Question: Who is the audience of an assessment prompt?
 
Answer: Your students. So, keep your audience in mind when writing your assessment prompt. Be sure to:

• Use developmentally appropriate vocabulary. For example, you can use “disregard” with 10th graders, but not with 6th graders.
• Keep your assessment prompt to 75 words or less. That’s right, 75 words or less. Meaning, 75 words for high schoolers and less for lower grades.

Question: Who is not the audience of an assessment prompt?
 
Answer: You, the teacher. You are the author of the assessment prompt, not the audience. Implications?

• The assessment prompt doesn’t need to be teacher-friendly. For example, the assessment prompt doesn’t need to be written using vocabulary words that are developmentally appropriate for you.
• The goal is not to have an assessment prompt that makes sense to you, the teacher. The goal is to have an assessment prompt that makes sense to your students.

Question: What does a student-friendly assessment prompt look like?
 
Answer: The following 3 assessment prompts use developmentally appropriate vocabulary and are 28-56 words in length.

• Grade 6: Presentation (5-7 minutes)—Teach your classmates about the aspect of ancient Egyptian culture/history you researched. Show what the Bible teaches about it and how it connects to you.
• Grade 8: Presentation—Give a 5-minute presentation on a piece of electricity-related technology in which you present the electrical device, the science of how it works, and a response to the following questions: How has this device impacted society? What’s a Biblical perspective of that impact?
• Grade 10: Essay (750 words)—How significant a part of what’s wrong with the world is the tendency to disregard the human dignity of others, and how should a Christian respond? Support your answer with (1) examples from literature, history/current events, and your own experience, and (2) the Biblical principles of respecting God’s image bearers and loving our neighbors.

Bottom line: Make you assessment prompt student-friendly in terms of vocabulary and length (75 words or less). Today.