types.
Students track in a written format the steps they take to solve problems as if for a “show & tell."
Students work through a problem-solving process and it is captured to allow instructors to assess metacognition (learner’s awareness of and control of thinking).
Students paraphrase part of a lesson for a specific audience demonstrating ability to translate highly specialized information into language the clients or customers can understand.
Students generate examples of real-work applications for important principles, generalizations, theories, or procedures.
Students create test questions and model answers for critical areas of learning.
Students transform and apply their learning into doing by physically modeling a process or representing an image.
Students create a brief plan for a paper or project based on your guiding questions.
Techniques for Assessing Learner Attitudes, Values, and Self-Awareness
VI. Assessing Students' Awareness of Their Attitudes and Values
The CATs in this group are designed to assist teachers in developing students' attitudes, opinions, values, and self-awareness within the course curriculum. Students indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement with a statement or prompt.
Students indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement with a statement or prompt.
Students record and respond to significant passages of text.
Students write a brief description of the characteristics of a person they admire in a field related to the course.
Students respond to a case study that poses a discipline-related ethical dilemma.
Students complete an anonymous survey indicating their level of confidence in mastering the course material.
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VII. Assessing Students' Self-Awareness as Learners
The CATS in this group are recommended to help students express personal goals and clarify self-concept to make a connection between the articulated goals and those of the course.
Students write a brief description of a successful learning experience they had relevant to the course material.
Students complete a checklist survey to indicate their knowledge, skills, and interest in various course topics.
Students list and prioritize between three and five goals they have for their learning in the course.
Students compare themselves with several different “learning styles” profiles to find the most likely match.
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VIII. Assessing Course-Related Learning and Study Skills, Strategies, and Behaviors
The CATS in this group focuses on both student and teacher attention on the behaviors the student actually engages in when trying to learn.
Students complete a study log to record the quantity and quality of time spent studying for a specific course.
Students briefly reflect and then create a written record of their listening level during a lecture. Repeat twice in the same lecture and two to three times over a few weeks.
Students outline the process they take in completing a specified assignment.
Students write to learn by identifying, diagnosing, and prescribing solutions to their learning problems.
On an index card that is distributed in advance, each student responds to an open-ended prompt about his or her mental activity that is answered in less than a minute.
Students respond to a question or short series of questions about the effectiveness of the course.
Students respond to specific questions through a focused feedback form about the effectiveness of a particular class session.
Students respond to three questions related to the student's learning in the course.
A group of groups of students provides the instructor with ongoing assessment of the course through structured interactions.
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X. Assessing Learner Reactions to Class Activities, Assignments, and Materials
The CATs in this group are designed to give teachers information that will help them improve their course materials and assignments.
Students write brief statements that recall, summarize, question, connect, and comment on meaningful points from the previous class.
Students complete a brief survey about how their group is functioning and make suggestions for improving the group process.
Students complete a form that rates the effectiveness of the assigned readings.
Students respond to two or three open-ended questions about the value of an assignment to their learning.
Students provide feedback about an exam's learning value and/or format.