Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation

Assessment is related to the company’s process, whereas evaluation is related to the company’s product. Take a closer look at some of the words in an English dictionary.

You will come across multiple words that have somewhat similar meanings.

This is one of the primary reasons people get confused when using the right word at the correct spot. Using words interchangeably in English has become common in this modern era.

For example, you will often hear people using teachers and professors interchangeably. Another example of the above statement is assessment and evaluation.

Both have meanings that are pretty similar yet have a certain degree of difference in them.

Key Takeaways

1. Assessment is gathering information about a student’s knowledge, skills, and abilities to make decisions about their learning.
2. Evaluation is judging the effectiveness or value of a program, project, or product.
3. The assessment focuses on individual student learning, while evaluation focuses on the overall effectiveness of a program or product.

Assessment vs Evaluation

The difference between Assessment and Evaluation is that assessment is a method used to improve the company’s performance by examining the data. In contrast, evaluation means to check the utility of something with the given criteria or by comparing.

When you talk about assessment, it refers to a technique of compiling data from multiple sources to ascertain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Assessment is also a way by which teachers can understand the right method of improving the road to knowledge for a student.

On the other hand, evaluation concentrates on grades. It is an organized assurance of a person or student’s worth, significance, and merit by following an administered set of standards.

If you wish to put it simply, evaluation is more about making a final judgment about a person’s skills or quality or even importance.

Comparison Table

Parameter of Comparison	Assessment	Evaluation
Definition	Assessment is defined as the process of recording and interpreting various data to come up with a proper measurement of skills, knowledge, and attitude to improve the overall learning experience.	Evaluation is a process of judging someone based on his significance, knowledge, and merit using a set of rules and methods.
Process Continuation	This is a long-term process that continues.	This is a means of ending an ongoing or existing process.
Grade	It is graded.	It is not graded.
Result	The result is always constructive feedback.	The result mainly highlights shortcomings.
Criteria	Criteria are decided by both parties involved in the assessment process through an agreement.	Criteria are decided only by the evaluator.

What is Assessment?

Test or assessment is a term that brings about a sense of fear in every student’s mind. The mere thought about the possible outcome makes every student dive into their books at the last minute.

When you talk about assessment, it means a definite process of accumulating data about a person or even a thing from various sources to get an idea about the subject’s level of skills or knowledge.

There are 3 different types of assessments. These are summative, interim and alternative assessments.

A summative assessment is conducted towards the end of a pre-decided period. Interim assessment is a continuous process during which regular feedback is given to a subject to bring about some improvements.

Lastly, an alternative assessment determines how a person or subject can implement the acquired knowledge during a learning process. The best example of an alternative assessment is the examination system in any educational institution, such as schools and colleges.

What is the Evaluation?

Evaluating a person or something means making a judgment about the person to gauge the subject’s abilities or qualities. The evaluation process can help a program, project, or organization assess a proposal, aim, or alternative in an entire decision-making process.

Although to a layman both the terms assessment and evaluation will appear to be interchangeable and quite similar, there is still a hint of difference between the two.

Unlike an assessment, the results of an evaluation fail to come up with positive feedback. Nonetheless, it still passes judgment.

Main Differences Between Assessment and Evaluation

1. An assessment is a proper method of gathering all the necessary data from various sources to get a definite idea about the knowledge and skills of a person or thing. On the other hand, evaluation is more about making a steady judgment about the skills, importance or even quality of a person or thing.
2. The primary motive behind an assessment is to enhance the quality of an individual’s performance, whereas the purpose of an evaluation is mainly to judge a person’s performance.
3. There are no set standards, and it is a personalized process when it comes to an assessment. On the other hand, an evaluation is carried out against a defined standard.
4. Assessment is mainly pitched towards a process, and evaluation is pithed towards a product.
5. When it comes to a relationship, assessing it between 2 different people is reflective, whereas, in the case of an evaluation, it is perspective.
6. A teacher assesses to develop constructive feedback for the students based on their performances. At the same time, evaluation is mainly carried out by company HRs to get an idea of a candidate’s skills and knowledge.