Objective Assessments

The question is, "are tests the only objective assessment of student learning?"  My original thought to this questions was, "no way!"  But then I keyed in on the word, "objective."  So much of what I do in assessments is subjective with performance assessments and project based learning.  Even with a rubric, when I grade the performance/project, it is still my opinion.  We see this when we go and complete and students get a different rating from three different judges for the same performance.

But, tests can we written in a way that are not objective.  Some tests are written to trick the taker or the questions are so muddled it is difficult to figure out what is being asked.  But if written in a straightforward manner, I do think that tests are the only objective assessment.  But, I don't think that they are the best type of assessment of student learning.  Personally, I feel that there needs to be a combination of assessment types, objective and subjective, to fully test student learning.  That way different learning styles are addressed through the assessment.

Picture from http://assessmentbasics.wikispaces.com/Principles+of+Assessment