Prof Ed 8 ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 1

Reasons for Assessment

1. Student selection and certification
2. Instructional Monitoring
3. For:
 Public accountability and program evaluation
 Making decisions about different aspects of the
educational process
 Helping make GOOD decisions, if they provide accurate,
authentic, reliable and valid information about educational

Educational Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation serve the

following purposes:
 Improvement of Student Learning
 Identification of Students’ Strengths and Weaknesses
 Assessment of the Effectiveness of a Particular Teaching
Strategy
 Appraisal of the Effectiveness of the Curriculum
 Assessment and Improvement of Teaching Effectiveness
 Communication with and Involvement of Parents in their
children’s learning
PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT
1. Educational assessment should be based on goals,
objectives or standards which are clearly stated.
2. It has to relate to student’s learning with these
standards.
3. It has to be continuous and on-going.
4. It should provide feedback about students’ performance.

ASSESSMENT CYCLE
- Articulate Learning Goals
- Design Strategies Determine student activities
- Select assessment Methods
- Gather Assessment data
- Summarize
- Interpret Use the Results to Improve

ROLE OF ASSESSMENT IN CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION

 Enhances learning in the instructional process if the results
provide feedback to both teachers and students
 Used to evaluate the teaching methodologies and strategies of
the teacher
 Used to make teaching decisions
 Results are used to diagnose the learning problems of the
students
Teachers make decisions from the beginning up to the end of
instruction.
1. Beginning of Instruction
Placement Assessment- determine the pre-requisite skills,
degree of mastery of the course objectives and the best mode
of learning
2. During Instruction
a. Formative Assessment-
 used to monitor the learning progress during instruction,
 provide immediate feedback, re: success and failures of
learning,
 Identify learning errors,
 How to modify instruction
 Improve learning and instruction

b. Diagnostic Assessment- given at the beginning or during

instruction
 identify the strengths and weaknesses of the students,
 determine the level of competence of the students,
 identify students with prior knowledge,
 determine the causes of learning problems not revealed by
formative assessment,
 formulate a plan for remedial action

3. End of Instruction
Summative Assessment- given at the end of the course or unit
 Determine the extent of achieving the objectives set
 Certify student mastery and assigning grades
 Provide information for judging appropriateness of
instructional objectives
 Determine the effectiveness of instruction

TYPES OF ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES

A. Nature of Assessment

1. Maximum Performance- determine what individuals can do

when performing at their best e.g. Aptitude and achievement
tests
2. Typical Performance- determine what individuals will do
under natural conditions e.g. Attitude, interests,
personality inventories, observational techniques and peer
appraisal
B. Format of Assessment
1. Fixed-choice Test- measure knowledge and skills
effectively and efficiently e.g. Standard multiple-choice
test
2. Complex-performance Assessment- measure the performance
of learners in context and on problems valued in their own
rights e.g. Hands-on laboratory experiments, projects,
essays, oral presentation

SOURCES OF EVALUATIVE INFORMATION

To make correct judgment, teachers need to gather accurate
information.
 Cumulative Record- permanent records
 Personal Contact- observational information like:
- Can the student read well or not?
- Does the student understand concepts?
- Does the student follow specified instructions?
- Does the student stay on task?
- Does the student participate actively in learning
activities?
- Does the student use the material correctly?
 Analysis- teachers need to file samples of students’ work
for discussion during P-T conference
 Open-ended Themes and Diaries
- questions like the following can be asked:
- What things do you like and dislike about school?
- What subjects do you find interesting? Uninteresting?
- How do you feel about your classmates
- What personal accomplishments are you so proud of?
 Conferences with parents and previous teachers
 Testing

METHODS OF INTERPRETING THE RESULTS

1. Norm-referenced Interpretation
 Describes student’s performance or progress in relation to
others of the same peer group, age or ability
 May involve ranking or scaling a pupil to help with
streaming classes
 May look at cross-school achievements to compare
achievement in particular groups, subjects and years with
local and national levels of attainment

Norm-referenced Interpretation e.g.

 Franco’s score in the periodical exams is below the mean
 Sam ranked 5th in the unit test in Physics
 Scion’s percentile rank in the Math achievement test is
88.
2. Criterion-referenced Interpretation- describes student
performance according to a specified domain or clearly
defined learning tasks e.g. divide three-digit whole
numbers correctly and accurately, multiply binomial
terms correctly
 Concerned with national examination and other assessment
bodies
 Used in the assessment of vocational and academic
qualifications
 Results are given on a pass/fail, competent/not
competent basis
 Results are conclusive and usually open to review

Criterion-referenced Interpretation e.g.

 Hannah can construct a pie graph with 75% accuracy
 Hyacinth scored 7 out of 10 in the spelling test
 Ophie can encode an article with no more than 5 errors in
spelling