What type of assessment evaluates student performance using real-world scenarios?

Performance-based assessment is designed to evaluate student skills and knowledge by having them engage in real-world scenarios. This type of assessment focuses on students demonstrating their abilities in practical situations that mimic the tasks they would encounter in the field or a related context. By utilizing realistic tasks, performance-based assessments provide insight into how well the student can apply what they have learned in a meaningful way.

This approach encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and the ability to transfer knowledge to practical applications. Unlike standardized testing, which often relies on multiple-choice questions and measures a narrow range of knowledge, performance-based assessments reflect a broader understanding of subject matter and the capability to execute skills in practice.

Formative assessments, on the other hand, are more focused on monitoring student learning to provide ongoing feedback for improvement during the instructional process, rather than a final evaluation. Summative assessments generally take place at the end of a learning cycle to evaluate what students have learned, typically through various methodologies, however, they may not always involve real-world applications as directly as performance-based assessments do.