Assessments must be reliable, providing the same results each time they are administered, and valid, meaning they clearly and accurately test what was taught. Objective assessments are typically multiple choice, true/false or another form of short answer, to which there is only one correct answer. Subjective assessments allow students to expound on the knowledge they have gained and are graded by use of a rubric, which is distributed to students before the assessment to guide their response and make clear how they will be assessed. Assessments should be criterion-referenced to ensure they test the objectives and the correct level of learning. While criterion-referenced assessments provide diagnostics and information on course effectiveness, while norm-referenced assessments rank or categorize students based on their learning.
