What is a diagnostic assessment used for?

A diagnostic assessment is specifically designed to gather information about a student's prior knowledge, skills, and understanding before instruction begins. This type of assessment helps educators identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to tailor their teaching strategies to meet individual learning needs effectively. By understanding what students already know, teachers can build on that knowledge and address gaps, making the instructional process more targeted and effective.

Other options address different assessment purposes: evaluating student progress typically refers to formative assessments, measuring long-term outcomes relates to summative assessments, and assessing performance against a standard implies a standardized or criterion-referenced assessment. These approaches serve distinct functions in the educational process, but diagnostic assessments are uniquely focused on pre-instructional insights.