Assessment FOR creativity is classroom assessment that is supportive of students’ developing creativity. This is different from efforts to assess creativity itself (assessment OF creativity). While assessment of creativity may be most often used for specialized programs or purposes, assessment for creativity should be part of the fabric of every day classroom life.
In designing assessment for creativity, we consider the factors that are most supportive of learning, creativity, and intrinsic motivation and work to bring them together in the ways we assess students. Assessment for creativity has at least three characteristics.
- Assessment FOR creativity builds intrinsic motivation through a sense of increasing competence. This requires the wise use of diagnostic and formative assessments, as well as appropriate feedback.
- Assessment FOR creativity provides opportunities to use content in new ways, through examining multiple perspectives, solving problems, and applying ideas in original situations.
- Assessment FOR creativity builds intrinsic motivation through the use of choice and meaningful tasks.
If you’d like to read more, this series of posts gives a bit more detail on each characteristic. As you can see, the third characteristic was broken into two posts.