Classroom Assessment

Learning Action Cell Session 3

Principles of Effective
Assessment and Inclusive
Assessment
 Objectives
At the end of the session, the teachers should be able to:
1. analyze the principles of effective assessment and inclusive assessment;
2. share classroom assessment experiences where these principles apply; and
3. reflect on ways to improve teaching practice applying principles of effective
classroom assessment and inclusive assessment.

Key Understandings

All classroom assessment activities, whether formative or summative, should

comply with identified principles to make them fair and clear for all learners. (See
“Eight principles of effective assessment” and “Tips to make assessment inclusive
of gender, indigenous peoples, and learners with disabilities” in Classroom
Assessment Resource Book, DepEd, 2018, pp. 4–6.)

Materials Time Allotment

Survey Items in 2 sets: A and B, written on 2 hours

metastrips.

Annex A: Activity Sheet 3.1: Self-

Assessment Survey Form
Annex B: Handouts on Principles of
Classroom Assessment
Annex C: Handouts on Inclusive
Assessment
References

Department of Education. ″Principles of Effective Assessment.” In Classroom

Assessment Resource Book, 2018, 4–6.

Procedure

PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY (5 min)

1. Have the teachers form groups then carry out the following activity, “Hugot on
Classroom Assessment.”
a. On a metacard, write a hugot about your memorable experiences related to
classroom assessment.
Examples:
• Puro na lang exam . . . magagamit ba ‘yan as pagpapayaman?
• Ang exam ay parang pag-ibig. Nasa iyo ang pasiya kung ipaglalaban mo
ito nang patayan o bibitaw ka na lang at tatanggaping wala ka nang
kinabukasan.
• Don’t be afraid of failing in exams, marami pa naming mga exam na
dadaanan.
 b. Ask the teachers to share their hugot with their groups.

2. Introduce the session by informing the teachers that they will try to address the
following main questions during the session.

• To what extent have we been applying the principles of effective classroom

assessment?
• How can we improve the quality of our assessment that is inclusive of
gender, ethnicity, and exceptionality?

ACTIVITY 1 (15 min)

1. Conduct a Self-Assessment Survey based on classroom assessment practices.

(See Annex A for the Self-Assessment Survey Form.) Note that the items in the
Survey Form are ramdomly arranged. The classified items for each principle
are seen below.)

Principle 1 Always Sometimes Never

1. I plan assessment activities that are aligned with the

curriculum content and performance standards and
learning competencies.

2. I focus on 21st century skills by raising lower-level

questions to higher-level assessment activities.

Principle 2

3. I only assess what the learners are supposed to have

learned in the lesson.

4. I know when an assessment is valid or not.

Principle 3

5. My assessment activities have clear and consistent

instructions, tasks, or items.

6. I repeat assessment activities to find out if they will

show consistent learners’ performance

Principle 4

7. I give adequate time for learners to process new

knowledge and practice skills before I give an
assessment.

8. I give myself enough time to study results especially of

large classes.
 Principle 5

9. I use varied assessment methods and activities in

assessing my learners.

10. I engage learners in various assessment activities to

demonstrate their learning as expected in the
curriculum.

Principle 6

11. I monitor learners on-going progress over time.

12. I inform my learners clearly about the criteria for

assessment.

Principle 7

13. I use assessment data to improve my teaching and

assessment practices.

14. I use assessment data to inform learners’ current

performance and their parents as well.

Principle 8

15. I contextualize assessment materials using local

language and pictures that depict local resources.

16. I provide differentiated assessment activities

considering the cultural background, abilities and
disabilities, economic status, and gender of my
learners.

2. After accomplishing the survey, have the teachers share their responses using
their hands and fingers as shown by the emojis below.

Always Sometimes Never

3. Form the teachers into teams. Instruct each team to study the items in the
survey form. Give each team a set of A and B items and give the following
instructions:
• Identify each item in Set A that is closely associated with an item in Set B.
There should be eight pairs in all.
• Post your outputs in a designated area.
4. Check the accuracy of the teams’ outputs. Lead them to recognize the
principles of classroom assessment. See the correct clustering of items below
corresponding to each principle of classroom assessment.
ANALYSIS 1 (10 min)

1. What principles of effective assessment underlie the concepts we have

discussed?
2. Which of these principles have we effectively or not effectively practiced?
3. Why have we not practiced other principles?
4. How do we relate learner-centeredness with effective assessment?

ABSTRACTION 1 (20 min)

Discuss each of the eight principles of effective assessment from the Classroom
Assessment Resource Book. Use this as an introduction: “All classroom
assessment activities, whether formative or summative, should comply with eight
broad principles to make them fair and clear for all learners.” (Use the handout in
Annex B to affirm and/or correct the teachers’ ideas on classroom assessment.)

ACTIVITY 2 (15 MIN)

1. Let each LAC team do the following:

a. Get at least six metacards in the following colors: two pink, two light green,
and two light blue. On the metacards write sentences beginning with the
following stems:

1) Pink:

To make assessment inclusive of gender, _______________________

________________________________________________________.

2) Light green:

To make assessment inclusive of indigenous peoples, _____________

________________________________________________________.

3) Light blue:

To make assessment inclusive of learners with disabilities, _________

________________________________________________________.

b. On a white board or blackboard, write three columns A, B, and C to

correspond to inclusion according to gender, indigenous peoples, and
learners with disabilities, respectively.

c. Post the metacards on the whiteboard or blackboard and cluster those with
same concepts under either A, B, or C.

d. Ask each group to explain and summarize its responses.

ANALYSIS 2 (15 min)

Answer the following questions.

1. To what extent have you practiced inclusive assessment?

2. What have you done to provide your learners with assessment practices
inclusive of gender, indigenous peoples, and learners with disabilities?

ABSTRACTION 2 (20 min)

1. Discuss the bases for inclusive education. (See Annex C.)

2. Explain the reason for considering inclusive learners in the classroom.
3. Present to the LAC group the tips to make assessment inclusive of gender,
indigenous peoples, and learners with disabilities.

APPLICATION (20 min)

1. Let the teachers identify the items in the survey to which they responded with
Sometimes and Never.
2. Instruct the LAC group to log into their journal the tasks that they have
performed to improve their assessment practices on these items. You may
suggest that they use the template below for this purpose.

Items Answered with Action to Improve Results

Sometimes and Never (How and When)

3. Inform them to write a brief narrative about their improvement on their journal
and to share this with their LAC group in the next session.

Closing

“When teachers do formative assessment effectively, students learn

at roughly double the rate than they do without it.”
—Dylan William
ANNEX A. Activity Sheet 3.1: Self-assessment Survey Form

The following is a list of classroom assessment practices. How often do you practice
each of them? Put a check under the appropriate column that corresponds to your
response.

Always Sometimes Never

SET A
1. I plan assessment activities that are aligned with the
curriculum content and performance standards and learning
competencies.
2. I give myself enough time to study results especially of large
classes.
3. I use assessment data to inform learners and their parents
of the learners’ current performance.
4. I only assess what the learners are supposed to have
learned in a lesson.
5. I engage learners in various assessment activities to
demonstrate their learning as expected in the curriculum.
6. My assessment activities have clear and consistent
instructions, tasks, or items.
7. I monitor the learners’ on-going progress over time.
8. I contextualize assessment materials using local language
and pictures that depict local resources.
Always Sometimes Never
SET B
9. I give adequate time for learners to process new knowledge
and practice skills before I give an assessment.
10. I repeat assessment activities to find out if it will show
consistent learners’ performance
11. I focus on 21st-century skills by raising lower-level questions
to higher-level assessment activities.
12. I use varied assessment methods and activities in assessing
my learners.
13. I provide differentiated assessment activities considering the
cultural background, abilities and disabilities, economic
status, and gender of my learners.
14. I use assessment data to improve my teaching and
assessment practices.
15. I inform my learners clearly about the criteria for
assessment.
16. I know when an assessment is valid or not.
Annex B. Principles of Effective Assessment

1. Assessment must align with the curriculum and relate directly to the content
and performance standards and competencies.
Assessment should focus on tracking learners’ progress in relation to the content
and performance standards in the curriculum, along with development of twenty-
first-century skills.
2. Assessment must be valid.
Assessment should assess what the learners actually learn in the classroom.
Validity ensures that the assessment activities and assessment criteria accurately
measure the extent to which learners develop the required competencies and meet
the standards for their grade level.
3. Assessment must be reliable and consistent.
Reliable assessment requires that clear and consistent processes be followed in
developing assessment activities. This is to ensure that if you repeat an
assessment activity with the same learners, or conduct it at another time, or if
another teacher conducts the same activity with different learners, you should still
get the same result.
4. Assessment must be manageable for both learners and teachers.
Learners need time to process new knowledge and practice new skills. This means
that assessments should be developed and implemented at appropriate times in
the learning process. Assessment must be manageable for teachers, even in large
classes, so that evidence of new learning is gathered over time and in diverse
ways.
5. Assessment must give learners a range of ways to demonstrate their
achievements.
Teachers must use a range of assessment methods and activities to give learners
many opportunities to demonstrate their learning on the knowledge,
understanding, skills, and values defined in the curriculum.
6. Assessment must be part of a transparent ongoing process where learners’
progress is monitored over time.
Teachers use assessment criteria that are based on the curriculum standards and
competencies to gather evidence of learners’ achievements over time. These
criteria should be clear to the learners as they learn and before they carry out the
assessment activities.
7. Teachers and learners must use feedback effectively to improve learning and
reflect on the teaching and learning process.
Teachers give ongoing and explicit feedback to learners throughout the learning
and assessment process, telling them what they have done well, where they need
to improve, and how to improve. Teachers also use assessment data to reflect on,
modify, and improve their teaching practice.
8. Assessment must be fair and inclusive.
Assessment activities should consider the learners’ race, gender, learning needs,
learning style, language of learning, abilities/disabilities, cultural background, and
socioeconomic status. They must never exclude, take advantage of, or
disadvantage any individual or group of learners.
SOURCE: Department of Education. “Principles of Effective Assessment.” Classroom
Assessment Resource Book Kindergarten to Grade 10, 2018, 4.
Annex C. Bases for Inclusive Education

The following DepEd orders support the concept of inclusive education.

• DepEd Order No. 62, s. 2011 (Adopting the National Indigenous Peoples
Education Policy Framework)
• DepEd Order No. 51, s. 2014 (Guidelines on the Conduct of Activities and
Use of Materials Involving Aspects of Indigenous Peoples Culture)
• DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2015 (Adopting the Indigenous Peoples’ Education
Framework)
• DepEd Order No. 72, s. 2009 (Inclusive Education as Strategy for Increasing
Participation Rate
of Children)
• DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2013 reiterating DECS Order No. 53, s. 2001
(Strengthening the Protection of Religious Rights of Learners)
• DepEd Order No. 51, s. 2004 (Standard Curriculum for Elementary Public
School and Private Madaris)
• DepEd Order No. 77, s. 2011 (Moving the Disability Agenda Forward)”

Reasons for Considering Inclusive Education

Inclusive Assessment

“The principles of effective assessment stress that assessment should be inclusive

and fair for all learners in a class. For education to be inclusive, every learner must be
in school or have access to education through an alternative delivery mode. Schools,
learning environments, classrooms, programs, and activities should be developed and
designed so that all learners can attend school, learn with others, and participate in
school activities. Learners (including Muslim learners in the Madrasah Education
system), must feel that they can participate fully in and contribute to all aspects of
school life.”

“Every class in the Philippines is diverse because each learner is unique. It is

important that we recognize that all learners in our class have the capacity to learn.
We bring this out in our learners by the way we interact with them. For example, in our
class we may have individuals or groups of learners who are members of Indigenous
Peoples’ communities, have disabilities, come from various parts of the Philippines,
speak different mother tongue languages, come from low socioeconomic
backgrounds, have various religious affiliations, or come from remote areas. In some
large urban schools, they may have classes that include many of these learner types.
Some of us may also teach a diverse group of learners through alternative delivery
modes.”

“It is then our responsibility as a teacher to ensure that our teaching, learning, and
assessment practices support successful learning for these learners. The question
now is, how can we do it?”

SOURCE: Department of Education. “Principles of Effective Assessment.”

Classroom Assessment Resource Book Kindergarten to Grade 10, 2018, 5.
TIPS TO MAKE ASSESSMENT INCLUSIVE OF GENDER

• Use a range of assessment activities and ways for girls and boys to
demonstrate their learning.
• Vary assessment activities across physical and socioemotional dimensions of
learning.
• Monitor and rotate leadership roles and ensure equal gender distribution in
groups for collaborative assessment activities.
• Encourage learners to use gender-inclusive language in their written work and
performance tasks.
• Check that visual materials and assessment activities do not reinforce gender
stereotypes.
• In tests use a range of test items such as multiple choice, matching, short
answer, problem solving, open-ended questions, and items that require
extended answers.
• Use a range of competitive and collaborative assessment activities.

TIPS TO MAKE ASSESSMENT INCLUSIVE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

• Make use of the Indigenous Learning Systems (ILS) and Indigenous
Knowledge, Systems, and Practices (IKSPs).
• Prepare assessment activities that may be done outside the classroom.
• Use assessment activities that involve the multiple competencies and abilities
of learners.
• Involve in the assessment process the culture bearers (elders, chieftains,
knowledge bearers, community artists, parents).
• Ensure that the values of the assessment process are sensitive to and
consistent with communal values.
• Check that assessment activities are parallel to cultural and national content.
• Make use of community activities (rituals, festivals, seasonal activities, daily
household/community activities) as opportunities for assessment.
• Promote collaborative discovery and work.
• Find out if an Indigenous Peoples’ group is a literate community to determine
how its members express what they are learning.
• Avoid examples and questions that are discriminatory. Provide equal
leadership roles in assessment activities.

TIPS TO MAKE ASSESSMENT INCLUSIVE OF LEARNERS WITH DISABILITIES

• Modify the way you present assessments to suit your learners.
• Set the activities in braille and large print.
• Make magnifying glasses available to learners.
• Read the assessment out loud to learners.
• Use 3D diagrams and manipulative objects such as shape blocks, real coins,
and abacuses.
• Use sign language, computerized screen readers of text, and audio
amplification as learning aids.
• Allow learners to choose ways to demonstrate their learning.
• Use a braille writer.
• Use organizational devices such as calculators, spell-checkers, and
dictionaries.
• Use a scribe, a computer, or other device to help learners write answers to
questions.
• Prepare the environment.
• Administer assessments in a separate place to minimize distraction.
• Provide headphones to buffer noise.
• Adjust lighting in the room.
• Provide enough time.
• Extend time for learners to complete an assessment.
• Allow multiple or frequent breaks.
• Carry out assessment activities over several days.

SOURCE: Department of Education. “Principles of Effective Assessment.”

Classroom Assessment Resource Book Kindergarten to Grade 10, 201