This technique is particularly attractive because it facilitates cooperation and reinforces a valued outcome. The California State Department of Education reports success in using group projects. Particularly with younger children, interviews are more likely to elicit informative responses than open-ended, written questions. As audio and video become increasingly available to record performances, the use of oral presentations for assessment is likely to increase. The form can also vary, ranging from filling in a blank or writing a short answer, to drawing on a graph or diagram, to writing out all the steps in a geometry proof.
Teachers often use constructed-response questions in classroom assessments.
Essays can demonstrate how well a student uses facts in context and structures a coherent discussion. Answering essay questions effectively requires critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis. Essays and other writing samples may also be used to assess students' composition skills, including spelling, grammar, syntax, and sentence and paragraph structure. Considerable research has been conducted on the standardized and objective scoring of writing assessments. Many states, including Maryland an North Carolina, administer writing assessments at several grade levels.