Assessment Learning 1 Lesson 1

INTRODUCTION

 Assessment is said to be at the core of the learning process. This implies that
assessment is primarily for gauging and enhancing student learning.
 Reduced to the barest components, the educative process happens between
the teacher and the student. Education originated from the terms “educare” or
“educere” which meant “to draw out.” Ironically, however, for centuries we
succeeded in perpetuating the belief that education is a “pouring in” process
wherein the teacher was the infallible giver of knowledge and the student was
the passive recipient.
 Assessment is a vital element in the curriculum development process. It is used
to determine student’s learning needs, monitor their progress and examine their
performance against identified student learning outcomes. As such, it is
implemented at different phases of instruction: before (pre-assessment); during
(formative assessment) and after instruction (summative).

BASIC CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT

MEASUREMENT

 Measurement comes from the Old French word “mesure” which means "limit or
quantity" Basically, it is a quantitative description of an object's characteristic or
attribute. In science, measurement is a comparison of an unknown quantity to a
standard. There are appropriate measuring tools to gather numerical data on
variables such as height, mass, time, temperature, among others.
 A process of quantifying the degree to which someone/something possesses a
given trait.
 It is al a numerical value
 It also refers to the process of quantifying an individual’s achievement,
personality and attitudes among others by means of appropriate measuring
instruments.
They measure particular elements of learning like their readiness to learn, recall
of facts, demonstration of specific skills, or their ability to analyze and solve
applied problems. They use tools or instruments like tests, oral presentations,
written reports, portfolios and rubrics to obtain pertinent information. Among
these, tests are the most pervasive.

TEST

 An instrument designed to measure any characteristics, quality, ability,

knowledge or skill. Tests are the most dominant form of assessment.
 The issue concerning its effectiveness to measure and effectively evaluate
learning is resolved if questions target and reflect learning outcomes and covers
the different learning domains.
 Tests are traditional assessments. They may not be the best way to measure
how much students have learned but they still provide valuable information
about student learning and their progress.
 It is an instrument used to measure a construct and make decisions.
Educational tests may be used to measure the learning progress of a student
which is formative in purpose, or comprehensive covering a more extended time
frame which is summative.

TYPES OF TEST

ACCORDING TO MODE OF RESPONSE

 ORAL TEST (VIVA VOCE)

 Answers are spoken.
 It can be used to measure oral communication skills. It may also be used to
check students' understanding of concepts, theories and procedures
 Unlike written tests, it is minimally discriminatory and more inclusive especially
for learners who are dyslexic.(Huxham, Campbell & Westwood, 2012).
 Plagiarism is less likely.
 It consumes time and may be stressful for some students (Huxham, Campbell &
Westwood, 2012)
 It favors extrovert and eloquent students. It is not appropriate for abstract
reasoning tasks.
 WRITTEN TESTS
 activities wherein students either select or provide a response to a prompt
 Among the forms of written assessments are alternate response (true/false)
 multiple choice, matching, short-answer, essays, completion and identification
 A written test has its strong points. It can be administered to a large group at
one time. It can measure students' written communication skills.
 It can also be used to assess lower and higher levels of cognition provided that
questions are phrased appropriately.
 It enables assessment of a wide range of topics.
 Despite some criticisms, written tests are generally fair and efficient.
 PERFORMANCE TESTS
 Activities that require students to demonstrate their skills or ability to perform
specific actions. More aptly called performance assessments
 They include problem-based learning, inquiry tasks, demonstration tasks,
exhibits, presentation tasks and capstone performances.
  These tasks are designed to be authentic, meaningful, in-depth and
multidimensional. • However, cost and efficiency are some of the drawbacks,

ACCORDING TO EASE OF QUALIFICATION OF RESPONSE

 OBJECTIVE TEST
 can be corrected and quantified quite easily • scores can be readily compared.
 it includes true-false, multiple choice, completion and matching items.
 the test items have a single or specific convergent response.
 SUBJECTIVE TEST
• elicits varied responses
• may have more than one answer.
• include restricted and extended-response essays.
• it is not easy to check
• answers to this type of test are usually divergent.
• scores are likely to be influenced by personal opinion or judgment by the person
doing the scoring.
 ACCORDING TO MODE OF ADMINISTRATION
INDIVIDUAL TEST
• given to one person at a time. Individual cognitive and achievement tests are
administered to gather extensive information about each student's cognitive
functioning and his/her ability to process and perform specific tasks.
• they can help identify intellectually gifted students. Likewise, they can also
pinpoint those with learning disabilities (LDs).
GROUP TEST
• administered to a class of students or group of examines simultaneously 
• the test is usually objective and responses are more or less restricted. It does
not lend itself for in-depth observations of individual students. students are
assessed on all items of the test. 
• students may become bored with easy items and anxious over difficult ones. 
• Information obtained from group tests is not as comprehensive as those from
individual tests. 

ASSESSMENT

 Assessment comes from' the Latin word assidère which means "to sit beside a
judge”. This implies that assessment is tied up with evaluation. 
 Miller, Linn & Gronlund (2009) defined assessment as any method utilized to
gather information about student performance. Black and Wiliam (1998, p. 82)
gave a lengthier definition emphasizing the importance of feedback and
signifying its purpose. They stated that assessment pertains to all "activities
undertaken by teachers - and by their students in assessing themselves - that
 provide information to be used to modify the teaching and learning activities in
which they are engaged.
 This means that assessment data direct teaching in order to meet the needs of
the students. It should be pointed out however, that assessment is not just about
collecting data. These data are processed, interpreted and acted upon.
 These data are processed, interpreted and acted upon. They aid teachers to
make informed decisions and judgment to improve teaching and learning. It is a
continuous process used to identify and address problems on teaching
methods, learning milieu, student mastery and classroom assessment. Hence, it
is no surprise that assessment subsumes measurement and instigates
evaluation.
 Assessment is a process that can be placed in two broad categories: measures
of maximum performance and measures of typical performance (Miller, Lin &
Gronlund, 2009).Originally, Cronbach made this classification for personnel
selection tests.
 Examples of measures of maximum performance are achievement and aptitude
tests. An achievement test is a measure of an individual's competency in a
specific area. An aptitude test measures a learner's ability or capability to learn.
It conveys to teachers and other evaluators how a learner is likely to perform in
school - his/her propensity to succeed.

Classroom achievement tests

• Spelling tests

• Arithmetic tests

• periodical tests

National Achievement Test (NAT) administered annually by the Department of

Education to Grade 6 and Grade 10 students is a standardized test designed to
determine the achievement level of students in five subjects: English, Mathematics,
Science, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan.

Learning Key Point

Assessment is a process of collecting information about a learner’s performance using a

variety of methods and tools. It is classified into two categories: maximum performance
and typical performance. The first determines what learners “can do” and the other for
what learners “will do”.
 OUTCOME-BASED EDUCATION

WHAT IS EDUCATION?

 came from a Latin word "educare" which means "to draw out” • the students and
the teachers are the two main elements of the educative process
 because of knowledge explosion brought about by the use of computers in
education the teacher ceased to be the sole source of knowledge.

WHAT IS OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION?

 OBE is the change of instruction from content to learning outcomes.

 It focuses on classroom instruction on the skills and competencies that
students must demonstrate when they exit.

THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF OBE?

 Student-centered
 Faculty Driven
 Meaningful

BASIC CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT

TEST

• An instrument designed to measure any characteristics, quality, ability,

knowledge or skill

MEASUREMENT

 a process of quantifying the degree to which someone/something possesses a

given trait;
 Refers to the process of quantifying an individual’s achievement, personality and
attitudes among others by means of appropriate measuring instruments.

TWO TYPES OF MEASUREMENT:

1. Objective - in terms of testing

2. Subjective - in terms of perception

ASSESSMENT

 A process of gathering and organizing quantitative or qualitative data into an

interpretable form to have a basis for judgment or decision-making;
  it is a prerequisite to evaluation; it provides the information which enables
evaluation to take place
 Angelo (1995) defines assessment as ongoing process. It involves a series of
steps, namely: gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data.

The purpose of assessment is to determine whether expectations match standards

set by school authorities.

✔ Expectations are provided by instructional objectives, that in turn, are translated into
learning outcomes. 

✔ Standards are levels of performance set by school authorities set by school officials
as measures of excellence or attainment. 

Teachers can set any of the following kinds of standards (Zais,1976):

1. Absolute maximum standard is a level of performance that can be reached by only

a few students, e.g. 95% performance. 

2. Absolute minimum standard can be attained by majority of students enough to

guarantee promotion to the next higher grade/year level. E.g 75% performance

3. Relative standard refers to the level of competency compared with the performance
of other students in a class or group, e.g. ranking.

4. Multiple standard is a level of performance or competency that utilizes a

combination of the first three standards. This kind of standards is employed to
document and determine the learning growth pattern of students.

MODES OF ASSESSMENT 

1. Traditional assessment - uses paper-and-pencil test in assessing knowledge

and thinking skills
2. Performance-based assessment - it requires actual demonstration of skills or
creation of products of learning
3. Portfolio assessment - a process of gathering multiple indicators of student
progress to support course goals in dynamic, ongoing and collaborative

PURPOSE OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Assessment FOR learning - done before and during instruction(e.g. placement, diagnostic, formative)

Assessment OF learning -done after instruction (e.g.summative assessment)

Assessment AS learning - this is done for teachers to understand and perform well their role of assessing
FOR and OF learning
 ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

PLACEMENT - done before instruction

 its purpose is to assess the needs of the learners to have basis in planning for a
relevant instruction
 teachers use this assessment to know what their students are bringing into the
learning situation and use this as a starting point for instruction
 the results of this assessment place students in specific learning groups to
facilitate teaching and learning

DIAGNOSTIC- done before instruction

 this is use to determine students' recurring or persistent difficulties.

 it searches for the underlying causes of student's learning problems that do not
respond to the first aid treatment.
 it helps formulate a plan for detailed remedial instruction

SUMMATIVE- done after instruction

 it is used to certify what students know and can do and the level of their
proficiency and competency
 its results reveal whether or not instructions have successfully achieved the
learning outcomes