This is a program that allows you to help design, develop, use, and evaluate educational tests and other devices used to evaluate student learning and progress. You will learn how to apply the data and analyze the development of the students and the educational programs. This will allow you to gather the information needed to plan and develop more effective tests and techniques to help students grow and develop.
Every school will have different major requirements, but some courses you may take include: instruction in evaluation theory, evaluation research design and planning, data analysis, data interpretation, data reporting, research evaluation, test implantation, economics, and policy.
Concentrations in this major include: Educational Evaluation and Research, Educational Statistics and Research Methods, Educational Assessment, Testing, and Measurement, Learning Sciences, and other types of Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research.
Required Skills
This is a good path for people who are attracted to the education field, but do not want to work directly with students every day. You should like to work with data and statistics and be interested in analyzing and researching. Not only should you like to gather the information, but in this field you should have the desire to take your findings and figure out how to update and manipulate the current programs in order to make them more effective and more efficient. It is important to be able to think logically and clearly.
Communication skills are important. You will find it necessary to explain the changes that need to be made in order to create more effective assessments to measure success for both students and teachers.
Careers
This field will prepare you to go into the educational testing world. You could work with companies like Pearson, ETS (Educational Testing Service), or the state for state examinations. You may work directly with data or you could be researching more effective ways to teach or test. This major will not prepare you for just one specific career path.
Here is a small sample of the careers that a degree in Educational Assessment might open up.
