Think subscores are a helpful form of feedback? Think again

Abstract

Many educators believe subscores offer an easy approach for (1) discerning what students know/can do, and (2) providing more analytical feedback to students. In addition, many educators use subscores as a tool for guiding targeted remediation in specific areas of study. Unfortunately, there are several significant problems associated with subscores, and such beliefs and practices may be problematic and ill-advised. The purpose of this article is to address some of the problems relating to subscores in classroom assessment scenarios and to encourage educators to be cautious of these often deceptive and problematic measures.