MODULE III - ASSESSMENT

Module III: Assessment

Module Objectives
At completion of this module participants will be able to:
 Understand the different types of assessment available
 Identify some major ways of continuous assessment
 Learn ways of assessing large classes
 Understand the desirable qualities of a test
 Be aware of reliable and valid test formats
 Apply appropriate grading system in evaluating students
 Develop confidence in their student assessment skills.

Session 1: General and Continuous Assessment Methods

Session Objectives:
 What is the purpose of assessment?
 What are the different forms of assessment?
 What is continuous assessment (formal and informal)?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 1: a) What is assessment? b) Why do we assess? c) What do we
assess? d) When and how do we assess?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 2: A) Think about the following definitions of assessment and give at
least two examples of each.
B) Then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different
assessment types.

Activity 2:
1. Formative – assessment for learning, identifying progress towards agreed targets and strategies
devised by both students and instructors to help individuals meet those targets; helps instructors to
adapt their teaching to meet the needs of students. For example:

2.Summative – assessment of learning at a specific point in a course; data is used to track individual
students’ progress towards targets and allows comparisons between students, classes, instructors and
universities; used for giving grades to students. For example:

3. Norm referenced – assessment compares students with each other by comparing them with the
average attainment for the group; inevitably there will be failures. For example:

4. Criterion referenced – assessment measures what a student can do against well-defined criteria.
For example:

Ê There will be more detail and discussion of examples in the following session
Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 3: What is continuous assessment? What is its purpose?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 4:

Brainstorm: What are the different forms of continuous assessment?
Then read the text below.

Forms of continuous assessment

Changes of skills and behavior are especially difficult to evaluate with paper-and-pencil tests. In
addition to traditional formal testing, there are various informal assessment techniques to
measure learning by way of continuous assessment.
Two general methods of assessment are (1) informal assessment and (2) formal assessment.
Student performance evaluation should rely on both informal and formal continuous assessment.

Assessment

Informal Formal
Casually during normal for example:
classroom activities examinations, tests, and projects

Less Structured More Structured

Observations during the learning Planned and set up
process. Self & peer assessment assessment (eg. small test or quiz)

Both informal and formal methods of continuous assessment aim to help instructors in improving
teaching and helping learners to learn better. Both of these should determine how well each
learner has mastered the basic competencies described in the subject syllabus. However, these
methods differ in how formally the assessment is planned and carried out.

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 5: Brainstorm: Why should continuous assessment be integrated with
teaching and learning?

Concept and purpose of continuous assessment

The more you know about what and how students are learning, the better you can plan learning
activities and structure a more effective way of teaching. To attain such information instructors
are expected to assess the performance and progress in learning of their students as frequently as
possible. Having the right picture of how much students know, how efficiently they perform,
what their attitudes are and what skills they have developed is important information for both
instructional and administrative decisions an instructor makes.

Black and Williams’ research review showed that the quality of feedback is a crucial element in
effective formative (continuous) assessment. Feedback improves learning when it gives specific
information on strengths and weaknesses of work in relation to learning objectives, and provides
guidance on how to improve (Burrell and Bupp, 2000). In order to really learn from the
comments, students need time to put into practice the suggestions for improvement.

Assessment approaches and tools for evaluating learning vary depending on the purposes they
serve and who develops them. Standardized and national examinations are different from
assessment of student learning and development prepared by an individual classroom instructor
for his or her own instructional purpose such as end-of-chapter test, anecdotal recording, verbal
skills checklist, classroom discussion self-rating, or the Friday quiz. The latter is part of what is
usually called continuous assessment, which is actually assessment for learning or formative
assessment.

Continuous assessment refers to the daily process by which instructors should gather information
about learners’ progress in achieving the learning targets. Such assessment uses many ways to
determine what a learner knows, understands, thinks, and can do. It is meant to be part of daily
teaching and learning in order that both may be maximized. It occurs regularly at different times
as a part of the teaching session, or as a homework task.
The assessment is continuous because it should occur during each session

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Continuous assessment enables instructors to successively evaluate students’ progress in learning

and development before and beyond what can be captured by summative assessment, which is
assessment of learning usually through paper-and-pencil tests.

Ê See ASS1 in the reader for further information on continuous assessment.

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 6: How will continuous assessment improve student performance and
improve your teaching?

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Session 2: Continuous Assessment

Session Objectives:
 What is self and peer assessment?
 What challenges are there in informal continuous assessment?
 How can group work be informally assessed?
 How can large classes successfully be assessed?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 1: what is self and peer assessment? Give some examples that could be
used in university instruction?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 2: How can you use informal continuous assessment (e.g.: observation,
self and peer assessment) in the teaching-learning process? When should you use it?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 3: What challenges might instructors have with informal continuous
assessment, especially in group work and / or large classes?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 4: Which techniques of informal continuous assessment do you think are
useful in handling large classes?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 5: How can instructors informally assess group work?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 6: How can instructors encourage and manage peer assessment in group
work?

Ê See ASS2 in the reader for further information on assessing large classes.

Session 3: Formal Assessment – Testing

Session Objectives:
 When should formal assessment be
used?
 Why should we test students?
 How do we decide what to include in a
test?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 1: When do you think you should use formal (continuous) assessment?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 2: List as many paper-and-pencil techniques of (continuous) assessment
as possible that you think are useful in assessing all student abilities.

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 3: Brainstorm: Why do we need to test students?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 4: Discuss: Why do you think we need to plan for testing?

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Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 5:

a) What are the major questions we need to raise in planning for a test?
b) List the elements needed to be taken into account when deciding to give a test

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General principles of test construction

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 6: What important points should be considered in constructing test
items?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 7: What should be our reference during the construction of test items?
Why?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Next Activity : Bring a test in your subject area or in the course you are going to
teach and comment on it in terms of the above mentioned general principles.

Ê See ASS3 in the reader for further information on testing.

Session 4: Constructing Test Items

Session Objectives:
 What are different test formats?
 How do you choose a format?
 What do validity and reliability mean?
 What is the relationship between validity and
reliability?
 To be aware of grading techniques
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Some students complain that some of the test items in their exams are ambiguous or not clear to
them. The ambiguity may arise from instructors’ weaknesses in writing proper items in terms of
language, difficulty level of the item, providing clues, and other problems.

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 1: What test formats do you know of?
What criteria do you suggest for selecting different test formats for use?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 2: Explain why different types of tests should be prepared.

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Desirable Characteristics of a Test

Validity: A test is valid when if its results are appropriate and useful for making decision about
an aspect of students achievement. It refers to the appropriateness of the interpretation of the
result and not to the test itself. A valid test measures what it is intended to measure.

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 3: What do you understand by the concept validity? Why is it necessary
that a given test be valid?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 4: List some characteristics by which you can evaluate the validity of a
test

Reliability: A test is reliable if it accurately and consistently evaluates a student performance

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 5: Is there any relationship between validity and reliability? If there is
how do you explain the relationship? Why do you think the validity and reliability of a test
is necessary? What factors do you think would affect the reliability of a test?

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Scoring Essays and Grading Student Performance

In many of our universities and colleges, students have complained about instructors’ grading
systems. Some grades are severe, some are lenient. College and university instructors particularly
novices are also worried on how to grade their students. Scoring student works particularly essay
tests is also a major concern to both instructors and students. Thus these concerns will necessitate
having some discussion on how to improve our grading.

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 6: Discuss

What complaints did you have in the grading of your Instructors / professors
while you were a student?
What were the typical problems of your instructors / professors?

Whatdiferncsareth betwnaHSstudentad nef ctiveprofesional? Activity 7: What are some of the problems instructors face in scoring essays?
What do you suggest to improve the objectivity of our scoring of essay tests?

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Scoring essay questions

Reliability of scoring answers to essay questions is enhanced if instructors make the task to be
performed by the pupils clear. This depends on the instructors’ use of good phrasing of the
questions to match them with the learning outcomes to measure and including clear directions
concerning answers expected. These are actually steps prior to scoring. The following
suggestions for scoring essay questions critically increase the reliability of the scoring.

a. Prepare an outline of the expected answer in advance.

b. Use the scoring method which is most appropriate.
The two methods commonly used are: Point Method (Analytic Method) and

Ê See ASS4 in the reader for further information on test construction.

References
i. Mehrens and Lehman (1994). Measurement and evaluation in
education and Psychology
ii. Barbara Gross Davis (2001). Tools for teaching.
iii. HDP training manual
iv. Ebel and Frisbie (1972). Essentials of Educational Measurement
v. Gronlund, N.E Lin, R.L. (1990) Measurement and Evaluation in
Teaching. 6th edition New York. Macmillan publishing company.

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