What is "embedded assessment"?

"Embedded assessment" is an assessment process that involves using the regular work that students produce in their classes as the material that is assessed or evaluated. The student work may be a final research paper, a set of questions "embedded" in a final exam, a lab project, or anything that the professor would regularly use to evaluate the students in the class. One of the advantages of this type of assessment is that the students do not know that their efforts are being used for assessment and therefore do not have any additional pressure or effort required of them. The work they produce is more indicative of their normal work rather than being something produced just for assessment purposes. So, for example, one might assess the general education competencies of students when they reach the junior or senior year and are in the major by selecting specific assignments in specific courses and sending them to a team of faculty to evaluate.