What type of assessment aims to determine a student's strengths and weaknesses?

Diagnostic assessments are designed specifically to identify students' strengths and weaknesses in a particular area of learning. They focus on gathering detailed information about a student's abilities before instruction begins, allowing educators to tailor their teaching strategies to meet individual needs. This type of assessment helps in understanding the precise skills a student has mastered and which areas require further development, ultimately facilitating more personalized learning experiences.

In contrast, fluency checks are typically used to gauge a student's reading speed and accuracy rather than to assess comprehensive strengths and weaknesses across a range of skills. Norm-referenced tests compare a student's performance to that of a larger group, often providing a general idea of how they perform relative to peers, but do not offer detailed insights into individual skill levels. Criterion-referenced tests measure a student's performance against a set of criteria or standards, which can indicate what students know but may not highlight their specific strengths and weaknesses in the same way diagnostic assessments do.