Which practice best demonstrates alignment of instruction with assessment?

• A. Isolating assessments from learning targets.
• B. Using assessments that do not reflect learning targets.
• C. Mapping each learning target to assessment evidence and explaining how tasks measure the target.
• D. Administering random quizzes without tie to targets.

Answer: (C)

Aligning instruction with assessment means every task you give students is purposefully connected to what you want them to learn, so the evidence you collect actually shows whether they have met those targets. The best choice maps each learning target to assessment evidence and explains how each task measures that target. This makes the link explicit: instructional activities target specific outcomes, the assessments collect evidence that directly reflects those outcomes, and you can interpret the results to determine if mastery occurred. For example, if the target is that students can explain the causes of a historical event, the assessments should require explanations of those causes and show how each task demonstrates the target. Choices that separate assessments from targets, or rely on tasks that don’t reflect the targets or have no clear tie to them, won’t provide valid evidence of learning and won’t support instructional decisions.