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EVALUATION IN EDUCATION- EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION

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EVALUATION IN EDUCATION

Editor

Dr. T. MANICHANDER

LAXMI BOOK PUBLICATION

Price: 500/-

EVALUATION IN EDUCATION

Dr. T. Manichander

© 2016 by Laxmi Book Publication, Solapur

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of
the author. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
[The responsibility for the facts stated, conclusions reached, etc., is
entirely that of the author. The publisher is not responsible for them,
whatsoever.]

ISBN: 978-1-329-82275-7
Published by,
Lulu Publication
3101 Hillsborough St,
Raleigh, NC 27607,
United States.
Printed by,
Laxmi Book Publication,
258/34, RaviwarPeth,
Solapur, Maharashtra, India.
Contact No. : +91 9595 359 435
Website: http://www.isrj.org
Email ID: ayisrj@yahoo.in
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My Book entitled “Evaluation in Education” does not complete unless I

express my gratitude to:
 Dr. S. Prakash, Assistant Professor in Physical Science
Education, TVS Teacher Training Academy, Maduari, Tamil Nadu
 Dr. E. Dhivyadeepa, Assistant Professor, Department of
Education, SDE, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu;
for their encouragement to complete the book.

I express my sincere thanks and gratitude towards one and all,

whose names I have not mentioned above.
I am grateful to Laxmi Book Publication, Solapur, Maharashtra
for publishing this book in so precise and beautiful form.

- Dr. T. Manichander
 ABOUT THE EDITOR
Dr. T. Manichander is the Chief Editor
for Research Tracks; an International Indexed
& Peer Reviewed Bi-Annually Journal in
Education (ISSN 2347-4637), Chief Editor for
Research Demagogue; an International
Refereed, Indexed & Peer Reviewed Bi-
Annually Journal in Education (ISSN 2350-
1081), Co Editor for Research Nebula; an
International Refereed, Peer Reviewed &
Indexed Quarterly Journal in Arts, Commerce,
Education & Social Sciences (ISSN 2277-
8071), Regional Editor for Golden Research
Thoughts Journal (ISSN 2231-5063) and
Regional Editor for Indian Streams Research
Journal (ISSN 2230-7850). He has published
several Articles in National and International
Journals. He has presented Papers in
Seminars/Conferences at National and
International levels. He got Indian Council of
Social Science Research (ICSSR) Short Term
Doctoral Fellowship in Education from New
Delhi.
 List of Authors

Dr. S. Prakash, Dr. E. Dhivyadeepa,

Assistant Professor in Physical Assistant Professor,
Science Education, Department of Education,
TVS Teacher Training Academy, SDE, Bharathiar University,
Maduari, Tamil Nadu Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
 CONTENT

S. No. TITLE Page No.

1 Educational Evaluation 1

2 Statistics in Educational 45
Evaluation
 EVALUATION IN EDUCATION Educational Evaluation

Chapter 1:

Educational Evaluation
Dr. S. Prakash

Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation:

These concepts are often used interchangeably by
practitioners and if they have the same meaning. This is not so. As a
teacher, you should be able to distinguish one from the other and
use any particular one at the appropriate time to discuss issues in
the classroom.
Measurement:
The process of measurement as it implies involves carrying
out actual measurement in order to assign a quantitative meaning
to a quality i.e. what is the length of the chalkboard? Determining
this must be physically done. Measurement is therefore a process of
assigning numerals to objects, quantities or events in other to give
quantitative meaning to such qualities. In the classroom, to
determine a child’s performance, you need to obtain quantitative
measures on the individual scores of the child. If the child scores 80
in Mathematics, there is no other interpretation you should give it.
You cannot say he has passed or failed. Measurement and
Evaluation in Education (PDE 105) 36 Measurement stops at
ascribing the quantity but not making value judgment on the child’s
performance.
Assessment:
Assessment is a fact finding activity that describes
conditions that exists at a particular time. Assessment often involves
measurement to gather data. However, it is the domain of
assessment to organize the measurement data into interpretable
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forms on a number of variables. Assessment in educational setting

may describe the progress students have made towards a given
educational goal at a point in time. However, it is not concerned
with the explanation of the underlying reasons and does not proffer
recommendations for action. Although, there may be some implied
judgment as to the satisfactoriness or otherwise of the situation. In
the classroom, assessment refers to all the processes and products
which are used to describe the nature and the extent of pupils’
learning. This also takes cognizance of the degree of
correspondence of such learning with the objectives of instruction.
Some educationists in contrasting assessment with evaluation
opined that while evaluation is generally used when the subject is
not persons or group of persons but the effectiveness or otherwise
of a course or programme of teaching or method of teaching,
assessment is used generally for measuring or determining personal
attributes (totality of the student, the environment of learning and
the student’s accomplishments). A number of instruments are often
used to get measurement data from various sources. These include
Tests, aptitude tests, inventories, questionnaires, observation
schedules etc. All these sources give data which are organized to
show evidence of change and the direction of that change. A test is
thus one of the assessment instruments. It is used in getting
quantitative data.
Evaluation:
Evaluation adds the ingredient of value judgment to
assessment. It is concerned with the application of its findings and
implies some judgment of the effectiveness, social utility or
desirability of a product, process or progress in terms of carefully
defined and agreed upon objectives or values. Evaluation often
includes recommendations for constructive action. Thus, evaluation
is a qualitative measure of the prevailing situation. It calls for
evidence of effectiveness, suitability, or goodness of the
programme. It is the estimation of the worth of a thing, process or

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programmes in order to reach meaningful decisions about that

thing, process or programme.
Differences between Evaluation and Measurement:
The Major Differences between Evaluation and Measurement are
listed below:
1. While evaluation is a new concept, measurement is an old
concept.
2. While evaluation is a technical term, measurement is a
simple word.
3. While the scope of evaluation is wider, the scope of
measurement is narrow.
4. In evaluation pupil’s qualitative progress and behavioral
changes are tested. In measurement only quantitative
progress of the pupils can be explored.
5. In evaluation, the learning experiences are provided to the
pupils in accordance with predetermined teaching
objectives is tested. In measurement the content skill and
achievement of the ability are not tested on the basis of
some objectives but the result of the testing is expressed in
numerals, scores, average and percentage.
6. The qualities are measured in the evaluation as a whole. In
measurement, the qualities are measured as separate units.
7. Evaluation is the process by which the previous effects and
hence caused behavioral changes are tested. Measurement
means only those techniques which are used to test a
particular ability of the pupil.
8. In evaluation, various techniques like observation, hierarchy,
criteria, interest and tendencies measurement etc. are used
for testing the behavioral changes. In measurement,
personality test, intelligence test and achievement test etc.
are included.

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9. Evaluation is that process by which the interests, attitudes,

tendencies, mental abilities, ideals, behaviors and social
adjustment etc. of pupils are tested. By measurement, the
interests, attitudes tendencies, ideals and behaviors cannot
be tested.
10. The evaluation aims at the modification of education system
by bringing a change in the behavior. Measurement aims at
measurement only.
The Purposes of Evaluation:
According to Oguniyi (1984), educational evaluation is
carried out from time to time for the following purposes:
i) to determine the relative effectiveness of the programme in
terms of students’ behavioral output; Measurement and
Evaluation in Education
ii) To make reliable decisions about educational planning;
iii) To ascertain the worth of time, energy and resources
invested in a programme;
iv) To identify students’ growth or lack of growth in acquiring
desirable knowledge, skills, attitudes and societal values;
v) To help teachers determine the effectiveness of their
teaching techniques and learning materials;
vi) To help motivate students to want to learn more as they
discover their progress or lack of progress in given tasks;
vii) To encourage students to develop a sense of discipline and
systematic study habits;
viii) To provide educational administrators with adequate
information about teachers’ effectiveness and school need;
ix) To acquaint parents or guardians with their children’s
performances;
x) To identify problems that might hinder or prevent the
achievement of set goals;
xi) To predict the general trend in the development of the
teaching-learning process;

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xii) to ensure an economical and efficient management of

scarce resources;
xiii) To provide an objective basis for determining the promotion
of students from one class to another as well as the award
of certificates;
xiv) To provide a just basis for determining at what level of
education the possessor of a certificate should enter a
career.
Principles and Process of Evaluation:
The purpose of evaluation is to give shape to educational
objectives, and learning materials, to make teaching methods simple
and effective and the classroom climate pleasant and conducive for
completing the teaching- learning process.
Teaching is not stuffing the mind with dead load of
information, contrarily; it denotes expanding the abilities of
students to learn and comprehend the subject content studied and
when the need arises use it to a new context.
What we generally use in educational institutions are
scholastic achievement tests. There are other kinds of test like
Personality tests, mental ability tests and Sociometry etc.
Though evaluation is more scientific than measurement, it should be
admitted that they are not capable of producing the true picture.
They provide us with some useful hypotheses for value judgment.
There are simple evaluation methods like observation;
analyzing anecdotes and simple recall for which not much training
are required. But to use complex evaluation methods like
personality tests and aptitude tests, special training is necessary for
administering them and interpreting the obtained data.
It is essential for a good evaluation system to be
comprehensive and capable of accurate measurement of behavior
modification.

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Types of Evaluation:
There are two main levels of evaluation viz., programme
level and student level. Each of the two levels can involve either of
the two main types of evaluation - formative and summative at
various stages. Programme evaluation has to do with the
determination of whether a programme has been successfully
implemented or not. Student evaluation determines how well a
student is performing in a programme of study.
Formative Evaluation:
The purpose of formative evaluation is to find out whether
after a learning experience, students are able to do what they were
previously unable to do. Its ultimate goal is usually to help students
perform well at the end of a programme.
Formative evaluation enables the teacher to:
1) Draw more reliable inference about his students than an
external assessor, although he may not be as objective as
the latter;
2) Identify the levels of cognitive process of his students;
3) Choose the most suitable teaching techniques and
materials;
4) Determine the feasibility of a programme within the
classroom setting;
5) Determine areas needing modifications or improvement in
the teaching-learning process; and
6) Determine to a great extent the outcome of summative
evaluation (Ogunniyi, 1984).
Some of the questions often asked under this type of evaluation
include:
1. What is the objective of the lesson?
2. What materials will be needed to teach this lesson?

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3. In what sequence will the different aspects of the topic be

treated? How much time should be given to different
aspects of the topic?
4. What teaching techniques will be most suitable to
transmit this knowledge or skill?
5. What evaluation techniques would be used to assess
student achievement? Will they be effective or not?
6. What assignment or project should be given as part of or
apart from class work?
7. Has the objective been achieved?
8. What progress are the students making? What difficulties
are they encountering relative to the topic?
9. What additional facilities or resources would enhance the
knowledge or skills gained by the students?
10. Are students’ needs and interests being met? Are the
students able to transfer their knowledge or skills to other
areas?
Thus, Formative evaluation attempts to:
(i) identify the content (i.e. knowledge or skill) which has not
been mastered by the students;
(ii) Appraise the level of cognitive abilities such as
memorization, classification, comparison, analysis,
explanation, quantification, application and so on; and
(iii) iii) Specify the relationships between content and levels of
cognitive abilities. In other words, formative evaluation
provides the evaluator with useful information about the
strength or weakness of the student within an instructional
context.
Summative Evaluation:
Summative evaluation often attempts to determine the
extent the broad objectives of a programme have been achieved. It
is concerned with purposes, progress and outcomes of the teaching-
learning process. Summative evaluation is judgmental in nature and

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often carries threat with it in that the student may have no

knowledge of the evaluator and failure has a far reaching effect on
the students. However, it is more objective than formative
evaluation.
Some of the underlying assumptions of summative evaluation are
that:
a) The programmer’s objectives are achievable;
b) The teaching-learning process has been conducted
efficiently;
c) The teacher-student-material interactions have been
conducive to learning;
d) The teaching techniques, learning materials and audio-visual
aids are adequate and have been judiciously dispensed; and
e) There is uniformity in classroom conditions for all learners.
Differences between Formative and Summative Evaluation:
Formative Evaluation:
The goal of formative evaluation is to monitor student
learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by
instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve
their learning. More specifically, formative evaluations:
 help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and
target areas that need work
 help faculty recognize where students are struggling and
address problems immediately
Formative evaluations are generally low stakes, which
means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative
evaluations include asking students to:
 draw a concept map in class to represent their
understanding of a topic
 submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a
lecture
 turn in a research proposal for early feedback
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Summative Evaluation:
 The goal of summative evaluation is to evaluate student
learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it
against some standard or benchmark.
 Summative evaluations are often high stakes, which means
that they have a high point value. Examples of summative
evaluations include:
 a midterm exam
 a final project
 a paper
 a senior recital
Information from summative evaluations can be used
formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and
activities in subsequent courses.
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:
School education is the necessary foundation for
strengthening human resources that has been deemed central for
the National development. Since the time of our independence,
many committees and commissions persistently emphasized upon
the free and compulsory education in our country. Among various
measures that have been adopted to expand the provisions for
realizing the goal of universalizing elementary education, the
National Policy of Education had made several recommendations to
improve the quality of school education. The recommendations
include the child-centered approach improvement in the quality of
education through reforms in the context and the process of
education, school facilities, additional teachers, laying down
minimum levels of learning, and emphasis upon continuous and
comprehensive evaluation. This paper examines the concept of
continuous and comprehensive evaluation, its need and importance,
role of teachers and its implementation in schools with an empirical
support.
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Recommendations to Reform Evaluation Practices in School

Education by National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary
Education - A Framework (1988):
The continuous and comprehensive evaluation was initiated
based on the recommendations to reform evaluation practices in
school education by National Curriculum for Elementary and
Secondary Education: A Framework (1988). Therefore it is desirable
to examine the viewpoints presented in the framework with respect
to evaluation. The framework emphasizes the following.
1. Defining minimum levels of learning at all stages of
education while evaluating the attainment of children
2. Attaining mastery level in al competencies.
3. Broadening the scope of learners’ assessment by way of
including the assessment of psychomotor skills and socio-
emotional attributes.
4. Aiming at qualitative improvement in education through
valuation.
5. Using grades instead of marks
6. As feedback mechanism for the benefit of teachers, learners
and parents providing timely corrective measures for
improving attainment level of students.
7. Using various tools, techniques and modes of evaluation
such as paper, pencil test, oral testing, observation
schedules, rating scales, interviews and anecdotal records,
individual and group evaluation methods at different stages.
Maintain comprehensive student portfolios based on
observational and situational tests.
8. Reducing undue emphasis on paper pencil tests in
evaluation process.
9. Using more and more informal means of testing to reduce
the anxiety and fear of the examinees.
10. Laying more stress on informal and child friendly methods of
testing.

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11. Recording of evidences regarding psychomotor skills related

to co-scholastic areas such as work experience, art
education and physical education.
12. Preparing a profile of the growth and development of every
learner.
13. Every school may do planning of a detailed scheme of
evaluation in view of the minimum learning outcomes
coupled with content.
14. Evaluation of the key qualities like regularity and
punctuality, cleanliness, self-control, sense of duty, desire to
serve, responsibility, fraternity, democratic attitude and
sense of obligation to environmental protection.
15. Participatory and humane evaluation.
16. Continuity of evaluation through periodical assessment of
learning to be utilized for diagnosing the areas of difficulty
and arranging remedial instruction.
17. Demystification of evaluation process for making it
transparent by taking parents and community into
confidence.
18. Communication of the evaluation outcomes in a positive
manner.
19. Developing competence for self-evaluation keeping in view
the maturity level of children.
Concept of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation is a
process of determining the extent to which the objectives are
achieved. It is not only concerned with the appraisal of
achievement, but also with its improvement. As testing evaluation is
also concerned with identification of learning experiences and
educative environment to produce changes in the learner’s
behavior. It involves information gathering, information processing,
judgment forming, and decision-making. In recent years, there has
been a growing concern for improving the quality of achievement of
all students at elementary level. In this context the NPE, 1986
recommended that minimum levels of learning (MLL) be laid down
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at each stage of primary education, and that steps be undertaken to

ensure that all students achieve these minimum levels of learning.
As a follow-up, the MLL for each subject form class 1 to v were
stated in terms of competencies. Each competence constitutes an
expected performance target that lends itself to criterion testing
which is continuous and competency based. It becomes essential for
the teachers to adopt a scheme of continuous evaluation that helps
in confirming whether or not he learners have mastered the
competencies or not. A competency also becomes a criterion to
organize teaching-learning process, and at the same time to assess
the students. It is a very well known fact that usually evaluation is
done to measure the knowledge and understanding outcomes. The
evaluation of skills and higher mental abilities are neglected to a
great extent. The evaluation of non- cognitive aspects like attitudes,
appreciation, interests, personal and social qualities of students are
seldom carried out. The report of Minimum levels of learning and
the national curriculum frame work of school education have
specified certain personal and social qualities that need to be
developed in children. They stress the point that the evaluation
should be comprehensive in nature, where in all learning
experiences pertaining to scholastic, co-scholastic and personal and
social qualities are assessed. The comprehensive evaluation should
involve the summative assessment of cognitive abilities, as well as
the assessment of health habits, work habits, cleanliness,
cooperation, and other social and personal qualities through simple
and manageable means of tools. The comprehensive evaluation not
only helps in checking all the standards of performance in both
scholastic and co-scholastic areas, but also in decision making
regarding various aspects of teaching-learning process, promoting
the students, increasing quality, efficiency, and accountability.
Continuous and comprehensive evaluation necessitates the use of
multiple evaluation techniques and tools in addition to certain
conventional ones. This is required because different specific areas
of pupil growth need different types of evaluation through certain
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techniques. The teacher has to select the most appropriate

technique for a situation and develop the necessary tools for the
same, and decide upon the periodicity and timing of evaluation.
Scenario of evaluation practices in schools certain empirical studies
conducted at Regional level in schools and other studies reported
reveal the following:
 Evaluation practices carried out in schools are still
conventional in their nature and purposes.
 Continuous assessment in not followed systematically in
those schools where teachers are trained in in-service
programmes.
 Competencies are not assessed through planned procedures
of evaluation.
 Assessment of wrong things or the same range of things too
often is carried out. One doesn’t get a fair and realistic
picture of what students have actually mastered.
 Undue reliance on recall is found, rather than enabling the
students to transfer and apply what they have learnt to
different concepts and problems.
 Formative feedback is not provided. Learning difficulties are
not identified.
 The personal and social qualities are totally ignored due to
lack of awareness of what to be evaluated and how to
evaluate.
 Remedial instruction is not provided.
Some of the tensions and constraints influencing teachers’
evaluation practices are
(i) Lack of knowledge and skills related to evaluation
(ii) Lack of facilities and time
(iii) Expectations of the Head teachers and the colleagues to
complete the syllabus in time
(iv) The social requirement of information and
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(v) External accountability.

Furthermore, the in-service programmes planned for the
teachers have inadequate inputs in evaluation and do not create
avenues for practical exercises during the training sessions.
Implementation of continuous and comprehensive evaluation the
role of continuous and comprehensive evaluation becomes very
important when our aim is to improve learners’ quality in the
cognitive as well as in the non-cognitive domains. It would be
reasonable to regard continuous assessment in the context of
school as a continuous updating of teachers judgments about
learners that permit cumulative judgments about their performance
to be made. Some important points to be considered for
implementing continuous and comprehensive evaluation are:
 Careful examination of the course, and specification of
competencies to be attained by the learners in terms of
knowledge, understanding, application (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation for higher grades) and skill performance.
 Knowledge and ability to construct assessment tools that
are criterion based appropriate for assessing the
competencies.
 Careful planning of the competency based teaching
procedures. There should be congruence between teaching
and assessment without which assessment would become
distorted.
 Comprehensive evaluation of competencies as well as
personality traits and attitudes.
 The maintenance of records.
 Requirement of knowledge and skills of evaluation,
commitment, and assistance to provide remedial teaching
on part of the teacher.

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How CCE helps a Classroom Teacher?

In sum, the continuous and comprehensive evaluation helps
a classroom teacher in the following ways.
 To identify learning difficulties in mastering certain
competencies and the intensity of such learning difficulties.
 To improve students’ learning through diagnosis of their
performance.
 To plan appropriate remedial measures to enable he
students who have learning difficulties in mastering the
competency.
 To improve or alter instructional strategies to enhance the
quality of teaching.
 To decide upon the selecting of various media and materials
as a supportive system in mastering the competencies.
 To strengthen evaluation procedure itself.
Grading System:
Evaluation provides an essential yard stick to judge the
quality of students. It plays an important role in the educational
system. It also provides motivation and a sense of purpose to both
teachers and students to achieve set goals. The term examination
has come to be associated with stress and anxiety. The process of
teaching and learning which is supposed to be meaningful for the
student loses its joy because of these negative connotations of
examination.
Schools begin ranking students, on the basis of their marks,
from as early as their pre- primary years. Such a drive has several
negative effects on learning. Students, parents and society at large
become anxious in the race to acquire more and more marks in
examinations which leads to an extremely stressful existence.
Moreover, though all out efforts are made to enhance the reliability
of examination, the human error cannot be avoided. This

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shortcoming can be overcome if the students are placed in ability

bands that represent range of scores.
The National Policy on Education 1986 (NPE) and
Programme of Action 1992 (POA) also envisaged the recasting of
the examination system and has, inter alia, suggested that grades
be used in place of marks.
National Curriculum Framework 2005(NCF) envisaged an
evaluation system which would grade the students on their regular
activities in the classroom and enable students to understand and
focus on their learning gaps and learn through these as part of
Formative Assessment.
The introduction of grades in the examinations has been
debated in CBSE also during the past through various Committees
and platforms. The CBSE has also held countrywide consultations
and deliberations with eminent educationists including experts from
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Indian
Statistical Institute (ISI) and schools affiliated to CBSE.
Scheme of Grading:
As a matter of fact the Board has been preparing itself and
all the stakeholders for a change to move over from numerical
marking system to grading system during the past few years by
creating a climate of acceptance. The Board has already in a phased
manner, introduced the grading system based on absolute marks up
to class VIII.
Now, therefore, the CBSE, in consultation with the Ministry
of Human Resource Development, Government of India has
introduced nine point grading system.
In this system, student’s performance will be assessed using
conventional numerical marking mode, and the same will be later

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converted into the grades on the basis of the pre-determined marks

ranges as detailed below

This Method has Several Advantages and Disadvantages:

The advantages were that the studious were clear
demarcated from the not so studious types of students but this led
to intense pressure in-between the students and learning was not
revered to be fun but rather a hard task which they had to deal with.
This led to the advent of the grading system. Let us see the
advantages and disadvantages of grading system.
The advantages of the grading system are many one being
the pressure on the students to study has significantly reduced.
This is because of two things; one is that the students are
being grouped together into certain grades based on their marks.
A common grading scale in the United States is A- 90 to 100,
B- 80 to 89, C- 70 to 79, D- 60 to 69, E- 0 to 59.
In case of India the general pattern is as follows A1: 91 to
100, A2: 81 to 90, B1: 71 to 80, B2: 61 to 70, C1: 51 to 60, C2: 41 to
50, D for 33 to 40 and lesser for E's.

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Another advantage that this method has brought in is that it

has introduced the concept of assessing the students based on their
assignments and overall performance and not just a single test
driven method.
Earlier the marks obtained in the exams were the only
indicator of whether a student is performing well or not.
But with their assessments also being considered for their
final assessment the pressure towards having to score extremely
well in the final exams has reduced.
But these advantages have also turned to be the
disadvantages of the grading system.
The fact that a student scoring 100 out of 100 without any
mistakes and a student who scored 90 out of 100 with several
mistakes to be grouped together actually de-motivates the student
studying well.
Also the spirit of competition has reduced as the student
studying moderately would not try that hard to understand
everything as he knows very well that he has a scope to make a few
mistakes and still get a decent grades.
Also the fact that assignments will be considered for the
overall marks makes the students lethargic towards studying well
for the exams as they know how much to get in the exams to pass.
Moreover, the onus now lies on the subject teacher and
their honest assessment of a particular student for overall grading
rather than the true merit of that student.
Ultimately the students will study to pass and not to learn,
which was the same problem in the case of the marking system.
The disadvantages of grading system include the fact that
students cannot be differentiated with respect to one another as
more than two students with different capabilities in terms of their
intellectual capabilities will fall into the same group.

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Thus a teacher will not be able to know which person needs

more special attention than the other.
Even though there are several disadvantages of grading
system it has removed several disadvantages of the marking system.
A recent survey has shown that with the advent of the
grading system the number of students among students with
respect to examination has drastically reduced.
So the grading system has to be looked upon for
improvement and not replaced with any other system.
Grading System Vs. Marking System:
There are lot of arguments about grading system and
marking system. Most of the educationists feel that grading system
is far superior to the marking system. Some of the educationists are
against this theory.
Achievement Test:
Achievement test is an important tool in school evaluation
and has great significance in measuring instructional progress and
progress of the students in the subject area.
Achievement means one’s learning attainments,
accomplishments, proficiencies, etc. It is directly related to the
pupil’s growth and development in educational situations.
Tests should give an accurate picture of students’
knowledge and skills in the subject area or domain being tested.
Accurate achievement data are very important for planning
curriculum and instruction and for program evaluation. Test scores
that overestimate or underestimate students’ actual knowledge and
skills cannot serve these important purposes.
Definition:
According to NM Downie,
“Any test that measures the attainments and accomplishments of an
individual after a period of training or learning”.

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According to Throndike and Hagen,

‘The type of ability test that describes what a person has learned to
do’.
According to Groulund,
“A systematic procedure for determining the amount a student has
learned through instructions”.
Objectives:
 Identify and explain reasons for performing tests.
 Understand testing terminology to communicate clearly
with students and colleagues.
 Evaluate a test’s validity and reliability.
 Select appropriate tests.
 Administer test protocols properly and safely.
Functions of Test:
 It provides basis for promotion to the next grade.
 To find out where each student stands in various academic
areas.
 It helps in determination about the placement of the
students in a particular section.
 To motivate the students before a new assignment has
taken up.
 To know effectively the student is performing in theory as
well as in clinical areas.
 To expose pupil’s difficulties which the teacher can help
them to solve.
Characteristics of a good Achievement Test:
Test preparation activities which promote quality, long-term
learning are appropriate, even essential. Good test-taking skills and
appropriate content learning can reduce the likelihood that

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extraneous factors will influence students’ test scores. The various

characteristics of a good test are:
 It can be tried out and selected on the basis of its difficulty
level and discriminating power.
 Directly related to the educational objectives.
 It should possess description of measure behavior in realistic
and practical terms.
 Contains a sufficient number of test items for each
measured behavior; concerned with important and useful
matter; comprehensive, brief, precise and clear.
 It should be divided into different knowledge and skills
according to behavior to be measured.
 Standardized the items and made instructions clear so that
different users can utilize it.
 Rules and norms have to be developed so that various age
groups can use at various levels.
 It provides equivalent and comparable forms of the test.
 A test manual has to be prepared, which can act as a guide
for administering and scoring.
Types of Achievement Test:
Achievement test can be categorized into three types
a) Oral test:
Oral tests are normally used for lower classes and for
diagnostic work to determine learning difficulties. They are used for
testing individuals. The teacher meets the students face to face and
asks questions. Questions when not understood can be repeated or
rephrased so that students get clearly in question. Oral testing is a
highly flexible tool in the hands of skillful teacher.
But oral tests are not free from defects. They are time
consuming and subjective.

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b) Written test:
These are tests where in the answers to the questions are to
be recorded in sheets of paper to be gone through and evaluated by
the teacher leisurely later. In long answer essay question and short
answer paragraph question, the language efficiency as well as the
specificity of the points of presentation which are purely subjective
can be tested. In objective phrase response questions, recall or
recognition, the accuracy and correctness of the responses without
subjectivity are tested.
c) Performance tests:
These are tests concerning the psychomotor activity
assessment. The skills of observation, drawing, experimentation,
manipulation, articulation etc. are significantly tested as in
performance tests.
Written Tests:
Essay Type Test:
The essay test is probably the most popular of teacher-made
tests. In general, a classroom essay test consists of a small number
of questions to which the student is expected to demonstrate in
his/her response his/her ability to (a) recall factual, conceptual, or
procedural knowledge, (b) organize this knowledge, and (c) interpret
the information critically in a logical, integrated answer to the
question. An essay test item can be classified as either an extended-
response or a short-answer. The latter calls for a more restricted or
limited answer in terms of form or scope. An example of each type
of essay item follows.
 Extended-Response: Explain the difference between the S-R
(Stimulus-Response) and the S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-
Response) theories of personality. Include in your answer (a)
brief descriptions of both theories, (b) supporters of both
theories and (c) research methods used to study each of the
two theories. (10 pts. 20 minutes)

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 Short-Answer: Identify research methods used to study the

S-R (Stimulus-Response) and S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-
Response) theories of personality. (5 pts. 10 minutes)
Advantages & Limitations:
 Essay items have several advantages. They:
 Is easier and less time consuming to construct than are most
other item types.
 Provide a means for testing student's ability to compose an
answer and present it in a logical manner.
 Can efficiently measure higher order cognitive objectives
(e.g., analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
 Essay items also have several limitations. They:
 Cannot measure a large amount of content or large number
of learning objectives.
 Generally provide low test reliability and low grader
reliability.
 Require an extensive amount of instructor's time to read
and grade.
 Generally do not provide an objective measure of student
achievement or ability (subject to bias on the part of the
grader).Suggestions for writing essay test items:
1) Prepare essay items that elicit the type of behavior you want to
measure.
 Learning Objective: The student will be able to explain how
the normal curve serves as a statistical model.
 Undesirable: Describe a normal curve in terms of:
symmetry, modality, kurtosis and skewness.
 Desirable: Briefly explain how the normal curve serves as a
statistical model for estimation and hypothesis testing.
2) Phrase each item so that the student's task is clearly indicated.
 Undesirable: Discuss the economic factors which led to the
stock market crash of 1929.

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 Desirable: Identify the three major economic conditions

which led to the stock market crash of 1929. Discuss briefly
each condition in correct chronological sequence and in one
paragraph indicate how the three factors were interrelated.
3) Indicate for each item a point value or weight and an estimated
time limit for answering.
 Undesirable: Compare the writings of Bret Harte and Mark
Twain in terms of settings, depth of characterization, and
dialogue styles of their main characters.
 Desirable: Compare the writings of Bret Harte and Mark
Twain in terms of settings, depth of characterization, and
dialogue styles of their main characters (10 points 20
minutes).
4) Ask questions that will elicit responses on which experts could
agree that one answer is better than another.
5) Avoid giving the student a choice among optional items, as this
greatly reduces the reliability of the test.
6) It is generally recommended for classroom examinations to
administer several short-answer items rather than only one or
two extended-response items. Doing this prevents a student's
grade being based on his or her performance on only one item.
Short Answer Type Tests:
Short answer questions are typically composed of a brief
prompt that demands a written answer that varies in length from
one or two words to a few sentences. They are most often used to
test basic knowledge of key facts and terms. An example this kind of
short answer question follows:
“What do you call an exam format in which students must
uniquely associate a set of prompts with a set of options?”
Answer: Matching questions
 Alternatively, this could be written as a fill-in-the-blank short
answer question:

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“An exam question in which students must uniquely

associate prompts and options is called a ___________
question.” Answer: Matching.
 Short answer questions can also be used to test higher thinking
skills, including analysis or evaluation. For example:
“Will you include short answer questions on your next
exam? Please justify your decision with two to three
sentences explaining the factors that have influenced your
decision.”
Short answer questions have many advantages. Many
instructors report that they are relatively easy to construct and can
be constructed faster than multiple choice questions. Unlike
matching, true/false, and multiple choice questions, short answer
questions make it difficult for students to guess the answer. Short
answer questions provide students with more flexibility to explain
their understanding and demonstrate creativity than they would
have with multiple choice questions; this also means that scoring is
relatively laborious and can be quite subjective. Short answer
questions provide more structure than essay questions and thus are
often easy and faster to mark and often test a broader range of the
course content than full essay questions.
Objective Type Tests:
The traditional system of examination has failed to bring
about integration between teaching, learning and evaluation as it
relied more on the memorizing ability of the students. Innovation of
objective type tests is aimed at rectifying the defects in the essay
type questions. The objective type tests require specific answers in
one or two words. They are highly objective.
Merits of Objective Type Tests:
This type of test items has the following merits:
1. These test items are suitable for the modern educational
practices, as there lies more objectivity in scoring.

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2. These questions are free from the personal factors of the

teacher.
3. The mood of the examiner in no way affects scoring.
4. This test item enables the learners to become thorough in the
subject matter. The reason is that for a little writing he can
devote his time to thought and can there by answer many
questions that he has to write his answers out at length.
5. Chance elimination is reduced in this test. Although
intellectual guessing carries for the pupil.
6. It is easy to scoring.
7. Pupils like this type of test item as there is no chance for the
teacher to show personal bias or favoritism.
8. This test items are educative for the pupils as they are more
interested in answering this type of test.
9. Objective type test items discourage cramming and encourage
thinking, observation and scrutiny.
10. These test items are more reliable and valid.
11. Objective type test items can be standardized easily by
appl3dng before hand to a large number of students of the
same age group before the actual examination.
Demerits of Objective Type Tests:
The objective type tests have the following limitations or demerits:
i) This test items don’t put stress on the ability of organization
of subject matter learnt by pupils.
ii) Pupils don’t get scope for making comparisons.
iii) Pupils aren’t asked to summaries the material or to make
applications of principles and of course which are valuable
abilities in this type of test items.
iv) This type of test items isn’t used for the purpose of
diagnosing the learning difficulties of the pupils.
v) It is commonly said that the objective type test items fail to
check cramming.

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vi) Once an objective test is standardized the teachers will

coach the pupils on the test. After this the test will be
meaningless and useless for the pupils.
vii) Like essay type of test, this test items also fail to test the
character building aspects.
viii) It is often argued that preparation and use of objective type
test items is an expensive and timely affair.
Types of Objective Items:
The objective items can be of different types as following
A. Multiple Choice Types:
Multiple choice questions are composed of one question
(stem) with multiple possible answers (choices), including the
correct answer and several incorrect answers (distractors). Typically,
students select the correct answer by circling the associated number
or letter, or filling in the associated circle on the machine-readable
response sheet.
Example: Distractors are:
a) Elements of the exam layout that distract attention from the
questions
b) Incorrect but plausible choices used in multiple choice
questions
c) Unnecessary clauses included in the stem of multiple choice
questions
Answer: B
Students can generally respond to these type of questions
quite quickly. As a result, they are often used to test student’s
knowledge of a broad range of content. Creating these questions
can be time consuming because it is often difficult to generate
several plausible distractors. However, they can be marked very
quickly.

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Tips for Writing Well Multiple Choice Items

Avoid Do use
In the stem:
In the stem:
 Your own words - not
 Long /complex sentences
 Trivial statements
statements straight out of the
 Negatives and double-
textbook
 Single, clearly formulated
negatives
 Ambiguity or indefinite
problems
In the choices:
terms, absolute statements,
 Plausible and homogeneous
and broad generalization
 Extraneous material
distractors
 Statements based on
 Item characteristics that
common student
provide a clue to the answer
misconceptions
misconceptions
 True statements that do not
In the choices:
answer the questions
 Statements too close to the
 Short options - and all same
correct answer
length
 Completely implausible
 Correct options evenly
responses
distributed over A, B, C, etc.
 ‘All of the above,’ ‘none of
 Alternatives that are in logical or
the above’
numerical then ‘C’ is also true)
 Overlapping responses (e.g.,
order
if ‘A’ is true)  At least 3 alternatives

Suggestion: After each lecture during the term, jot down

two or three multiple choice questions based on the material for
that lecture. Regularly taking a few minutes to compose questions,
while the material is fresh in your mind, will allow you to develop a
question bank that you can use to construct tests and exams quickly
and easily.
B. Matching Type:
Students respond to matching questions by pairing each of a
set of stems (e.g., definitions) with one of the choices provided on
the exam. These questions are often used to assess recognition and
recall and so are most often used in courses where acquisition of
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detailed knowledge is an important goal. They are generally quick

and easy to create and mark, but students require more time to
respond to these questions than a similar number of multiple choice
or true/false items.
Example: Match each question type with one attribute:
1. Multiple Choice a) Only two possible answers
2. True/False b) Equal number of stems and choices
3. Matching c) Only one correct answer but at least three choices
Tips for Writing Good Matching Items
Avoid Do use
 Short responses 10-15 items on
 Long stems and options only one page
Heterogeneous content (e.g.,  Clear directions
dates mixed with people)  Logically ordered choices
 Implausible responses (chronological, alphabetical,
etc.)
Suggestion: You can use some choices more than once in
the same matching exercise. It reduces the effects of guessing.
C. True/False Type:
True/false questions are only composed of a statement.
Students respond to the questions by indicating whether the
statement is true or false.
For example: True/false questions have only two possible
answers (Answer: True).
Like multiple choice questions, true/false questions:
 Are most often used to assess familiarity with course
content and to check for popular misconceptions
 Allow students to respond quickly so exams can use a large
number of them to test knowledge of a broad range of
content
 Are easy and quick to grade but time consuming to create

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 True/false questions provide students with a 50% chance of

guessing the right answer. For this reason, multiple choice
questions are often used instead of true/false questions.
Tips for Writing Good True/False Items:
Avoid Do use
 Negatives and double-negatives  Your own words
 Long/complex sentences  The same number of true and
false statements (50/50) or
 Trivial material
slightly more false statements
Broad generalizations than true (60/40) students are
 Ambiguous or more likely to answer true
 indefinite terms  One central idea in each item
Suggestion: You can increase the usefulness of true/false
questions by asking students to correct false statements.
D. Completion type:
The completion item requires the student to answer a
question or to finish an incomplete statement by filling in a blank
with the correct word or phrase. For example:
According to Freud, personality is made up of three major
systems: the ___, the ___ and the ___.
Advantages & Limitations:
Completion items have several advantages. They:
 Can provide a wide sampling of content.
 Can efficiently measure lower levels of cognitive ability.
 Can minimize guessing as compared to multiple-choice or
true-false items.
 Can usually provide an objective measure of student
achievement or ability.
 Completion items also have several limitations. They:
 Are difficult to construct so that the desired response is
clearly indicated.

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 Have difficulty measuring learning objectives requiring more

than simple recall of information.
 Can often include more irrelevant clues than do other item
types.
 Are more time-consuming to score when compared to
multiple-choice or true-false items.
 Are more difficult to score since more than one answer may
have to be considered correct if the item was not properly
prepared.
E. Analogy Type:
At the outset, analogy is used to refer to the relationship
between the target and the source of information. It is used as a
process of transferring information from a particular target to
another target which is similar to the other one. To be precise,
analogy is treated as the identification of relationship between two
terms/conditions.
Analogy plays a notorious role in problem solving, creativity,
decision making, perception, memory, and communication. The
Great Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle gave a wider vision to
analogy. They defined analogy as a shared abstraction, since they
did not share necessarily a logical relationship, but also an idea, a
pattern, an attribute, an effect or a function.
As stated above, analogy has a wide range of purpose in
many subjects and fields. We could notice the use of analogies in
various studies and subjects like mathematics, science, trials,
information technology, economics, political science, mental ability,
philosophy, etc.
Analogies Examples:
You will be given a pair of words that have a certain logical
relationship to each other, and you will have to choose a parallel
second pair. Now, from the given four pairs of words, you need to
choose a pair of words that has a similar relationship as the given

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pair.

At first glance, the words in analogy may seem to have

nothing to do with each other, but the words are always logically
related and have the same kind of relationship. To finish an analogy,
you need to decide what relationship exists between the first two
things or ideas. Then apply that relationship to another pair of
words and see if it is the same.
To get the exact pair with the similar relationship, let us
analyze each option in detail. It is always advisable to find out the
exact relationship the words in question shows. The given pair is
‘Basil: Herb’. BASIL is a type of HERB. “Is a type of “is the
relationship? Hence the next pair should also share the same
relationship. Shall we try?
The first option is “wheel: car”. Could you guess the relationship in
this pair?
 Wheel is a part of a car. The relationship is Part-to-whole.
This pair does not have any similarity with the given pair.
The second option is “water: reservoir”
 A reservoir is a place where you find water. This relationship
is also not parallel to the given pair of words.

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The third option is “oak: tree”

 Oak is a type of tree. This pair of words has the same
relationship as the first pair. Let’s consider the fourth option
too.
The fourth option is “boat: sail”
 Boat is a means of transportation used to sail. This is an
“object to function” analogy, and this pair of words does not
share the same relationship as the first pair.
As option C has the same relationship as the given pair, it is
the correct option.
Action Research:
Action research is a disciplined process of inquiry
conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason
for engaging in action research is to assist the “actor” in improving
and/or refining his or her actions.
According to C.V. Good, Action research is research used by
teachers, supervisors, and administrators to improve the quality of
their decisions and actions.
Practitioners who engage in action research inevitably find it
to be an empowering experience. Action research has this positive
effect for many reasons. Obviously, the most important is that
action research is always relevant to the participants. Relevance is
guaranteed because the focus of each research project is
determined by the researchers, who are also the primary consumers
of the findings.
Perhaps even more important is the fact that action
research helps educators be more effective at what they care most
about their teaching and the development of their students. Seeing
students grow is probably the greatest joy educators can
experience. When teachers have convincing evidence that their
work has made a real difference in their students' lives, the
countless hours and endless efforts of teaching seem worthwhile.

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Importance of Action Research:

 The solutions of problems can be achieved quickly.
 It improves the quality of teaching learning processes
without involving extra financial expenditure.
 It enables the schools to organize proper programmes for
the development of the pupils.
 It develops scientific attitude both in teachers as well as
learners.
 Action research can raise the achievement level of the
pupils.
The Action Research Process:
Educational action research can be engaged in by a single
teacher, by a group of colleagues who share an interest in a
common problem, or by the entire faculty of a school. Whatever the
scenario, action research always involves the same seven-step
process. These seven steps, which become an endless cycle for the
inquiring teacher, are the following:
1) Selecting a focus
2) Clarifying theories
3) Identifying research questions
4) Collecting data
5) Analyzing data
6) Reporting results
7) Taking informed action
Step 1: Selecting a Focus:
The action research process begins with serious reflection
directed toward identifying a topic or topics worthy of a busy
teacher's time. Considering the incredible demands on today's
classroom teachers, no activity is worth doing unless it promises to
make the central part of a teacher's work more successful and
satisfying. Thus, selecting a focus, the first step in the process, is
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vitally important. Selecting a focus begins with the teacher

researcher or the team of action researchers asking:
What element(s) of our practice or what aspect of student
learning do we wish to investigate?
Step 2: Clarifying Theories:
The second step involves identifying the values, beliefs, and
theoretical perspectives the researchers hold relating to their focus.
For example, if teachers are concerned about increasing responsible
classroom behavior, it will be helpful for them to begin by clarifying
which approach using punishments and rewards, allowing students
to experience the natural consequences of their behaviors, or some
other strategy - they feel will work best in helping students acquire
responsible classroom behavior habits.
Step 3: Identifying Research Questions:
Once a focus area has been selected and the researcher's
perspectives and beliefs about that focus have been clarified, the
next step is to generate a set of personally meaningful research
questions to guide the inquiry.
Step 4: Collecting Data:
Professional educators always want their instructional
decisions to be based on the best possible data. Action researchers
can accomplish this by making sure that the data used to justify their
actions are valid (meaning the information represents what the
researchers say it does) and reliable (meaning the researchers are
confident about the accuracy of their data). Lastly, before data are
used to make teaching decisions, teachers must be confident that
the lessons drawn from the data align with any unique
characteristics of their classroom or school.
To ensure reasonable validity and reliability, action
researchers should avoid relying on any single source of data. Most
teacher researchers use a process called triangulation to enhance
the validity and reliability of their findings. Basically, triangulation

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means using multiple independent sources of data to answer one's

questions. Triangulation is like studying an object located inside a
box by viewing it through various windows cut into the sides of the
box. Observing a phenomenon through multiple “windows” can help
a single researcher compare and contrast what is being seen
through a variety of lenses.
When planning instruction, teachers want the techniques
they choose to be appropriate for the unique qualities of their
students. All teachers have had the experience of implementing a
“research-proven” strategy only to have it fail with their students.
The desire of teachers to use approaches that “fit” their particular
students is not dissimilar to a doctor's concern that the specific
medicine being prescribed be the correct one for the individual
patient. The ability of the action research process to satisfy an
educator's need for “fit” may be its most powerful attribute.
Because the data being collected come from the very students and
teachers who are engaged with the treatment, the relevance of the
findings is assured.
For the harried and overworked teacher, “data collection”
can appear to be the most intimidating aspect of the entire seven-
step action research process. The question I am repeatedly asked,
“Where will I find the time and expertise to develop valid and
reliable instruments for data collection?” gives voice to a realistic
fear regarding time management. Fortunately, classrooms and
schools are, by their nature, data-rich environments. Each day a
child is in class, he or she is producing or not producing work is
interacting productively with classmates or experiencing difficulties
in social situations, and is completing assignments proficiently or
poorly. Teachers not only see these events transpiring before their
eyes, they generally record these events in their grade books. The
key to managing triangulated data collection is, first, to be effective
and efficient in collecting the material that is already swirling around
the classroom, and, second, to identify other sources of data that

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might be effectively surfaced with tests, classroom discussions, or

questionnaires.
Step 5: Analyzing Data:
Although data analysis often brings to mind the use of
complex statistical calculations, this is rarely the case for the action
researcher. A number of relatively user-friendly procedures can help
a practitioner identify the trends and patterns in action research
data. During this portion of the seven-step process, teacher
researchers will methodically sort, sift, rank, and examine their data
to answer two generic questions:
 What is the story told by these data?
 Why did the story play itself out this way?
By answering these two questions, the teacher researcher
can acquire a better understanding of the phenomenon under
investigation and as a result can end up producing grounded theory
regarding what might be done to improve the situation.
Step 6: Reporting Results:
It is often said that teaching is a lonely endeavor. It is doubly
sad that so many teachers are left alone in their classrooms to
reinvent the wheel on a daily basis. The loneliness of teaching is
unfortunate not only because of its inefficiency, but also because
when dealing with complex problems the wisdom of several minds is
inevitably better than one.
The sad history of teacher isolation may explain why the
very act of reporting on their action research has proven so
powerful for both the researchers and their colleagues. The
reporting of action research most often occurs in informal settings
that are far less intimidating than the venues where scholarly
research has traditionally been shared. Faculty meetings, brown bag
lunch seminars, and teacher conferences are among the most
common venues for sharing action research with peers. However,
each year more and more teacher researchers are writing up their

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work for publication or to help fulfill requirements in graduate

programs. Regardless of which venue or technique educators select
for reporting on research, the simple knowledge that they are
making a contribution to a collective knowledge base regarding
teaching and learning frequently proves to be among the most
rewarding aspects of this work.
Step 7: Taking Informed Action:
Taking informed action, or “action planning,” the last step in
the action research process is very familiar to most teachers. When
teachers write lesson plans or develop academic programs, they are
engaged in the action planning process. What makes action planning
particularly satisfying for the teacher researcher is that with each
piece of data uncovered (about teaching or student learning) the
educator will feel greater confidence in the wisdom of the next
steps. Although all teaching can be classified as trial and error,
action researchers find that the research process liberates them
from continuously repeating their past mistakes. More important,
with each refinement of practice, action researchers gain valid and
reliable data on their developing virtuosity.
Three Purposes for Action Research:
As stated earlier, action research can be engaged in by an
individual teacher, a collaborative group of colleagues sharing a
common concern, or an entire school faculty. These three different
approaches to organizing for research serve three compatible, yet
distinct, purposes:
 Building the reflective practitioner
 Making progress on school wide priorities
 Building professional cultures
Building the Reflective Practitioner:
When individual teachers make a personal commitment to
systematically collect data on their work, they are embarking on a
process that will foster continuous growth and development. When

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each lesson is looked on as an empirical investigation into factors

affecting teaching and learning and when reflections on the findings
from each day's work inform the next day's instruction, teachers
can't help but develop greater mastery of the art and science of
teaching. In this way, the individual teachers conducting action
research are making continuous progress in developing their
strengths as reflective practitioners.
Making Progress on School wide Priorities:
Increasingly, schools are focusing on strengthening
themselves and their programs through the development of
common focuses and a strong sense of esprit de corps. Peters and
Waterman (1982) in their landmark book, In Search of Excellence,
called the achievement of focus “sticking to the knitting.” When a
faculty shares a commitment to achieving excellence with a specific
focus - for example, the development of higher-order thinking,
positive social behavior, or higher standardized test scores then
collaboratively studying their practice will not only contribute to the
achievement of the shared goal but would have a powerful impact
on team building and program development. Focusing the combined
time, energy, and creativity of a group of committed professionals
on a single pedagogical issue will inevitably lead to program
improvements, as well as to the school becoming a “center of
excellence.” As a result, when a faculty chooses to focus on one
issue and all the teachers elect to enthusiastically participate in
action research on that issue, significant progress on the school
wide priorities cannot help but occur.
Building Professional Cultures:
Often an entire faculty will share a commitment to student
development, yet the group finds itself unable to adopt a single
common focus for action research. This should not be viewed as
indicative of a problem. Just as the medical practitioners working at
a “quality” medical center will hold a shared vision of a healthy
adult; it is common for all the faculty members at a school to share a

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similar perspective on what constitutes a well-educated student.

However, like the doctors at the medical center, the teachers in a
“quality” school may well differ on which specific aspects of the
shared vision they are most motivated to pursue at any point in
time.
Schools whose faculties cannot agree on a single research
focus can still use action research as a tool to help transform them
into a learning organization. They accomplish this in the same
manner as do the physicians at the medical center. It is common
practice in a quality medical center for physicians to engage in
independent, even idiosyncratic, research agendas. However, it is
also common for medical researchers to share the findings obtained
from their research with colleagues (even those engaged in other
specialties).
School faculties who wish to transform themselves into
“communities of learners” often empower teams of colleagues who
share a passion about one aspect of teaching and learning to
conduct investigations into that area of interest and then share
what they've learned with the rest of the school community. This
strategy allows an entire faculty to develop and practice the
discipline that Peter Senge (1990) labeled “team learning.” In these
schools, multiple action research inquiries occur simultaneously, and
no one is held captive to another's priority, yet everyone knows that
all the work ultimately will be shared and will consequently
contribute to organizational learning.
Why Action Research Now?
If ever there were a time and a strategy that were right for
each other, the time is now and the strategy is action research! This
is true for a host of reasons, with none more important than the
need to accomplish the following:
 Professionalize teaching.
 Enhance the motivation and efficacy of a weary faculty.

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 Meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.

 Achieve success with “standards-based” reforms.
Professionalizing Teaching:
Teaching has evolved in a manner that makes it more like
blue-collar work than a professional undertaking. Although blue-
collar workers are expected to do their jobs with vigilance and vigor,
it is also assumed that their tasks will be routine, straightforward,
and, therefore, easily handled by an isolated worker with only the
occasional support of a supervisor.
Professional work, on the other hand, is expected to be
complex and non routine, and will generally require collaboration
among practitioners to produce satisfactory results. With the
exploding knowledge base on teaching and learning and the
heightened demands on teachers to help all children achieve
mastery of meaningful objectives, the inadequacy of the blue-collar
model for teaching is becoming much clearer.
When the teachers in a school begin conducting action
research, their workplace begins to take on more of the flavor of the
workplaces of other professionals. The wisdom that informs practice
starts coming from those doing the work, not from supervisors who
oftentimes are less in touch with and less sensitive to the issues of
teaching and learning than the teachers doing the work.
Furthermore, when teachers begin engaging their colleagues in
discussions of classroom issues, the multiple perspectives that
emerge and thus frame the dialogue tend to produce wiser
professional decisions.
Enhancing Teacher Motivation and Efficacy:
The work of teaching has always been difficult. But now it
isn't just the demands of the classroom that are wearing teachers
down. Students increasingly bring more problems into the
classroom; parental and societal expectations keep increasing; and
financial cutbacks make it clear that today's teachers are being

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asked to do more with less. Worse still, the respect that society had
traditionally placed upon public school teachers is eroding, as
teacher bashing and attacks on the very value of a public education
are becoming a regular part of the political landscape.
Consequently, teacher burnout has become the plague of the
modern schoolhouse.
Many teachers now ask, “Am I making any difference?”
Regardless of all the negative pressures on teachers, the sheer
nobility of the work keeps many dedicated educators on the job, but
only so long as they can get credible answers to the “efficacy”
question. However, without credible evidence that the work of
teaching is making a difference, it is hard to imagine the best and
brightest sticking with such a difficult and poorly compensated line
of work. Fortunately, evidence has shown that teachers who elect to
integrate the use of data into their work start exhibiting the
compulsive behavior of fitness enthusiasts who regularly weigh
themselves, check their heart rate, and graph data on their
improving physical development. For both teachers and athletes,
the continuous presence of compelling data that their hard work is
paying off becomes, in itself, a vitally energizing force.
Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Student Body:
In a homogeneous society in which all students come to
school looking alike, it might be wise to seek the one right answer to
questions of pedagogy. But, as anyone who has recently visited an
American classroom can attest, it is rare to find any two children for
whom the same intervention could ever be “right on target.” The
days are gone when it was possible to believe that all a teacher had
to do was master and deliver the grade-level curriculum. It is now
imperative that classroom teachers have strong content background
in each of the subjects they teach, be familiar with the range of
student differences in their classrooms, and be capable of
diagnosing and prescribing appropriate instructional modifications
based upon knowledge of each child's uniqueness.

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Crafting solutions to these dynamic and ever changing

classroom issues can be an exciting undertaking, especially when
one acknowledges that newer and better answers are evolving all
the time. Nevertheless, great personal satisfaction comes from
playing a role in creating successful solutions to continually changing
puzzles. Conversely, if teachers are expected to robotically
implement outdated approaches, especially when countless new
challenges are arriving at their door, the frustration can become
unbearable.
Achieving Success in a Standards-Based System:
In most jurisdictions standards-driven accountability
systems have become the norm. Although they differ somewhat
from state to state and province to province, fundamentally these
standards-based systems have certain things in common.
Specifically, most education departments and ministries have
declared that they expect the standards to be rigorous and
meaningful, and that they expect all students to meet the standards
at the mastery level.
The stakes in the standards movement are high. Students
face consequences regarding promotion and graduation. Teachers
and schools face ridicule and loss of funding if they fail to meet
community expectations. Of course, none of that would be
problematic if we as a society knew with certainty how to achieve
universal student success. However, the reality is that no large
system anywhere in the world has ever been successful in getting
every student to master a set of meaningful objectives. If we accept
the truth of that statement, then we need to acknowledge the fact
that achieving the goal of universal student mastery will not be easy.
That said, most people will agree it is a most noble endeavor in
which to invest energy and a worthy goal for any faculty to pursue.
The reality is that our public schools will not prevail with the
challenges inherent in the standards movement unless they
encourage experimentation, inquiry, and dialogue by those pioneers

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(the teachers) who are working toward meeting those challenges.

For this reason, it is imperative that these 21st century pioneers, our
classroom teachers, conduct the research on “standards
attainment” themselves.
So the time is right for action research. The teachers,
schools, and school systems that seize this opportunity and begin
investing in the power of inquiry will find that they are re-creating
the professional practice of education in their locale as a meaningful
and rewarding pursuit. Conversely, school systems that enter the
21st century unwilling to invest in the “wisdom of practice” will likely
find it increasingly hard to fill their classrooms with enough teachers
who are both capable of and willing to tackle the challenges that lie
ahead.
References:
1. Meenakshi Sundaram .R. (2012) Educational Evaluation.
Dindigul: Divyakala Publishers.
2. Nagarajan K. (2012). Educational Innovation and
Management. Chennai: Sriram Publishers.
3. Ogunniyi, M.B. (1984) Educational Measurement and
Evaluation. Mc. Ibadan: Longman Nig.
4. Okpalla P.M. et a.l (1999) Measurement and Evaluation in
Education. Benin City: Stiching – Horden Publishers (Nig.)
Ltd.
5. Reynolds. R et al. (2011). Measurement and Assessment in
Education. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited.
6. Sharma R.C. (1975). Modern Science Teaching. New Delhi:
Dhanpat Rai Publishing Company.

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