Assessment and research

Assessment tool quality checklist

An initial review that helps education teams examine an instrument’s alignment, clarity, fairness and usefulness.

Prepared by: TAS — Tareq Abushawish
Who is it for?: Educators and trainers · Organisations
Approximate time: 10 minutes
Version and update: 1.0 · 2026-09-14

A general TAS template, available for educational and professional use and adaptation with attribution and disclosure of changes. It implies no external accreditation.

Completed example

How might you use this tool?

A fictional example for illustration; adapt to context. It does not represent individual data or actual project results.

Instrument and purpose: Illustrative reading test
Item to improve: Instructions for question two
Evidence or observation: Several tasks appear in one instruction
Proposed change: Separate tasks and clarify the answer criterion
Owner and review date: Instrument author, before piloting

Review as you work

Purpose and alignmentDo we know which decision the results should inform?Do the questions or criteria genuinely align with the learning objectives?Is the task appropriate for what we intend to assess?

Clarity and fairnessAre the instructions and terms clear for the intended audience?Are there language or technology barriers unrelated to the objective?Are the criteria explicit, understandable and usable consistently?

Using the resultsCan the result be interpreted within its context and limits?Who will follow up and translate the findings into improvement?

Your worksheet

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Entry 1

Instrument and purpose—Item to improve—Evidence or observation—Proposed change—Owner and review date—

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