LESSON 0: CONCEPTS OF ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

Teaching is an art.
• It is an art in that teachers must bring themselves fully into their teaching.
• As a teacher, you will need to find the methods and strategies that work best for you.
• Teachers are not standardized products.
• What works for one teacher may not work for another.
• Thus, all the teaching strategies that you learn should be adopted and adapted to fit your
teaching situation and your teaching style.
• To be an effective teacher you must carve out your teaching philosophy, discover your
unique talents, and learn how to use them.
Teaching is a Science.
• It is a science in that there are strategies and practices that a body of research has shown
to be effective in enhancing learning.
• Just like doctors, teachers should use research to inform their practice.
• On the individual level, teaching is science also in that teachers are constantly collecting
data by observing their students to see if learning is taking place and how they learn best.
• And, like scientists, teachers experiment with new techniques or strategies to see how
they work.
Teaching is a craft.
▪ Teaching might also be described as a craft.
▪ A craft is a skill or set of skills learned through experience.
▪ This is exactly what teaching is.
▪ This means that one cannot expect to leave a college teacher preparation program as a
finished teaching product.
▪ Teaching is a complex, multi-dimensional endeavor; not something that can be mastered
in four semesters.
▪ Master teachers develop over time through experience and continued study and
reflection.
▪ Undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher preparation programs will not teach you
how to teach; instead, they will give you the basis upon which to learn how to teach.
▪ Does this mean teacher education programs are of little value? Certainly not.
▪ There is a fairly substantial body of research that indicates that teacher education
programs improve teachers’ performance and their students’ achievement (Wilscon,
Flodenk, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2001).
▪ However, becoming a master teacher happens over time with continued professional
development and reflection.
Measurement
▪ is undertaken to quantify the level of knowledge or skills acquired by a learner.
▪ involves gathering information to monitor students' progress and possibly intervene
should the need arise.
▪ The concern is with the application of its findings, thus calling for some judgment on the
effectiveness or desirability of a product, process, or progress in line with a set of generally
acceptable objectives or values.
Testing
▪ process of measuring the student’s knowledge or their ability to complete a particular task
▪ is a form of assessment
▪ should meet validity and reliability
Evaluation
▪ the "determination of how successful a program, a curriculum, a series of experiments,
etc. have been in achieving the goals laid out for it at the outset".
▪ making a judgment or determination of the quality or worth of an object, subject or
phenomenon can be referred to as evaluation.
Assessment of learning
▪ assists teachers in using evidence of student learning to assess achievement against
outcomes and standards
▪ Sometimes referred to as ‘summative assessment’, it usually occurs at defined key points
during a teaching work or at the end of a unit, term, or semester, and may be used to rank
or grade students.
▪ The effectiveness of assessment of learning for grading or ranking purposes depends on
the validity, reliability, and weighting placed on any one task.
▪ Its effectiveness as an opportunity for learning depends on the nature and quality of the
feedback.
Assessment for learning
▪ involves teachers using evidence about students’ knowledge, understanding, and skills to
inform their teaching
▪ Sometimes referred to as ‘formative assessment’, it usually occurs throughout the
teaching and learning process to clarify student learning and understanding.
Assessment as learning
▪ occurs when students are their assessors
▪ Students monitor their learning, ask questions, and use a range of strategies to decide
what they know and can do, and how to use assessment for new learning.
The following assessment OF/FOR/AS learning table is a compilation of a wide variety of resources
that goes a bit further than simple definitions (Chappuis et al., 2012; Fenwick & Parsons, 2009;
McNamee & Chen, 2005; Rowe, 2012; Schraw, 2001; Sparks, 1999):

Assessment Of Learning For Learning As Learning

Type Summative Formative Formative

What Teachers determine the Teachers and peers check The learner takes
progress or application of progress and learning to help responsibility for their
knowledge or skills against learners determine how to learning asks questions
a standard. improve. about their learning and
the learning process and
explores how to
improve.

Who Teacher Teacher & Peers Learner & Peers

How Formal assessments are Involves formal and informal Learners use formal and
used to collect evidence of assessment activities as part informal feedback and
student progress and may of learning and to inform the self-assessment to help
be used for achievement planning of future learning. them understand the
grading on grades. next steps in learning.

When Periodic report Ongoing feedback Continual reflection

Why Ranking and reporting Improve learning Deeper learning and

learning how to learn

Emphasis Scoring, grades, and Feedback, support, and Collaboration, reflection

competition collaboration

“An English Teacher wears many hats.”-Frank Mccourt