Here are assessment practices lifted from DepED Order 8, s 2015 for the guidance of all teachers.

1. Teachers should employ assessment methods that are consistent with standard. This means that
assessment as a process must be based on standards and competencies that are stated in the k-
12 curriculum guide. Assessment must be based NOT on content but on standards and
competencies tools or tasks and standards and competencies.

2. Teachers must employ both formative and summative assessment both individually and
collaboratively. Assessment is done primarily to ensure learning, thus teachers are expected to
assess learning in every stage of lessons development – beginning, middle and at the end.

3. Grades are a function of written work, performance tasks and quarterly test. This means that
grades come from multiple sources with emphasis on performance tasks from Grade 1 to 12.
Grade does not come from only one source rather from multiple sources.

4. The cognitive process dimensions given by Krathwohl and Anderson (2001) from remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating- governs formulation of assessment
task.
Summative assessment explained
Summative assessment aims to evaluate student learning and academic achievement at the end of a
term, year or semester by comparing it against a universal standard or school benchmark. Summative
assessments often have a high point value, take place under controlled conditions, and therefore have
more visibility.
Summative assessment examples:
 End-of-term or midterm exams
 Cumulative work over an extended period such as a final project or creative portfolio
 End-of-unit or chapter tests
 Standardised tests that demonstrate school accountability are used for pupil admissions; SATs,
GCSEs and A-Levels

Why is summative assessment important for learning?

In the current education system, standard-driven instruction plays a significant role. Summative
assessment, therefore, provides an essential benchmark to check the progress of students, institutions
and the educational program of the country as a whole.
Summative assessment contributes largely towards improving the British curriculum and overall
curriculum planning. When summative assessment data indicates gaps across the board between
student knowledge and learning targets, schools may turn to improved curriculum planning and new
learning criteria to assess and improve their school attainment levels.
Formative assessment explained
Formative assessment is more diagnostic than evaluative. It is used to monitor pupil learning style and
ability, to provide ongoing feedback and allow educators to improve and adjust their teaching methods
and for students to improve their learning.
Most formative assessment strategies are quick to use and fit seamlessly into the instruction process.
The information gathered is rarely marked or graded. Descriptive feedback may accompany formative
assessment to let students know whether they have mastered an outcome or whether they require
more practice.
Formative assessment examples:
 Impromptu quizzes or anonymous voting
 Short comparative assessments to see how pupils are performing against their peers
 One-minute papers on a specific subject matter
 Lesson exit tickets to summarise what pupils have learnt
 Silent classroom polls
 Ask students to create a visualisation or doodle map of what they learn

Why is formative assessment important for learning?

Formative assessment is a flexible and informal way of assessing a pupil’s progress and their
understanding of a certain subject matter. It may be recorded in a variety of ways, or may not be
recorded at all, except perhaps in lesson planning to address the next steps.
Formative assessment helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that
need work. It also helps educators and governors recognise where students are struggling and address
problems immediately. At a school level, SMT and school leaders use this information to identify areas
of strength and weakness across the institution, and to develop strategies for improvement.
As the learning journey progresses, further formative assessments indicate whether teaching plans need to
be revised to reinforce or extend learning.
Why is assessing pupil progress a challenge?

Pupil assessment, both formative and summative, is deemed an imperative part of the education process.
Unfortunately, standardised exams and informal testing in schools are also blamed for the narrowing of
the curriculum and teaching methods, contributing towards damaging levels of stress among teachers and
pupils, and only valuing specific achievements to the detriment of broader learning.

Pearson and LKMco researched the topic of assessment in schools and published a subsequent report,
Testing The Water. The report was revealed that a fifth of teachers in the UK are unclear where to go for
information on assessing their pupils. What’s more, teachers feel unsupported when it comes to training
for assessment; less than half of educators received assessment training as part of their initial teacher
training.

Last year, SLT and school governors point towards a lack of budgets and limited time as hindering their
schools’ abilities to provide more thorough assessment training, and most of the available training is
regarded by teachers as being low in quality. However, according to the majority of this year’s survey
respondents, online assessments, as well as online content and resources are likely to see the biggest
growth over the next few years

How could teacher workload be reduced?

The summative assessment procedure is tightly woven into the accountability system of teachers and
schools. Teachers are often tasked and appraised based on the results of summative assessment, while
schools are incentivised to achieve certain results and performance in specific areas over others.
The high-stake nature of summative assessment translates into how the school performance is judged, and
SLT often pass down pressure as a result. Statutory assessment, therefore, can cause an great deal of
stress for pupils, and a high degree of pressure for teachers.

It’s been suggested that the Department for Education should separate student exam results from teachers’
direct performance evaluations. Summative assessment results should, rather, serve as a discussion point
or a means to highlight where additional resources may be required.

At the same time, employing more formative assessment throughout the year can take the pressure of end
of term assessments for both teachers and pupils. This could include weekly quizzes or short lesson
evaluations that can help improve student learning on the spot and increase pupils’ confidence. This
ensures that final summative assessment has a positive impact on learning as well as providing pupils
with more tools to improve throughout the term.

How do formative and summative assessment fit together?

The distinction between some types of summative assessment and formative assessment can be hard to
identify. For example, schools may use benchmark testing to monitor the academic progress of pupils and
determine whether they are on track to mastering the material that will be evaluated on end-of-course
tests.Some educators consider these interim tests to be formative; they are diagnostic and help modify
learning techniques, but others may consider them to be summative.

In our current education system, the purposes of both formative and summative assessment are not always
mutually supportive.
Traditional assessment — evaluation used for summative purposes — contains key diagnostic data for
teachers, but this information is perhaps too infrequent, or comes too late for appropriate action. Selected
response and formative written assessments, homework, meanwhile, and ongoing class feedback all serve
as valuable activities as part of a teacher’s evaluation toolkit, if used appropriately.

Official standard results like grades A-C may symbolise pupil achievement, yet they rarely incorporate
related learning factors such as readiness to learn or motivation. What’s more, grades are not explicit to
student progress, nor do they provide teachers with information that might further their teaching methods.

Schools, then, should consider cutting the time teachers spend conducting summative assessments so that
they can focus on conducting diagnostic, formative assessments.

Ways to use assessment to enhance learning

There are alternative ways of assessing pupils progress and enhancing learning with summative and
formative assessment.

National exams and standardised tests leave little room for adaptation or creativity, but a midterm
assessment or a module final, however, could be tasked as a visual presentation, a long-form test, or an
individual essay.

Technology-enhanced assessment requires students to interact with exam material in various ways —
dragging and dropping answers, highlighting relevant data, and completing sentences or equations in a
drop-down menu. This fosters students’ digital literacy and prepares them for life after education.
 By allowing students to explain their material in a medium they feel comfortable with, such as on mobile
devices or on an interactive front of class display like ActivPanels, teachers get an accurate picture of
their pupils’ understanding. This gives much greater opportunity for students to demonstrate their
particular skills.

Teachers can also set final exams or assessments in a form that resembles vocational assessments or job
applications. This style of assessment can cover a broad range of material, and prepare older students for
performance reviews and projects in a working environment, providing a stepping stone for the future.

Assessment for improving collaborative

learning

In this part of Module 3, we look at assessment from the perspective of

collaboration - how collaborative learning can be enhanced by
assessment. The role of assessment in collaborative projects is to encourage
students to take responsibility for their participation in team work and to help
them understand and embrace the collaborative, not competitive nature of a
collaborative learning process. Our students should also understand that we
learn better in groups than alone, because we can help each other overcome
difficulties and solve problems. Assessment shouldn't discourage learners, but
rather strengthen their commitment to learning. It should be brief, clear and
timely so that it can help students improve their skills and knowledge.
There are three types of assessment, each with a different purpose:
1. Formative assessment represents diagnostic testing, which can be either
formal or informal, i.e. students can but don't have to be given a grade for the
learning activity. What matters is that both student and teacher receive
valuable feedback, which enables them to keep track of student progress and
monitor student achievement. Feedback shows if students have mastered a
concept or they still need to work on it. It also gives teachers an insight into
their teaching and shows if they have to modify their activities. Constant
feedback on student performance is crucial for students to enhance their
learning.

2. Summative assessment refers to the assessment of the learning: students

take an exam which measures the knowledge they gained over a particular
period of time and for which students will be graded. Traditional classroom is
based mostly on summative assessment, whereas in the 21st century
classroom summative and formative assessment should be well-balanced.

3. Self-assessment By reflecting on their learning students become aware of

weaknesses and are motivated to work harder for improvement. We should
teach students how to assess themselves, because many find it difficult to
objectively assess their own skills and knowledge.

When speaking of self-assessment we also need to mention self-

regulation or self-directed learning.

In the 21st century workplace, people are expected to work with minimal
supervision, which requires them to plan their own work and monitor and
evaluate its quality. These are the qualities that describe self-regulated or self-
directed learners. According to Barry Zimmerman, one of the foremost
researchers on self-regulated learning, self-regulated learning represents an
ongoing series of feedback cycles that consists of three phases: planning,
practice and feedback.
During the planning phase, students learn to assess their previously gained
knowledge, choose appropriate strategies and set short and long-term goals.
During the practice phase, students implement the strategies and keep track
of their progress. During the evaluation phase, students evaluate the
effectiveness of the strategies. Feedback from this phase serves as the basis
for the next SLR cycle.

When students are actively engaged in the learning process, they take greater
responsibility for their learning and in this way their performance improves.
Effective self-regulated learning starts with learner autonomy. When students
are given detailed instructions and timelines, they do not have the opportunity
to plan their own work. Teachers can foster self-regulation skills by giving
students responsibility for deciding how they will:

- divide their work among themselves,

- create a schedule and set interim deadlines,
- accomplish the task,
- plan where the work will be done.
 Teachers can help students learn to monitor the quality of the work they
produce by giving them assessment or quality criteria in advance.
Assessment criteria are the factors that the teacher considers in grading the
students' work. When students are given the criteria in advance, they can
examine the quality of their work as they complete it. In this way, they can
practise assessing their own performance and improve their work before
submitting it.

3.4 : A sports teacher's experience of

assessing collaborative learning
I really enjoyed watching the video by Chrysa Tsamopoulou, a PE teacher
from Greece because of her very useful and detailed description of how she
assessed collaboration in her interdisciplinary work. Chrysa implemented a
three-factor assessment method:

1. Individual performance: The students were provided with opportunity to

critically evaluate their own work. They complete a self-assessment sheet to
evaluate their contributions to the group.

2. Group performance: At the end of their work, Chrysa invited all her
students to discuss group work together. She encouraged them to implement
peer assessment by guiding them through a variety of questions to make
them aware of how peer feedback can help them to make their learning even
better in the future.

3. Group functionality: Chrysa walked between the groups and observed

how they worked. If she saw that a group was not functioning well, she would
encourage and support them to get them back on track.

Chrysa feels that the assessment of individual performance was least

successful and she asks if there is a valid way to constructively check
individual participation within collaborative work. Furthermore, to what extent
do we need to assess individual work within a collaborative learning process?
 I wish I knew the answer, but in my opinion, assessing individual performance
can't be neglected, because students are given information about their
individual strengths and weaknesses and encouraged to perform better.

Another important thing that students need to learn is to accept negative

feedback. I think the video below about Austin and his butterfly is a great way
to help students understand how constructive criticism can help us improve.

3.5 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing

collaborative learning
Antonio João Lopes, an ICT teacher from Portugal, mentions 7 benefits
of collaborative learning assessment:

1 – It is a student-centered process
2 - Promotes students involvement in the assessment tasks
3 – Promotes students responsibility and motivation towards the learning
process
4 – Promotes self-reflection and students argumentation
5 - Students can learn socially from each other
6 – Promotes digital literacy through the use of digital web 2.0 applications
7 – Promotes development of 21st century skills and competences.

To this I would also add that collaborative assessment helps learners develop
their metacognitive skills. They reflect on the process of learning and become
aware of how they are learning, which leads to better learning.

Antonio pinpoints the main challenges of collaborative learning:

1 - Changing role of the teacher/students in the classroom.

2 - Group dynamics: students must have a positive attitude and receptivity
towards their involvement in the assessment
3 - Group assessment versus individual assessment
4 - Management of teams/groups of students so that everyone participates
and collaborates in the activities
5 - Time available to prepare and apply assessment of collaboration in the
classroom.

He proposes solutions to the above-mentioned challenges:

1 - Assessing collaborative learning requires regular communication between

peers and peers and teachers.
2 - Digital tools can be used to support teacher’s planning activities. The use
of collaborative digital tools enables teachers to efficiently observe student
groups and deliver feedback. Digital tools can also support students to publish
and share their assessments.
3 - Reorganizing the classroom space can introduce more collaboration-
friendly dynamics in the classroom
4 - More interdisciplinary teaching and sharing of materials amongst teachers
also facilitates collaborative teachinginterdisciplinary teaching and the sharing
of materials amongst teachers as useful tips.