Evaluation has been done formally and informally for centuries. New tools and techniques have made it more efficient. The purpose should not be to instill fear but rather to provide a time for knowing whether the most important knowledge, skills, processes, and attitudes and values have been learned and whether students have moved beyond the basic areas into new and challenging ones. The most common means has been to administer a multiple-choice or essay examination. Young children may need items using symbols or pictures. Creativity in the construction of test items prepares students to respond in other ways. Placing the examination on a computer may be an option some teachers have. An individual conference with each student is ideal but usually not realistic after every unit in every subject area.
Most of the items should match major objectives and hopefully the majority of students would have mastered these. Some items would represent those areas that extended into the special and unique aspects of the topic and would have been mastered by at least a portion of the class if teaching and learning has been effective.
If portfolios have been used a teacher might do a final examination of what has been collected.