Assessment and Evaluation of

Learning

Faculty of Educational and Behavioral

Sciences, BDU 2014 e.c
 Course Objectives
At the conclusion of this course you are expected to:
• Understand concepts related to student learning assessment
• Develop techniques for assessing the performance of students
based on sound principles and educational objectives
• Analyze items to increase the fit for purpose of classroom
assessment tools.
• Interpret assessment results to understand the implications and
thereby make appropriate decisions.

2
 Course Objectives contd...

• Conduct self-assessment of their teaching in classrooms in

view of student learning and standards of teacher
professionalism.
• Adhere to professional assessment ethical standards in
assessing student learning, handling records, using or
communicating assessment results and making decisions.

3
 Chapter 1
Assessment: Concept, Purpose, and Principles
 Definitions
Test

A procedure in which a sample of an individual’s behavior is obtained,

evaluated and scored (AERA et al., 1999)

A process of presenting series of questions that student must answer (Nitko,

1996) – achievement test

Measurement

A set of rules for assigning numbers to represent objects, traits, attributes, or

behaviors (Reynolds, 2006)

A process of quantifying or assigning a number to performance. (Nitko,

1996).
5
 Definitions
Evaluation

The process of making judgment about pupil’s performance, instruction,

or classroom climate (Airasian, 1996)
Assessment
• Any systematic procedure for collecting information that can be used to
make inferences about the characteristics of people or objects (AERA et
al., 1999)
• is a process of collecting, synthesizing and interpreting information
to aid in decision making
• It is a general term that includes all the different ways teachers gather
information in their classroom(Nitko 1996; Airasian, 1996).
6
 Purposes/functions ...
Instructional Functions
 Helpful to determine what to teach, how to teach it, and how
effective instruction had been
 Tests encourage clarification of meaningful objectives
 Tests provide feedback to the teacher and to the learner
 Properly constructed tests can motivate learning
 Tests can facilitate learning
 Tests are useful meanses of overlearning
 Purposes/functions ...
Administrative Functions
• Tests provide a mechanism of ‘quality’ control – policy decisions
on curriculum and instructional practices
• Tests are useful for placement decisions – assigning individuals
to various categories that represent different educational tracks or
levels ordered in some way (remedial, regular, honors)
• Tests are useful for classification decisions – assigning
individuals to different categories that are not ordered in any way
(learning disabled, emotionally disturbed etc
 Purposes/functions ...
Administrative Functions
• Tests are useful for selection decisions - to determine
those who are/are not likely to succeed in subsequent
learning tasks
• Tests are useful for accreditation/certification. They are
useful to provide formal credit for demonstrated
knowledge /proficiency/.
 Purposes/functions ...

Counseling and guidance functions

• To provide information that promotes self understanding and
help students plan for the future – to select careers that best
match to a student’s abilities and interests
Assumptions and principles of educational assessment

• Psychological and educational constructs exist

– Construct is a trait or characteristic that a test is designed to measure (e.g.,
achievement)

• Psychological and educational constructs can be measured

– According to Cronbach (1990) “if a thing exists, it exists in some amount. If
it exists in some amount, it can be measured.” assessment experts believe
that educational and psychological constructs can be measured

• Although we can measure constructs, our measurement is not

perfect
– Some degree of mis-measurement is inherent in all measurement.
 Assumptions and principles of educational assessment
• Clarification of what to assess/evaluate must be given priority in the
evaluation process
• An assessment/evaluation procedures must be selected because of its
relevance to the identified characteristic or behavior
• There are different ways to measure any given construct.
Comprehensive assessment/evaluation requires a variety of
techniques of evaluation. No single mechanism is adequate to
appraise the learners’ progress toward all of the important learning
outcomes
 Assumptions and principles of educational assessment
• Proper utilization of assessment/evaluation mechanisms
requires an awareness of their limitations
• Assessment/evaluation is a means to an end and not an end in
itself. The results obtained from an evaluation procedure should
lead to various sorts of educational decisions.
 Continuous assessment

• It is the daily process by which teachers gather information

about learners’ progress in achieving the learning targets
• It makes use of formal/structured (test, exam, assignment etc.)
and informal/less structured (observation, oral questioning etc.)
mechanisms of assessment
• It is meant to be integrated with teaching in order to improve
learning and to help shape and direct the teaching-learning
process.
 Continuous assessment

• The assessment is continuous because:

• it occurs at various times as a part of instruction,
• may occur following a lesson,
• usually occurs following a topic and

• frequently occurs following a theme.

 Why continuous assessment?

• It provides regular information about teaching, learning and

the achievement of learning objectives and competencies.
• It also allows you to assess, in a classroom environment,
performance-based activities that cannot or are difficult to
assess in an examination (project works, model development
etc. )
 The role of objectives in assessment

Objectives
• represent what we hope students will learn or accomplish
• they can be of general or specific
• general objectives are broader in scope. They do not explicitly indicate
what a student will be able to do
The student will be able to understand Newton’s second law

• Specific objectives explicitly indicate what a student will be able to do

The student will be able to state Newton’s second law
 Some rules for writing specific objectives
1. Don't write instructional objectives in terms of teacher
performance

Example
• Poor "to show the students how to solve quadratic
equations"
• Better "the student will be able to solve quadratic
equations"
2. Don't state instructional objectives in terms of the
learning process
Example
• Poor "the student will study a diagram showing
human circulatory system"
• Better "the student will identify the parts of human
circulatory system"
3. Don't include two objectives in one statement

Example
• Poor "the student will be able to list and describe
the fundamental courses of World War II"
• Better "the student will be able to describe the
fundamental courses of World War II"
4. Specific objectives should be directly relevant to the
general objective from which they are derived. For
example consider the following general objectives
i. Knows basic terms
"Writes the textbook definition of each term"
ii. Understands basic terms

"Writes an original sentence using each term"

5. A good behavioral objective should state, when
possible, four main things. For example
C A

Given a sentence written in the past or present tense, the learner will be able to

B D
rewrite the sentence in future tense with no errors.
A = The audience to whom the objective is written. It should be referred
as the learner or the student not as the learners or the students.

B = The Behavior or the type of change the learner is expected to

acquire. This should be an overt, observable behavior.

C = The condition under which the behavior will be demonstrated.

D = The degree of proficiency or the amount of learning behavior the
learner should display
 Taxonomy of objectives

• Three domains
The cognitive domain – emphasis on understandings, awareness,
insights.

The affective domain – emphasis on attitudes, appreciations, etc

The psychomotor domain – emphasis on practical skills

Each of these have

The cognitive domain
 Knowledge
• Objectives at the knowledge level require the students to
remember or recall information such as facts terminology,

problem-solving strategies, and rules.

Example      
• The student will be able to name each state capital
 Comprehension
Objectives at this level require some level of understanding. Students
are expected to be able to translate, restate what has been read, see
connections or relationships among parts of a communication
interpretation, or draw conclusions or consequences from
information (inference).

Example
• the student will be able to explain how interest rates affect
unemployment
 Application
Objectives written at this level require the student to use previously
acquired information in a setting other than the one in which it was
learned.

Example

the student will be able to apply multiplication of double digits in

applied math problems
 Analysis
Objectives written at the analysis level require the student to
identify logical errors (e.g. point out a contradiction or an
erroneous inference) or to differentiate among facts, opinions,
assumptions, hypothesis, and conclusions

Example  
• The student will distinguish the different approaches to establishing
validity and illustrate their relationship to each other
 Synthesis
Objectives written at the synthesis level require the student to
produce something unique or original.

Example
• Given a short story, the student will write a different but
plausible ending
 Evaluation
Objectives written at this level require the student to form
judgments and make decisions about the value or worth of
methods, ideas, people, or products that have a specific

purpose.

Example
• The student will judge the quality of validity evidence for a specified
assessment instrument