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EDUCATION 309
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 2
Activity 2

Name : Joelina March G. Jaspe BSED FIL III

I. Activity
A. 1. Take hold of any assessment book and read about essay examination. Describe this
kind of assessment.

Essays, classified as non-objective tests, allow for the assessment of higher order
thinking skills. Such tests require students to organize their thoughts on a subject
matter in coherent sentences in order to inform an audience. In essay tests, students
are required to write one or more paragraphs on a specific topic. In addition, Essays
test usually scored on an opinion bases, although there will be certain facts and
understanding expected in the answer.

2. What are the types of essay test? Describe each. Give an example for each type.

 Restricted Response Essay

It is also referred to as short focused response. An essay item that place strict limit
on both content and the response given by the student is called restricted response
essay item. In this type of essay, the content is usually restricted by the scope of the
topic to be discussed and the limitations on the form of the response is indicated in
the question. When there is a restriction on the form of the students in an essay test,
there can be advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are: it is easier to
prepare questions; it is easier to score; and it is more directly related to the specific
learning outcomes. The disadvantages are: it provides little opportunity for the
students to demonstrate their abilities to organize ideas, to integrate materials, and
to develop new patters of answers; it measures learning outcomes at comprehensive
application and analysis level only.

Example: Point out the advantages and disadvantages of globalization. Limit your
answer to 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages. Explain each answer in not more than
3-5 sentences.

 Extended Response Essays

An essay test that allows the students to determine the length and complexity of
the response is called extended response essay item (Kubiszyn and Borich, 2007). It is
 very useful in assessing the synthesis and evaluation skills of the students. When the
objective is to determine whether the students can organize ideas, integrate and
express ideas, evaluate information in knowledge, it is best to use extended response
essay test.
Using extended response essay item has advantages and disadvantages. The
Advantages are: demonstrate learning outcomes at the synthesis and evaluation
levels; evaluate the answers with sufficient reliability to provide useful measures of
learning: provides more freedom to give responses to the question and provide
creative integration of ideas. Disadvantages are: more difficult to construct extended
response essay questions; scoring is time consuming than restricted response essay.

Example: You and your best friend found a lost dog . Describe what procedures you
might follow to find the owner.

3. There is no assessment that is considered perfect. It has also its weaknesses and
disadvantages. Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of the essay test.

Advantages of Essay Test

1. It is easier to prepare and less time consuming compared to other paper

and pencil tests.
2. It measures higher-order thinking skills (analysis, synthesis and evaluation).
3. It allows students' freedom to express individuality in answering the given question.
4. The students have a chance to express their own ideas in order to plan their own
answer
5. It reduces guessing answer compared to any of the objective type oftest.
6. It presents more realistic task to the students.
7. It on the integration and application of ideas.

Disadvantages of Essay Test

1. It cannot provide an objective measure of the achievement of the students.

2. It needs so much time to grade and prepare scoring criteria.
3.The scores are usually not reliable most especially without scoring criteria.
4. It measures limited amount of contents and objectives.
5. Low variation of scores.
6. It usually bluffing.

B. Research on the guidelines on constructing an essay test. Write your research output
inside the box.
The following are the guidelines on constructing an essay test :

1.Clearly define the intended learning outcome to be assessed by the essay test.

To design effective essay questions or prompts, the specific intended learning

outcomes are identified. If the intended learning outcomes to be assessed lack clarity
 and specificity, the questions or prompts may assess something other than what they
intend to assess. Appropriate direct verbs that most closely match the ability that
learners should demonstrate must be used in the prompts. These include verbs such
as compose, analyze, interpret. explain, and justify, among others.

2. Refrain from using essay test for intended learning outcomes that are better
assessed by other kinds of assessment.

Some intended learning outcomes can be efficiently and reliably assessed by

selected-type test rather than by essay test. In the same manner, there are intended
learning outcomes that are better assessed using other authentic assessments, such
as performance test, rather than by essay test. Thus, it is important to take into
consideration the limitations of essay tests when planning and deciding what
assessment method to employ for an intended learning outcome.

3. Clearly define and situate the task within a problem situation as well as the
type of thinking required to answer the test.

Essay questions or prompts should provide clear and well-defined tasks to the
learners. It is important to carefully choose the directive verb, to write clearly the
object or focus of the directive verb, and to delimit the scope of the task. Having clear
and well-defined tasks will guide learners on what to focus on when answering the
prompts, thus avoiding responses that contain ideas that are unrelated or irrelevant,
too long, or focusing only on some part of the task. Emphasizing the type of thinking
required to answer the question will also guide students on the extent to which they
should be creative, deep, complex, and analytical in addressing and responding to the
questions.

4. Present tasks that are fair, reasonable, and realistic to the students.

Essay questions should contain tasks or questions that students will be able to do
or address. These include those that are within the level of instruction/ training,
expertise, and experience of the students.

5. Be specific in the prompts about the time allotment and criteria for grading the
response.

Essay prompts and directions should indicate the approximate time given to the
students to answer the essay questions to guide them on how much time they should
allocate for each item, especially if several essay questions are presented. How the
responses are to be graded or rated should also be clarified to guide the students on
what to include in their responses

C. 1. An essay question can be scored analytically or holistically. Differentiate one from the
other.
 Analytical rubrics for extended-response questions

Specify the separate characteristics or dimensions you want to score (focus,

elaboration, mechanics, etc. for an expository essay)
Assign a series of levels to each characteristic (1-7, poor to excellent, etc.).
Summarize the performance corresponding to each level ("main idea present but may
not maintain consistent focus" for "adequate achievement" or 4 points for "focus"—
example from table on p. 251)
Result is a matrix against which to judge the elements of each essay
Good for giving feedback to students
See websites for examples (e.g., www.nwrel.org/eval/toolkit/traits/index.html )
Holistic rubrics for extended-response questions

Provides single overall score, no separate dimensions

Decide how many levels.
Summarize the performance corresponding to each level
Easier to construct and apply than analytical rubrics
May correspond better to grading needs
But provides less feedback to students about strengths and weaknesses

D. Given an essay item, construct a scoring criteria for this item.

“Compare and contrast an alligator and a crocodile.

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