• ...is an important factor/concept/idea/ to consider because...
• … will be argued/outlined in this paper.
Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work. Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.
As can be seen in the figure above there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.
Editing checklist
There are also several key things to look out for during the proofreading phase of the revision process. In this stage it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.
Proofreading checklist
This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments. It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proof-reading. Combining these skills and practising them, can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.
Academic Skills Centre. (2013). Writing an introduction and conclusion . University of Canberra, accessed 13 August, 2013, http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions
Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.
Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing education perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.
Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1).
Writing Assignments Copyright © 2021 by Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
What to consider when using assignments as an assessment method for a course.
An assignment is a piece of (academic) work or task. It provides opportunity for students to learn, practice and demonstrate they have achieved the learning goals. It provides the evidence for the teacher that the students have achieved the goals. The output can be judged using sensory perception (observing, reading, tasting etc.). The assignment can focus on a product as output (e.g. research report, design, prototype, etc.) and/or a process (e.g. research process, group process) and/or the performance of individual skills or competences (e.g. professional skills, communications skills).
When assessing with assignments, we should pay attention to: >> validity : we really test what we want to test; the assignment and the way we assess the results are aligned with the learning goals. >> reliability : based on the results, we make a right, just, fair, objective distinction between pass/fail or provide the just grade. Our scoring or grading is done in a consistent way and the judgments or the grades are meaningful. >> transparency : it clear upfront for the students what they will learn, what they have to do (as evidence; what to deliver or show), how they will be assessed and what to expect during the process. >> the assignment and the feedback provided will support the learning process .
With the toolbox below, related to the questions and issues mentioned above, we hope to offer you useful tips and guidelines for designing and assessing assignments.
Useful resources to learn more about rubrics, to find templates or examples:
The disadvantage of assignments is, most of the time, that scoring and grading will take a lot of time. Especially if you want to give the students detailed feedback. The resources below may give you some (new) ideas and tips to assess and provide feedback in an efficient as well as an effective way.
Academic integrity is important and most students will agree and act accordingly. But nevertheless fraud occurs occasionally and as an examiner you are expected to detect fraud, whether it is real cheating, like delivering work someone else made, or plagiarism or free-riding. But how can you detect it? And what to do next? In case of plagiarism or free-riding, it might not always happen with the wrong intentions or circumstances may have influenced what happened. Better to look for ways to prevent it, but what can be done? Below you will find some useful resources dealing with these issues. NB. Specific rules and regulations may apply for your educational programme. For the University of Twente you have to check the Educational Examination Rules (EER) for your own educational programme and the Rules & Regulations of the Examination Board for your programme or faculty. Be aware that you have to report fraud to the Examination Board!
This exercise is especially developed for the course Testing & Assessment. This course is offered by the Centre of Expertise in Learning and Teaching (CELT), University of Twente. The course is part of the UTQ (BKO) and UEQ (BKE) trajectory. Copyright CELT-UT / Expertise team T&A. The material may be used by other parties provided that reference is made. If you would like us to give a workshop on this subject, either in English or Dutch, face-to-face or online, please contact us: [email protected]
Learn about the differences between a test and an assignment
*See the article here to learn how to set up a test that can be paused.
Learn more: How to set up an assignment How to set up a test.
An Assignment is similar to traditional homework. Students get a section of the course that they have to prepare until the set deadline. This includes theory and exercise pages. While doing the assignment, students can use feedback, hints, and have multiple attempts to solve an exercise.
Students can start and pause an assignment as many times as they want, until the deadline. Once the deadline is reached, the assignment is submitted and their score is graded.
This is what an assignment looks like for students:
Teachers can't grade assignments - they are automatically graded by the computer. Instead, you can set up the passing score when you set up the assignment .
You can find the results of the assignments in the Reporting environment, but only after the deadline has passed. Learn more about how assignment scores are calculated here .
A test emulates an exam, and depending on the setting can be formative or summative. Students don't have access to theory pages, and only have one answer attempt per question (unless you set up the practice mode in Test settings), so there is no feedback/hint system.
Tests can't be paused- once the student starts the test, their time starts counting down and they have to finish it and submit it.
This is what a test looks like for students:
A rubric is commonly defined as a tool that articulates the expectations for an assignment by listing criteria, and for each criteria, describing levels of quality (Andrade, 2000; Arter & Chappuis, 2007; Stiggins, 2001). Criteria are used in determining the level at which student work meets expectations. Markers of quality give students a clear idea about what must be done to demonstrate a certain level of mastery, understanding, or proficiency (i.e., "Exceeds Expectations" does xyz, "Meets Expectations" does only xy or yz, "Developing" does only x or y or z). Rubrics can be used for any assignment in a course, or for any way in which students are asked to demonstrate what they've learned. They can also be used to facilitate self and peer-reviews of student work.
Rubrics aren't just for summative evaluation. They can be used as a teaching tool as well. When used as part of a formative assessment, they can help students understand both the holistic nature and/or specific analytics of learning expected, the level of learning expected, and then make decisions about their current level of learning to inform revision and improvement (Reddy & Andrade, 2010).
Rubrics help instructors:
Provide students with feedback that is clear, directed and focused on ways to improve learning.
Demystify assignment expectations so students can focus on the work instead of guessing "what the instructor wants."
Reduce time spent on grading and develop consistency in how you evaluate student learning across students and throughout a class.
Rubrics help students:
Focus their efforts on completing assignments in line with clearly set expectations.
Self and Peer-reflect on their learning, making informed changes to achieve the desired learning level.
During the process of developing a rubric, instructors might:
Select an assignment for your course - ideally one you identify as time intensive to grade, or students report as having unclear expectations.
Decide what you want students to demonstrate about their learning through that assignment. These are your criteria.
Identify the markers of quality on which you feel comfortable evaluating students’ level of learning - often along with a numerical scale (i.e., "Accomplished," "Emerging," "Beginning" for a developmental approach).
Give students the rubric ahead of time. Advise them to use it in guiding their completion of the assignment.
It can be overwhelming to create a rubric for every assignment in a class at once, so start by creating one rubric for one assignment. See how it goes and develop more from there! Also, do not reinvent the wheel. Rubric templates and examples exist all over the Internet, or consider asking colleagues if they have developed rubrics for similar assignments.
Examples of holistic and analytic rubrics : see Tables 2 & 3 in “Rubrics: Tools for Making Learning Goals and Evaluation Criteria Explicit for Both Teachers and Learners” (Allen & Tanner, 2006)
Examples across assessment types : see “Creating and Using Rubrics,” Carnegie Mellon Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and & Educational Innovation
“VALUE Rubrics” : see the Association of American Colleges and Universities set of free, downloadable rubrics, with foci including creative thinking, problem solving, and information literacy.
Andrade, H. 2000. Using rubrics to promote thinking and learning. Educational Leadership 57, no. 5: 13–18. Arter, J., and J. Chappuis. 2007. Creating and recognizing quality rubrics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. Stiggins, R.J. 2001. Student-involved classroom assessment. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Reddy, Y., & Andrade, H. (2010). A review of rubric use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation In Higher Education, 35(4), 435-448.
What this handout is about.
The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.
Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :
Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.
The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:
“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”
Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)
“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”
Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.
“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”
These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:
“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”
These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.
“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”
The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.
Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:
Who is your audience.
Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.
Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .
Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.
Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs
Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:
Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.
Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.
Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.
More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:
Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.
Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.
You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .
With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”
So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”
Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .
There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.
Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .
You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.
Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.
No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .
The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.
Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.
Your instructors are not fooled when you:
Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Marcus Froland
July 15, 2024
When learning English, it’s natural to find words that seem very similar, but have entirely different meanings. That’s just one of the many challenges that language learners face. Two such words are assignation and assignment . They sound so alike, you might think they’re interchangeable. Yet, they are not.
In this article, we are going to put these two under the spotlight. Our focus is to help you understand the difference between assignation and assignment , provide their meanings, and offer clear examples. It’s about getting you comfortable with these words and helping you use them correctly in your English journey. So, let’s get started!
The critical difference between Assignation and Assignment lies in their usage and context. Assignation primarily refers to an agreement or appointment for a meeting. For instance, “They had an assignation at the coffee shop.” On the other hand, an Assignment refers to a task or duty assigned to someone. For instance, “He completed his math assignment.”
Both terms originate from the verb ‘assign’ but are utilized differently. Assignation is more often used in legal or formal settings, but assignment is common in educational or work contexts. So, if you’re scheduling a secretive meeting, use assignation. But if you’re handing out tasks or duties, use assignment.
The word assignation is rich in meaning, covering everything simple to secret. At its basic level, it means assigning tasks or property. But, it has a more exciting side in stories. Here it often means secret meetings , tied to love or forbidden activities.
Traditionally, assignation is about giving out duties or rights. It’s used in law and history to talk about dividing up or handing out responsibilities. This is like using the word assign in everyday situations. But add a dash of mystery or love, and assignation takes on a new life. It then means secret meetings or private moments.
Let’s look at some examples of assignation to get a clear picture:
The word assignment holds great importance in various areas. These include education, work, and law. Exploring its meanings helps us understand its wide use and importance.
In schools, an assignment is the work teachers give to students. It helps to check how much students understand and how they perform. At work, assignments are tasks given to employees. These tasks keep the business running smoothly and productively.
In the legal world, an assignment means transferring rights or property . This is key to understand how people can give or receive ownership and duties legally.
Understanding assignment in its various forms is crucial. It allows us to be more effective in school, at work, and in legal matters. Recognizing these differences ensures we communicate and act clearly and confidently.
It’s vital to understand the difference between assignation and assignment for clear communication. The term assignation brings to mind secret or romantic meetings. It can also mean the act of assigning something. Meanwhile, assignment is about giving out tasks, duties, or responsibilities. This is common in school or work.
Assignation and assignment have different uses. Assignation suggests secrecy and is linked with private meetings. On the opposite side, assignment talks about clear duties or legal handovers. It doesn’t have the secret flavor that assignation does.
To avoid confusion, it’s key to know when to use each term. Calling a work task an assignation could suggest something secret or wrong. So, choosing the right word matters:
Using the right term, assignation or assignment, makes your meaning clear. This way, you won’t confuse anyone.
It’s key to know how assignation and assignment differ. Each word has its own meaning. Using them right is key to avoid mix-ups.
The word assignation is about secret meetings. These are often for romantic reasons. Books use it to talk about meetings held in private.
It hints at something hidden or confidential. This makes it perfect for talks that need to stay under wraps.
Assignment , on the other hand, is about giving tasks. It’s used in schools, work, and law. For example, it can mean homework or handing over property rights.
This word doesn’t suggest secrets like assignation does. It’s all about structured, formal tasks.
Knowing these differences helps you communicate clearly. Use assignment for tasks, and assignation for secret meet-ups. This keeps your meaning clear and stops any confusion. It’s especially important in professional settings to avoid the wrong idea about secret meetings.
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/əˈsaɪnmənt/.
Other forms: assignments
Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment , you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do.
The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign , which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment . The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “ Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”
The Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act of 1887, was a law that allowed the U.S. government to take Native American tribal lands and divide them into 40 acre lots for individual Native Americans. The goal was to break up communal tribal lands and speed the assimilation of Native Americans into American society. The Dawes Act caused great suffering with much of the land winding up in the hands of white settlers.
Learn these words from the autobiography by David Lubar (Inside: Level B, Unit 4). Here are our links to the selections of "Every Body Is a Winner": The Human Machine; My Fabulous Footprint , The Beat Goes On; All Pumped Up , Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands , How Coach Told Me; Bionics Here are our links to the units of Level B: Unit 1 , Unit 2 , Unit 3 , Unit 4 , Unit 5 , Unit 6 , Unit 7 , Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A , Level B , Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary
Prepare for the IELTS exam with this list of words related to education and academics.
Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement..
Definition of assignment noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what is the difference between formative and summative assessment, formative assessment.
The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:
Formative assessments are generally low stakes , which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:
The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
Summative assessments are often high stakes , which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:
Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.
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placement test
Examples of placement test in a sentence.
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'placement test.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
1924, in the meaning defined above
place-money
“Placement test.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placement%20test. Accessed 21 Aug. 2024.
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for placement test
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Created by the Great Schools Partnership , the GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM is a comprehensive online resource that describes widely used school-improvement terms, concepts, and strategies for journalists, parents, and community members. | Learn more »
In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students.
While assessments are often equated with traditional tests—especially the standardized tests developed by testing companies and administered to large populations of students—educators use a diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure everything from a four-year-old’s readiness for kindergarten to a twelfth-grade student’s comprehension of advanced physics. Just as academic lessons have different functions, assessments are typically designed to measure specific elements of learning—e.g., the level of knowledge a student already has about the concept or skill the teacher is planning to teach or the ability to comprehend and analyze different types of texts and readings. Assessments also are used to identify individual student weaknesses and strengths so that educators can provide specialized academic support , educational programming, or social services. In addition, assessments are developed by a wide array of groups and individuals, including teachers, district administrators, universities, private companies, state departments of education, and groups that include a combination of these individuals and institutions.
While assessment can take a wide variety of forms in education, the following descriptions provide a representative overview of a few major forms of educational assessment.
Assessments are used for a wide variety of purposes in schools and education systems :
Formative assessments are commonly said to be for learning because educators use the results to modify and improve teaching techniques during an instructional period, while summative assessments are said to be of learning because they evaluate academic achievement at the conclusion of an instructional period. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative assessment.”
Assessments are also designed in a variety of ways for different purposes:
The purpose of an assessment generally drives the way it is designed, and there are many ways in which assessments can be used. A standardized assessment can be a high-stakes assessment, for example, but so can other forms of assessment that are not standardized tests. A portfolio of student work can be a used as both a “formative” and “summative” form of assessment. Teacher-created assessments, which may also be created by teams of teachers, are commonly used in a single course or grade level in a school, and these assessments are almost never “high-stakes.” Screening assessments may be produced by universities that have conducted research on a specific area of child development, such as the skills and attributes that a student should have when entering kindergarten to increase the likelihood that he or she will be successful, or the pattern of behaviors, strengths, and challenges that suggest a child has a particular learning disability. In short, assessments are usually created for highly specialized purposes.
While educational assessments and tests have been around since the days of the one-room schoolhouse, they have increasingly assumed a central role in efforts to improve the effectiveness of public schools and teaching. Standardized-test scores, for example, are arguably the dominant measure of educational achievement in the United States, and they are also the most commonly reported indicator of school, teacher, and school-system performance.
As schools become increasingly equipped with computers, tablets, and wireless internet access, a growing proportion of the assessments now administered in schools are either computer-based or online assessments—though paper-based tests and assessments are still common and widely used in schools. New technologies and software applications are also changing the nature and use of assessments in innumerable ways, given that digital-assessment systems typically offer an array of features that traditional paper-based tests and assignments cannot. For example, online-assessment systems may allow students to log in and take assessments during out-of-class time or they may make performance results available to students and teachers immediately after an assessment has been completed (historically, it might have taken hours, days, or weeks for teachers to review, score, and grade all assessments for a class). In addition, digital and online assessments typically include features, or “analytics,” that give educators more detailed information about student performance. For example, teachers may be able to see how long it took students to answer particular questions or how many times a student failed to answer a question correctly before getting the right answer. Many advocates of digital and online assessments tend to argue that such systems, if used properly, could help teachers “ personalize ” instruction—because many digital and online systems can provide far more detailed information about the academic performance of students, educators can use this information to modify educational programs, learning experiences , instructional approaches, and academic-support strategies in ways that address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students. In addition, many large-scale standardized tests are now administered online, though states typically allow students to take paper-based tests if computers are unavailable, if students prefer the paper-based option, or if students don’t have the technological skills and literacy required to perform well on an online assessment.
Given that assessments come in so many forms and serve so many diverse functions, a thorough discussion of the purpose and use of assessments could fill a lengthy book. The following descriptions, however, provide a brief, illustrative overview of a few of the major ways in which assessments—especially assessment results—are used in an attempt to improve schools and teaching:
In education, there is widespread agreement that assessment is an integral part of any effective educational system or program. Educators, parents, elected officials, policy makers, employers, and the public all want to know whether students are learning successfully and progressing academically in school. The debates—many of which are a complex, wide ranging, and frequently contentious—typically center on how assessments are used, including how frequently they are being administered and whether assessments are beneficial or harmful to students and the teaching process. While a comprehensive discussion of these debates is beyond the scope of this resource, the following is a representative selection of a few major issues being debated:
Do you have the skibidi Ohio rizz?
Or do you even know what that means? As the newest school year begins, the latest wave of youth slang is upon us, making some Millennial and Gen X people question whether it's time to check into the nursing home.
School start dates: Franklin County kids are headed back to the classroom
Many of the slang included on this list fall under to what some might call "brain rot," referring to the frame of mind of someone who is chronically online and consumes low quality content, according to The New York Times . While some of the slang used by Gen Alpha has a logical explanation, others included on this list have a certain surrealist bent or are characterized by popular online influencers.
The Dispatch picked terms frequently seen online and through informally surveying high schoolers about words they and others use.
Do you have brain rot? Here's your guide to some of the slang you might hear from Gen Alpha this year:
Ate/eats : If you say someone "ate," it means you are saying that they did something exceptionally well or deserving of praise, according to Keyhole . "Did you hear Charli XCX's latest album? She ate."
Aura points: "Aura points" refer to a lighthearted way of measuring coolness, based on a TikTok trend, according to Polygon . " Did you see her new shoes? She definitely just gained some aura points."
Cap/No cap : To "cap" means to "lie, to boast, or to front," according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (although this meaning hasn't officially made it yet). "No cap" means you are being truthful or honest. "Joe said he didn't take my food but I think that's cap."
Drip : Drip means cool, stylish or fashionable clothing, according to Arizona State University . If someone is "dripped out," it means they are dressed stylishly. "I just went to the mall and bought some new drip."
Fanum tax : The act of stealing someone's food without their permission. The origin comes from online comedy creator Fanum, who is a part of streamer and Youtuber Kai Cenat's "influencer crew," according to Business Insider . Fanum is known for jokingly taking other's food and calling it a "tax." "I took his fries when he wasn't looking — he had to pay the Fanum tax."
Goat: An acronym meaning "Greatest of all time." LeBron James is the goat. He's been goated since he was in Cleveland.
Gyatt/Gyat : Gyatt or gyat (Ge-yaht) is used to express strong excitement, surprise, or admiration, often in reference to seeing a large butt, according to Dictionary.com . It can also be used as term by itself for a large butt.
Looksmaxxing : "Looksmaxxing" is an online movement dedicated to maximizing your physical appearance, often through a variety of techniques including improving your jawline, skincare and muscles, according to The BBC . "Riley's been obsessed with looksmaxxing videos on TikTok lately."
Mewing : Mewing is looksmaxxing technique aimed at improving your jawline by holding your tongue on the roof of your mouth, according to The BBC. Mewing comes from a controversial British orthodontist named John Mew. who developed a practice called "orthotropics." According to The BBC, there is little evidence supporting its effectiveness. "Dude, are you seriously mewing right now? Are you looksmaxxing?"
Mog : To "mog" someone is to be significantly more attractive than them, and thereby lower their attractiveness in comparison, according to Vice News . "He mogged everyone else at the party with his drip."
Ohio : No, they aren't really talking about the Buckeye state. Unfortunately for Ohioans, "Ohio" has a slang meaning of strange, weird, cringe or dumb . The origin likely originates from a number of memes like "it's all Ohio," or "Can't even X in Ohio" that circulated online culture in the 2020s, according to Know Your Meme . "Did you see how she was dressed at school today? She's so Ohio."
Rizz : A shortening of the word "charisma," used to state that someone has success in attracting romantic partners, according to Merriam-Webster . "He spent the entire party rizzing up the girls."
Rizzler : A rizzler is someone who is successful at flirting with people, according to The New York Times .
Sigma: A "sigma" (based on the Greek alphabet) is a male who has overcome the hierarchy of "alpha" and "beta" males, often characterized by silent success, or someone is a social outcast by choice and "plays by their own rules," according to Know Your Meme . Colloquially, it can just mean good or best.
Skibidi (Skibidi toilet) : "Skibidi" refers to a series of surrealist videos popular on Youtube , which features an army of human-headed toilets fighting a war against another army of camera-headed men, according to Forbes . Skibidi as a slang word is largely meaningless and is a simple reference to the video series.
Slay : If you "slay" something, it means you do it particularly well, according to Dictionary.com . ""Did you hear Charli XCX's latest album? She's slay."
Stand on business : Standing on business (sometimes spelled 'standing on bidness), means to take care of your responsibilities or put your money where your mouth is, according to USA TODAY . "I told you I was going to to that, I stand on business."
What's up brother? : Saying "what's up brother," accompanied with raising your index finger upward, is a reference to the popular streamer Sketch, who uses the expression as a sort of catchphrase, according to USA TODAY .
@Colebehr_report
Last Updated: September 05, 2023
Medically reviewed by NKF Patient Education Team
About your lab values and other ckd health numbers, measuring your general health, measuring your kidney health, measuring your balance of important minerals and acidity, measuring ckd complications: nutrition & malnourishment, measuring ckd complications: anemia, measuring ckd complications: mineral and bone disorder (ckd-mbd), measuring ckd complications: cardiovascular disease (cvd), measuring ckd risk factors: diabetes, questions for your healthcare team, more resources.
It is normal to feel like living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) sometimes means you need to learn a new language. CKD is a complex condition that worsens over time. Early on, only a small number of tests may be needed. As CKD gets worse, your kidneys have a harder time doing all their jobs like helping make red blood cells, balancing important minerals, and keeping your bones healthy. So, you may notice more tests being checked and/or checked more often as your CKD gets worse. You may also need extra tests to monitor for other health conditions that are related to kidney disease.
Having regular visits with your healthcare professionals and getting your recommended lab work done can help you stay up to date with your health. But you may not be familiar with why some of these measures of your kidney-related health and wellbeing are used. So, the information below serves as a quick guide to the different types of health information that you may see in your medical record that is important for people living with CKD. Some of these tests require a blood or urine sample (also called “lab tests” or “labs”) – these are usually sent to a laboratory for measurement. Other measures, like weight or blood pressure, are usually done in an exam room.
If you have questions about your results, always talk with your healthcare professional first before taking any action.
Everybody's situation is different - some of these tests may not apply to you. Similarly, your situation may need a test that is not included in this list. Also, having test results that are not in the "normal" range (as provided on your lab sheet) doesn't always mean there is a problem or concern.
A healthy blood pressure is very important for your kidneys and overall health.
Your blood pressure is reported as 2 separate numbers – for example “120/80” or “120 over 80”. The first/top number (called “systolic pressure”) is the pressure in your blood vessels during each heartbeat - when blood is actively pumped out of your heart to the rest of your body. The second/bottom number (called “diastolic pressure”) is the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart is resting between each beat.
The recommended blood pressure target may vary depending on factors like your age, other health conditions, risk of falling, and whether you are on dialysis . Ask your healthcare professional what your goal blood pressure should be.
Maintaining a healthy weight is important for your overall health. The definition of healthy weight depends on many other factors like your height, age, and other health conditions. So, ask your healthcare professional what a healthy body weight is for you.
In either of these situations, working with a dietitian can help you find ways to safely add or remove extra calories to your diet and make sure you get the right nutrition.
If you are on dialysis and/or living with heart failure, it is important to ask your healthcare professional what your dry weight is – your “normal” weight without any extra fluid in your body. As part of your treatment plan, your healthcare professional may recommend weighing yourself at a certain time every day. After you check your weight, compare the number to your dry weight number. If your weight has gone up or down by too much (as defined by your healthcare professional’s directions), contact your dialysis center or clinic for further instructions.
Creatinine is a waste product in your blood that comes from the digestion of protein in your food and the normal breakdown of muscle tissue. It is removed from your body through the kidneys. If you have kidney disease, the kidneys can have trouble removing creatinine from your blood. So, the level of creatinine in your blood starts to go up. High creatinine levels can be a sign of acute kidney injury and/or chronic kidney disease . A “normal” creatinine level in the blood is hard to define because it can change depending on your age, sex, body size, and other factors.
Cystatin C is a protein that is produced by the cells in your body. Like creatinine, it is also removed from the body through the kidneys. If you have kidney disease, the kidneys can have trouble removing cystatin C from your blood. So, the level of cystatin C in your blood starts to go up. For some people, this blood test can be helpful to measure instead of (or in addition to) your serum creatinine to check your kidney health. This test is not as common as the creatinine test and can be more expensive.
The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is an estimate of how well your kidneys are removing waste products from the blood. It is calculated using your serum (blood) creatinine level, age, and sex. It can also be calculated using your cystatin C level instead of, or in addition to, your serum (blood) creatinine level. A “normal” eGFR varies according to age – it naturally decreases as you get older. For this test, a higher number is better .
If you have chronic kidney disease (CKD) , the eGFR is used to determine your CKD stage . In general, an eGFR value lower than 60 is a sign that the kidneys may not be working properly. An eGFR lower than 15 is a marker of kidney failure .
In less common situations where a more accurate measure of your kidney function is needed, your healthcare provider may order a measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR) . The mGFR is a direct measure of how well your kidneys are removing waste products from the blood. It can be a complicated and lengthy process. So, it is not used as often as the estimated GFR (eGFR).
Your healthcare professional may recommend this test if a more accurate measure of your kidney function is needed. There are many ways to complete this test – some involve collecting all the urine you make in 24 hours; others involve multiple blood samples taken from your arm over several hours. The mGFR is sometimes called a different name - measured creatinine clearance (mCrCl).
Urea nitrogen is a waste product in your blood that comes from the breakdown of protein in the foods you eat. It is removed from the body through the kidneys. A “normal” BUN level varies, and usually increases as you get older. Checking your BUN level is usually not very helpful by itself. So, your healthcare provider will likely compare your BUN level to your creatinine and eGFR levels when evaluating your kidney health.
The urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR) test measures the amount of two different substances in your urine (pee) – albumin (protein) and creatinine. Healthy kidneys keep the albumin in your blood while filtering the creatinine out into the urine. So, this test checks to see how well your kidneys are keeping albumin in your body and sending creatinine out.
The uACR is calculated by comparing the amount of albumin in your urine with the amount of creatinine in your urine to find the ratio. A “normal” uACR level is less than 30 mg/g. For this test, a lower number is better . A uACR level of 30 mg/g or more can be a sign of albuminuria .
When you check the results from this test on your lab report, you may see many different numbers. Focus on the result that has the word ratio in the name. For example, the name on your report may be “alb/creat ratio”, “albumin/creat ratio”, or “albumin/creat ratio, random urine”.
This test is very similar to the uACR test described above. But instead of measuring only the amount of albumin in your urine (pee), it measures all the different proteins that may be present. In some forms of kidney disease (like IgA nephropathy , lupus nephritis , or glomerulonephritis ) or when testing children for protein in their urine , your healthcare professional may choose to measure your uPCR instead of uACR. A “normal” uPCR level is less than 150 mg/g. For this test, a lower number is better . A uPCR level of 150 mg/g or more can be a sign of proteinuria .
Potassium is an important mineral found throughout your body. It is needed for many of your body’s functions – like keeping your heart beating regularly and muscles working properly. Your kidneys help keep the right amount of potassium in the blood.
In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time removing extra potassium from the blood, especially if you are on dialysis. People living with CKD can also be at risk for low potassium, especially during earlier stages of CKD. The recommended goal potassium level for most people is between 3.5 and 5.
Sodium is an important mineral that helps balance the amount of fluid in your body. It also helps your nerves and muscles to work properly. Your kidneys play an active role in keeping your fluid levels balanced, partly by helping get rid of any extra sodium in your body through your urine.
In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time balancing your fluid and blood sodium levels. This can increase your risk of high blood pressure, edema (swelling), and/or heart failure.
Having a sodium level higher or lower than the goal range can be a result of many things. So, your healthcare professional will likely compare your results from this test with your other test results (such as serum creatinine, glucose, potassium, carbon dioxide, and/or urine tests). When looked at together, your healthcare professional can provide you with custom guidance for resolving the issue (if applicable).
However, it is also possible to have a normal sodium level while still consuming too much sodium (salt). When your blood sodium level goes up, your body tries to balance it out by holding on to extra water. This is what causes symptoms like thirst, swelling, high blood pressure, and/or shortness of breath. It is important to limit your sodium (salt) intake to less than 2300 mg per day. Your healthcare professional may advise an even lower target depending on your other health conditions.
Bicarbonate is needed in your blood to stop it from getting too acidic. Most of the bicarbonate in your body is in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), a waste product from when your body turns food into energy. So, another name for this blood test is your “serum carbon dioxide (CO2)” level.
The kidneys work together with the lungs to keep your bicarbonate (carbon dioxide) level in your blood in the goal range. In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time removing extra acidic waste products from the blood. This is also known as metabolic acidosis . A bicarbonate/CO2 level less than 22 mEq/L can be a sign your blood has too much acid – talk with your healthcare professional about a treatment plan if your labs show a CO2 (bicarbonate) level less than 22.
Serum albumin
Good nutrition is important for providing your body with the resources to fight infections, repair body tissue, and build new muscle. Having a more advanced stage of chronic kidney disease increases your risk of problems with your nutritional health and malnourishment, especially for people who are on dialysis . It is not possible to measure your nutritional health directly, so a variety of tests can be used to check the highest risk areas for health problems.
Albumin is an important protein normally found in the blood that serves many roles in the body. These roles include building muscle, repairing tissue, and fighting infection. A low level of albumin in your blood may be caused by not getting enough protein or calories in your diet, especially if you are on hemodialysis . Since albumin is made in the liver, low albumin levels can also be a sign of liver problems. A low albumin level may lead to health problems such as difficulty fighting off infections. When compared against your other health information and test results, your serum albumin level can help your healthcare professional see if you are getting enough nutrients in your diet.
Normalized protein nitrogen appearance (nPNA)
If you are on dialysis , the nPNA can be a helpful tool that your healthcare professional may use to see if you are eating enough protein. This number is calculated using your blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level just before your dialysis session, your weight, and the amount of protein you ate (including food, drink, and supplements) during a specific period of time. The amount of urea nitrogen in your urine may also be used.
When compared against your other health information and test results, your nPNA results can help your healthcare professional see if you are getting enough protein in your diet.
Another name for this test is the normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR).
Subjective global assessment (SGA)
If you are on dialysis , your dietitian may use the SGA to help check for signs of nutrition problems. The dietitian will ask you a few questions about your daily diet and any symptoms you may have, measure your weight, and then check your fat and muscle stores in your face, hands, arms, shoulders, and legs. All this information can help your dietitian see if you are getting enough nutrition in your diet. If there are any concerns, your dietitian will work with you to create a plan to help you get the nutrition you need.
Anemia happens when you have low levels of red blood cells in your blood. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. The kidneys play a very active role in helping your body make these red blood cells. Also, people living with advanced CKD can have problems absorbing iron from food. They are also at high risk for repeated blood loss from frequent blood tests and during dialysis . This makes the kidneys try to make even more red blood cells when they are having trouble keeping up in the first place. So, having a more advanced stage of chronic kidney disease increases your risk of anemia, especially for people who are on dialysis .
Keep in mind that anemia is not always caused by CKD and the descriptions below are general guides to the most common tests. If you have anemia, talk with your healthcare professional about what the primary cause may be and how you can treat it.
Hemoglobin (Hgb)
Hemoglobin is the protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen. For adults and children over 15 years living with CKD, anemia is suspected when the hemoglobin level is under 13 g/dL (in males) or under 12 g/dL (in females).
Hematocrit (Hct)
Hematocrit is very similar to hemoglobin. It is a measure of how many red blood cells your body is making. The number is the actual percentage of your blood sample that is made up of red blood cells.
Ferritin (pronounced FAIR-ritt-in) is the stored form of iron found in your body. So, your ferritin level is a measure of how much iron your body has available to use at any given moment. Iron is an important ingredient for making hemoglobin. Having enough iron (ferritin) available is important for being able to make more red blood cells. Having a low level of ferritin means you may need an iron supplement to help treat your anemia.
Transferrin saturation (TSAT)
Transferrin (pronounced trans-FAIR-rin) is a protein that helps move iron throughout your body. So, your transferrin saturation (TSAT, pronounced TEE-sat) number helps show what percent of the transferrin in your blood is currently attached to iron. Your healthcare professional will likely look at your TSAT number in combination with your ferritin level to decide the best way to treat your anemia. In general, a TSAT number of 20% or more is considered “normal”.
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV)
The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a blood test that measures the average size of your blood cells. When combined with your other test results and medical history, it can help your healthcare professionals identify the best treatment for your anemia.
For example, an MCV below the reference range suggests the anemia may be caused by low iron. Similarly, an MCV above the reference range suggests the anemia may be caused by low vitamin B12 and/or folic acid.
Your kidneys play a very active role in balancing the ingredients needed for healthy bones – calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D. In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time activating vitamin D (which is needed to absorb calcium from your food) and removing extra phosphorus from the blood. This increases your risk of having calcium and phosphorus levels that are out of balance (also known as secondary hyperparathyroidism ). Without close monitoring and treatment, this can cause CKD-related bone disease (also known as CKD-mineral and bone disorder or CKD-MBD).
Parathyroid hormone (PTH)
Parathyroid hormone (PTH), also known as intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), helps balance the levels of calcium and phosphorus in your blood. When your blood level of calcium goes down, your body makes more PTH to raise it, usually by releasing calcium (and phosphorus) from your bones. PTH also helps remove extra phosphorus from your blood through the kidneys. So, the kidneys play a very active role in this complex process.
Even though this test has the word “thyroid” in the name, it is entirely separate from anything related to your thyroid function. The name “parathyroid” comes from the place where the hormone comes from - very small glands in your neck that sit very close to your thyroid.
A “normal” PTH level in the blood is hard to define because it depends on many other factors (including your stage of CKD, phosphorus level, and calcium level). Ask your healthcare professional what your custom target PTH level should be.
Serum calcium
Calcium is an important mineral your body needs for strong bones, and for your nerves, muscles, and heart to work properly. Your kidneys play a very active role in balancing your calcium levels to make sure the level is just right. If your body needs more calcium, your kidneys activate vitamin D to help absorb more calcium from your food and drink. Your body is not able to absorb the calcium without it. In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time activating vitamin D. This makes it very hard for your body to absorb enough calcium from your food. So, your body starts breaking down bones to supply the calcium. This increases your risk of CKD-related bone disease .
For people living with advanced CKD, your healthcare professional will likely compare your results from this test with your phosphorus and PTH levels. Looking at these three tests together will help them provide you with custom guidance about your target for each item.
Serum Phosphorus
Phosphorus (sometimes called phosphate) is an important mineral that your body needs to make strong bones, store energy, and maintain your tissues and cells. Your kidneys play a very active role in keeping your phosphorus levels in the goal range. In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time removing extra phosphorus from the blood, especially if you are on dialysis. This increases your risk of having phosphorus levels that are too high, and can also lead to CKD-related bone disease .
For people living with advanced CKD, your healthcare professional will likely compare your results from this test with your calcium and PTH levels. Looking at these three tests together will help them provide you with custom guidance about your target for each item.
Vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D; 25(OH)D; calcidiol)
Vitamin D is something your body needs to absorb calcium from your food. Vitamin D is needed for strong teeth and bones. It also helps keep your muscles, nerves, and immune system working well. Your body gets vitamin D from sun exposure and the food that you eat. Once absorbed, your liver converts the vitamin D into its storage form to save for later, also known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D or calcidiol. Your kidneys are responsible for activating the stored vitamin D when your body needs it.
In more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease , your kidneys may have a hard time activating vitamin D. This increases your risk of not absorbing enough calcium from your food. So, your body can start breaking down bones to get the calcium it needs. This increases your risk of CKD-related bone disease . Having a low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (calcidiol) level suggests you may not have enough stored vitamin D ready to use when your body needs it.
People living with chronic kidney disease are at an increased risk of having cardiovascular disease (heart attack or stroke). This is especially true if you have an advanced stage of CKD and/or if you have albuminuria . Your risk of CVD (heart attack or stroke) is increased even more if you also have high cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance found throughout your body and in your blood. It is important for keeping your cells and organs healthy. Your body gets cholesterol from two places – it is absorbed from food and made in your liver. Too much cholesterol in your blood can lead to it attaching to the walls of your blood vessels, making them narrow or blocking them altogether.
A typical cholesterol test usually checks your blood for four different things:
Total cholesterol (TC)
Total cholesterol is the total level of cholesterol in your blood. This number includes all the major types of cholesterol that exist in your blood (LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides). For most people, a level below 200 mg/dL is considered the goal. However, there may be situations where a higher TC number is okay – for example, people who have very high HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. So, your healthcare professional may advise you to focus more attention on the numbers for the different types of cholesterol listed below.
HDL cholesterol (HDL-C)
HDL cholesterol is the level of “good cholesterol” in your blood. It has this name because it helps remove extra fats from your blood. This lowers the risk of having blocked arteries and lowers your risk of heart disease. For this test, a higher number is better , especially if it is 40 mg/dL or higher.
LDL cholesterol (LDL-C)
LDL cholesterol is the level of “bad cholesterol” in your blood. It has this name because it increases the amount of fat that attaches to the walls of your blood vessels. This increases the risk of blockages in your arteries and raises your risk of heart disease. For this test, a lower number is better . A number less than 100 mg/dL is generally considered to be at goal. People who already have heart disease or are at very high risk for developing heart disease may have an even lower LDL-C goal.
Triglycerides (TG or “trigs”)
Triglycerides are a mixture of fats and carbohydrates (sugars) that your body uses as an energy source. A high triglyceride level can increase the risk of heart disease and pancreatitis. For this test, a lower number is better , especially if it is less than 150 mg/dL.
High blood glucose (sugar) levels over a long period of time can damage the kidneys. So, diabetes is a very strong risk factor for developing chronic kidney disease. This is especially true if your blood sugar levels are higher than your goal range for long periods of time. Two of the most common tests used to diagnose and monitor diabetes are the hemoglobin A1C and serum (blood) glucose level.
Hemoglobin A1C
Your hemoglobin A1C, often just called “A1C”, is a blood test that describes your average blood sugar over the past 2-3 months.
The A1C test may not be as accurate for people on dialysis or receiving erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESAs, a medication for anemia caused by CKD).
Serum (blood) glucose (sugar)
Glucose (sugar) is an important source of energy for your body, including your brain and red blood cells. This test describes the amount of glucose that is in your blood at the time of testing.
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Related kidney topics, estimated glomerular filtration rate (egfr), contrast dye and the kidneys, know your kidney numbers: two simple tests, can my gfr get better, related news and stories.
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At a glance.
This document provides current testing guidance for patients with suspected Oropouche virus disease (Oropouche), an interim case definition, and guidance for case reporting to ArboNET. Updates to the guidance will be made, as needed, based on new information about Oropouche virus.
CDC currently offers both surveillance and clinical diagnostic testing for patients meeting the suspect case definition for Oropouche. Surveillance testing consists of non-CLIA validated tests. Because the assays are not clinically validated, surveillance testing results can be used for surveillance purposes only, and CDC will not be providing results to patients, clinicians, or otherwise for clinical decision making. Surveillance testing for Oropouche virus currently includes molecular testing. Clinical diagnostic testing consists of CLIA-validated neutralizing antibody testing of serum or CSF. More details on both testing options are provided in the sections below.
Patient with travel within two weeks of initial symptom onset (as patients may experience recurrent symptoms) to an area with documented or suspected Oropouche virus circulation* and the following:
*If concern exists for local transmission in a non-endemic area, consider if the patient shared an exposure location with a person with confirmed Oropouche virus infection, lives in an area where travel-related cases have been identified, or has known vector exposure (e.g., mosquitoes or biting midges).
†If strong suspicion of Oropouche virus disease exists based on the patient's clinical features and history of travel to an area with virus circulation, do not wait on negative testing before sending specimens to CDC.
For serum or CSF collected within the first 10 days of illnes s , a minimum of 1.0 ml is preferred as this will allow for both Oropouche virus clinical diagnostic and surveillance testing (for volumes <0.5 ml contact [email protected] for guidance).
The local jurisdiction should split the specimen before sending to CDC. This approach to splitting of specimens will be used until a CLIA-validated PCR assay is available at CDC. Revised guidance for use of the CLIA-validated PCR assay will be released on this website at that time.
For serum or CSF collected after the first 10 days of illness , a minimum of 0.5 ml is preferred to allow for Oropouche virus serologic testing and any other necessary testing for other circulating arboviruses (for volumes <0.5 ml contact [email protected] for guidance).
Specimens for surveillance testing should be shipped to:
ATTN: Virology Team (Aaron Brault, Holly Hughes)
3156 Rampart Road
Fort Collins, CO 80521
In advance of sending specimens for surveillance testing, please notify the Arboviral Diseases Branch clinical team at [email protected] . Please email the following information in advance of sending specimens for surveillance testing (see Excel spreadsheet template ):
Patients meeting the suspect case definition should have clinical diagnostic testing, if possible. At this time, clinical diagnostic testing at CDC can only be completed on serum or CSF using a CLIA-validated plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). To confirm a recent infection in a patient, paired specimens are needed to demonstrate a 4-fold or greater change in Oropouche virus-specific quantitative neutralizing antibody titers between acute- and convalescent-phase serum specimens collected optimally ≥2 weeks apart. If paired specimens cannot be obtained, detection of neutralizing antibodies in a single specimen is considered laboratory evidence of infection, but since timing cannot be determined, clinical correlation is needed for interpretation.
Given the evidence indicating a risk of vertical transmission of Oropouche virus from a gestational parent to their fetus, paired acute and convalescent specimens collected optimally ≥2 weeks apart are needed to confirm recent infection in a pregnant person.
Clinical diagnostic test results will be sent to public health partners in the jurisdictional health department where the case resides. These results can be shared with the treating physician and can be used for clinical decision making.
Surveillance testing is performed to allow for the detection, response, and control of emerging and re-emerging arboviruses, such as Oropouche virus. Results of the surveillance testing will be shared with public health partners in the jurisdictional health department where the patient resides to allow for awareness and public health action. The results will have a cover letter noting a non-validated CLIA assay was used for the purpose of surveillance and are not to be shared with the patient or clinical team caring for the patient. Results will be conveyed using local sample ID only and will not include any patient or clinician identifiers.
Oropouche virus disease is not currently a nationally notifiable condition. However, CDC encourages voluntary reporting to ArboNET, the national arboviral surveillance system. Jurisdictions can report cases using condition code 10072 (Other arboviral disease, not otherwise specified) and 'Oropouche' for arbovirus. If you cannot report the arbovirus variable as 'Oropouche' then please report as 'Other Arbovirus'. The criteria below should be used for classification of Oropouche cases. For questions or further guidance on reporting, please contact [email protected].
Current testing is limited to the assays described above, however the interim case definition incorporates additional assays and testing on specimen types that may become available in the future.
A case that meets the suspect case definition* and one or more of the following laboratory criteria:
A case that meets the suspect case definition* and one of the following laboratory criteria:
*Absence of a more likely clinical explanation.
Oropouche virus is spread primarily by midges. Learn about areas at risk, the illness it causes, and ways to prevent becoming infected.
Health care providers, public health.
The World Health Organization’s decision to declare mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years may seem like déjà vu — but there are key differences between the strain that’s causing international concern now and the one that spread in 2022.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection characterized by painful lesions. It’s spread by direct contact with an infected person, animal or contaminated items like clothing or bedding.
The virus is classified into two distinct groups: clade I and clade II.
Clade II was responsible for the 2022 outbreak, which has led to around 100,000 cases worldwide .
But now, a version of clade I has spread internationally. The outbreak started in January 2023 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has since reached 12 other countries in the region.
On Thursday, Sweden confirmed the first known infection of clade I outside Africa , though Swedish health officials said the person was infected while spending time in Africa. Health authorities in Pakistan also confirmed a case of mpox on Friday but have not identified the strain yet.
Clade I is more transmissible than clade II and capable of being more severe, so infectious disease experts are concerned about further international spread.
“We should have learned a lesson from 2022 that an infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health.
Mpox has historically spread in a few ways. The first is through close, personal contact with an infected person, such as skin-to-skin contact with rashes or with saliva or mucus. The second is via contact with contaminated materials. And the third is contact with infected animals: hunting, trapping or cooking them, touching sick rodents or getting bitten or scratched.
In 2022, the version of clade II that spread globally, dubbed clade IIb, was passed primarily through sexual contact, particularly among men who have sex with men.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo recently, clade Ib has also been spreading through sexual contact among female sex workers and men who have sex with men. Research that hasn’t yet been published or peer reviewed linked an outbreak in an eastern mining town in Congo to professional sex work in bars.
But that’s not the only way the virus is being transmitted. Dr. Stuart Isaacs, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said much of the spread of clade I could be due to exposure to animals and transmission within households, but limited surveillance in the regions where the virus is make it difficult to know for sure.
Isaacs said there’s early evidence that clade Ib has certain “properties that are allowing it to spread more readily person to person.”
In the past, outbreaks of clade I have been deadlier than clade 2, killing up to 10% of people who got sick . But more recent outbreaks have had lower death rates. Out of an estimated 22,000 cases in this outbreak in Congo , more than 1,200 people have died — which puts the fatality rate at just above 5%.
By comparison, clade II outbreaks in Africa have generally had a mortality rate of around 1%, and just 0.2% of cases linked to the 2022 global outbreak were fatal.
Rimoin said the disease’s severity “can have less to do with the actual clade and more to do with route of transmission, the immune system of the individual, the source of the infection.”
The threat in the U.S. could be milder than in Africa, according to Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
“The underlying health conditions of the population in the DRC are probably contributing to the current case fatality rate,” he said, using the acronym for the Democratic Republic of Congo. “With less malnutrition and better access to health care resources, I would imagine that the case fatality rate will not be as high as we’re seeing in the DRC.”
Vaccines for mpox are also widely available in the U.S., following a major rollout effort in 2022. Two doses of the mpox vaccine or a previous clade II infection should protect against severe illness from clade I, the Department of Health and Human Service said Wednesday.
Symptoms of the two mpox clades can be difficult to distinguish from each other.
The illness generally starts with a rash that progresses to small bumps on the skin, followed by blisters that fill with whitish fluid — a hallmark of the disease — and eventually scab over. People may also experience a fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.
These symptoms often disappear on their own within a few weeks. But in severe cases, people may develop larger, more widespread lesions, secondary bacterial infections, pneumonia, heart inflammation or swelling of the brain. Immunocompromised people may develop atypical symptoms and have a greater risk of hospitalization and death.
Historically, mpox lesions have tended to appear on the face, chest, palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. But during the 2022 outbreak, people frequently developed lesions around the genital and anal region or inside the mouth and throat, presumably because of how the virus was spreading at the time . The lesions were also fewer in number and less pronounced overall.
Some cases of this nature have also been detected in the current outbreak in Congo.
“There is talk that there are more people that have lesions around the genitals this time around than previous clade I outbreaks,” said Amira Albert Roess, a professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University. “It’s going to take us some time to really understand what may be going on here.”
Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.
Family vacations are over and the kids are back at school and many adults are back in the office. At the same time, COVID cases and emergency room visits are increasing across Indiana.
That may leave some adults wondering how long they wait before heading back to the office once they've tested positive for COVID and how many days they should keep COVID-positive kids at home.
Federal officials once recommended that people isolate at home for 10 days after a positive test. But those guidelines have changed dramatically.
Four years after the virus upended lives across the world, COVID-19 has become a lot less deadly, doctors say. That has prompted many people to treat the virus like any other infectious respiratory diseases, such as a cold or influenza. But there are still some risks and uncertainties around the disease, specifically the bouts of long-term symptoms that plague some patient for months or even years.
So, what does that mean for those who get sick should handle their return to normal life?
Indianapolis Public Schools ask students to stay at home for at least a day and return when symptoms are improving. Students with fevers should wait until they are fever-free for a day and recovering from other symptoms before returning to the classroom.
Ideally, students would stay at home for five days after the start of their symptoms, said Dr. Graham Carlos, chief of internal medicine at Eskenazi Health. That's when they are likely no longer contagious.
However, if their symptoms are improving and they are fever-free for at least a day, those students are unlikely to get others sick even if fewer than five days have elapsed, he said.
Kids are at a low risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year dropped its recommendation that adults stay at home for five days after a positive test, a controversial decision that elicited opposition from some doctors and public health experts.
Since March, the CDC has recommended people stay at home until their symptoms are improving and they have been fever-free for at least a day. The agency recommends masking for another five days after the period of isolation.
However, local doctors say it's best to stay at home for five days if possible, especially for those who may come into contact with people at higher risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Older adults and those with chronic health issues and compromised immune systems are at risk for severe COVID that could lead to hospitalization and or symptoms that last months. So those who take care of older parents or who work in health care facilities may want to be more cautious by staying at home and mask when they see vulnerable people.
Regardless of which virus a person has, COVID-19 has taught everyone that respiratory diseases like COVID and the flu spread through droplets when people are talking or coughing, said Dr. Robin Ledyard, an administrator at Community Health Network. So, no matter the virus, masks can reduce transmission.
Those at risk of developing severe and long COVID-19 symptoms should get tested and treated, said Carlos.
Long COVID-19 symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, joint aches and even a fast heart rate that comes out of nowhere, he said.
Binghui Huang can be reached at 317-385-1595 or [email protected]
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4 min read. The main difference between assignment and assessment is that assignments refer to the allocation of a task or set of tasks that are marked and graded while assessment refers to methods for establishing if students have achieved a learning outcome, or are on their way toward a learning objective. Assignments and assessment are two ...
Testing measures the level of skill or knowledge that has been reached. Evaluation is the process of making judgments based on criteria and evidence. Assessment is the process of documenting knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs, usually in measurable terms. The goal of assessment is to make improvements, as opposed to simply being judged.
Types of Assignments and Assessments. Assignments and assessments are much the same thing: an instructor is unlikely to give students an assignment that does not receive some sort of assessment, whether formal or informal, formative or summative; and an assessment must be assigned, whether it is an essay, case study, or final exam.
What does this mean exactly? An assignment is all in the name; it is the act of assigning. It is an allocation of a task or set of tasks that are marked and graded for the report card (but does not have to be). ... The assessment may be a take-home task, an exam/test, speech or something more hands-on. An assessment can be both in-class or at ...
Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Developing critical thinking and writing skills are also necessary to demonstrate your ability to understand and apply information about your topic. It is not uncommon to be unsure about the processes of writing assignments at ...
ASSIGNMENT definition: 1. a piece of work given to someone, typically as part of their studies or job: 2. a job that…. Learn more.
The assignment can focus on a product as output (e.g. research report, design, prototype, etc.) and/or a process (e.g. research process, group process) and/or the performance of individual skills or competences (e.g. professional skills, communications skills). There are a lot of benefits to gain from using an assignment as an assessment method.
The meaning of ASSIGNMENT is the act of assigning something. How to use assignment in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Assignment.
7 meanings: 1. something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task 2. a position or post to which a person is assigned.... Click for more definitions.
An Assignment is similar to traditional homework. Students get a section of the course that they have to prepare until the set deadline. This includes theory and exercise pages. While doing the assignment, students can use feedback, hints, and have multiple attempts to solve an exercise. Students can start and pause an assignment as many times ...
Assessment Rubrics. A rubric is commonly defined as a tool that articulates the expectations for an assignment by listing criteria, and for each criteria, describing levels of quality (Andrade, 2000; Arter & Chappuis, 2007; Stiggins, 2001). Criteria are used in determining the level at which student work meets expectations.
What this handout is about. The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms ...
Generally speaking, summative assessments are defined by three major criteria: The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn. In other words, what makes an assessment "summative" is not the design of the test, assignment, or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is ...
If grades are assigned to a quiz, test, project, or other work product, the reasoning goes, they become de facto summative assessments—i.e., the act of assigning a grade turns the assessment into a performance evaluation that is documented in a student's academic record, as opposed to a diagnostic strategy used to improve student ...
Definition of Assignment. In schools, an assignment is the work teachers give to students. It helps to check how much students understand and how they perform. ... The boss gave a hard task to the new employee to test how well they manage work under pressure. With the contract signed, the ownership officially changed hands through a property ...
assignment: 1 n an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor) Types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... school assignment , schoolwork a school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher writing assignment , written assignment an assignment to write something classroom project a school task requiring considerable ...
Definition of assignment noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Assignment meaning is the tasks given to students by their teachers and tutors to complete in a defined time. They can also be referred to as the work given to someone as a part of learning. Assignments can be in the form of written, practical, art or fieldwork, or even online. Their purpose is to ensure that students understand the subject ...
The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include: a midterm exam. a final project. a paper. a senior recital.
placement test: [noun] a test usually given to a student entering an educational institution to determine specific knowledge or proficiency in various subjects for the purpose of assignment to appropriate courses or classes.
ASSIGNMENT meaning: 1. a piece of work given to someone, typically as part of their studies or job: 2. a job that…. Learn more.
Assessment. In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students. While assessments are often equated with traditional tests—especially the standardized tests ...
Examples of Assignment Test in a sentence. The Assignment Test from first two and half units conducted for 20 Marks and will be scaled down to 5 Marks.. The weightage of internal marks for 40 consists of Descriptive Test - 15 Marks, Assignment Test- 10 Marks (Open book system with questions in accordance with BLOOMS taxonomy), and Objective Test -10 Marks and Subject Seminar 5 marks.
Cap/No cap: To "cap" means to "lie, to boast, or to front," according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (although this meaning hasn't officially made it yet). "No cap" means you are being truthful ...
The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a blood test that measures the average size of your blood cells. When combined with your other test results and medical history, it can help your healthcare professionals identify the best treatment for your anemia. For example, an MCV below the reference range suggests the anemia may be caused by low iron.
Suspect case definition. Patient with travel within two weeks of initial symptom onset (as patients may experience recurrent symptoms) to an area with documented or suspected Oropouche virus circulation* and the following:. Abrupt onset of reported fever, headache, and one or more of the following: myalgia, arthralgia, photophobia, retroorbital/eye pain, or signs and symptoms of neuroinvasive ...
The World Health Organization's decision to declare mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years may seem like déjà vu — but there are key differences between the ...
Family vacations are over and the kids are back at school and many adults are back in the office. At the same time, COVID cases and emergency room visits are increasing across Indiana. That may ...
Walz was then transported by a state trooper to a local hospital for a blood test, showing he had a blood alcohol level of .128, well above the state's legal limit of 0.1 at the time.
The trio of Republican-led committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden released a report on Monday, arguing that the president has "engaged in impeachable conduct ...