Teacher-Designed Written Tests

Teacher-designed written tests not only help determine a student's grades, but can also inform and guide a teacher's instruction. They do not provide a complete assessment of students' knowledge, but only one piece of the puzzle.

Students need to know what they are being assessed on as well as how they are being assessed. Teacher-made tests should be thoughtful and well-constructed and should include items at different levels on Bloom's taxonomy, such as knowledge and skill problems, selected-response problems, and constructed-response (or "open-ended") problems, which can be either brief or extended. It is helpful for a teacher to construct the test before teaching a unit in order to help clarify in his or her own mind what are the most important elements.