Developmental of Varied Assessment Tools

ESSAY

By: Reynald Manzano

The word essay has been derived from a
French word ‘essayer’ which means ‘to
try’ or ‘to attempt’.
- Essay test is a test that requires the
student to structure a rather long written
response up to several paragraphs.”
 -William weirsama
ESSAY
Non-objective test.
Allow for assessment of higher
order thinking skill.
Require students to organize
their thoughts on a subject matter
incoherent sentences in order to
inform an audience.
Students are required to write
one or more paragraphs on a
specific topic.
Essay questions can be used to measure
attainment of a variety of objectives.

1. Comparing
-Describe the similarities and
differences between.
-Compare the following methods
for….
2. Relating cause-and-effect
-What are the major causes of ….
-What would be the most likely effects
of….
3. Justifying
-Which of the following
alternatives would you favor and
why?
-Explain why you agree or
disagree with the following
statement.
4. Summarizing
-State the points included in ….
-Briefly summarize the contents
of ….

5. Generalizing
-Formulate several valid
generalizations from the
following data.
-State a set of principles that
can explain the following
events.
6. Inferring
-In the light of the facts presented,
what is most likely to happen when ….
-How would Senator X be more likely
to react to the bomb explosion after
the bar examination last September?

7. Classifying
-Group the following items according
to ….
-What do the following items have in
common?
8. Applying
-Using the principles of ____________
as guide, describe how you would solve
the following problem situation.
-Describe a situation that illustrates
the principles of __________.

9. Analyzing
-Describe the reasoning errors in the
following paragraphs.
-List and describe the main
characteristics of ….
10.Evaluating
-Describe the strengths and
weakness of the following….
-using the criteria developed in
class, write an evaluation of…..

11.Creating
-make up a story describing what
would happen if …
Design a plan to prove that…
White a well-organize report that
shows…
TYPES OF ESSAY
 Restricted Essay
 - a short focused response.
 Examples are asking students to “write an example”, “list
three reasons,” or “compare and contrast two techniques.”
Sample Short Response Question
(10th Grade Reading)

How are the jay and the mockingbird different?

Support your answer with details and information from the
article.
Non-Restricted/Extended Essay
 - can be much longer and complex than short responses but
students are encouraged to remain focused and organized.
Sample Extended Response Questions
(5th Grade Science)

Robert is designing a demonstration to display at his school’s science fair. He will

show how changing the position of a fulcrum on a lever changes the amount of
force needed to lift an object. To do this, Robert will use a piece of wood for a
lever and a block of wood to act as fulcrum. He plans to move the fulcrum to
different place on the lever to see how its placement affects the force needed to
lift and object

Part A Identify at least two other actions that would make Robert’s
demonstration
Part B. Explain why each action would improve the demonstration
Rules of thumb which
facilitate the scoring
of essay
Rule 1:
Phrase the direction in
such way that students
are guided on the key
concepts to be
included.
Rule 2:
Inform the
students on the
criteria to be used
for grading their
essays.
Rule 3:
Put a time limit
on the essay test.
Rule 4:
Decide on your
essay grading
system prior to
getting the essay of
your students.
Rule 5:
Evaluate all of the
students’ answers to
one question before
proceeding to the
next question.
Rule 6:
Evaluate answers to
essay questions
without knowing
the identity of the
writer.
Rule 7:
Whenever
possible, have Checking Time!
two or more
persons grade
each answer.
Rule 8:
Do not
provide
optional
questions
Rule 9:
Provide
information about
the value/weight of
the question and
how it will be
scored.
Rule 10:
Emphasize
higher
level
thinking
skills