Module 5: Ethics in

Assessment
Tertiary Exit Outcome:
Ethical, Paulinian LEADERS AND PROFESSIONALS,
who:
¨Consistently adhere to acknowledged moral standards of
decision-making and behavior in their personal, professional,
and organizational affairs;
¨Declare and affirm the values and principles of honesty,
transparency, and fairness in their professional lives and
endeavors;
¨Launch and sustain initiatives that openly advocate and
tangibly uphold the rights and dignity of those seeking
redress for injustices committed against them.
Paulinian Affirmation:
As a Christ-centered Paulinian, I am a Christ-
centered, Ethical Paulinian LEADER and
PROFESSIONAL consciously expressing my
Faith.

Intended Learning
Outcome (ILO)
Recommend actions to
observe ethical standards
in testing.
 Module 5 centers on ethical issues and the responsibilities of teachers in
the assessment process. Assessment as defined by Russell & Airasian (2012) as more
than just a technical activity—it is a human activity. You will realize in this module
that assessment has consequences for students and other stakeholders. Assessment is
used to form judgments on the nature, scope, and extent of students’ learning. If
students’ assessment scores are used for other purposes different from what was
intended, let’s say to evaluate teachers’ performance, then there is an ethical issue.
The assessment made by the teacher has important long-term and short-
term consequences for students: thus you as a future teacher have an ethical
responsibility to make decisions using the most valid and reliable information
possible.
How long will module 5 take to complete? The module is intended for 2 meetings.
 Ethics in assessment centers on
fairness. Measurement, assessment,
and evaluation should be free from
bias.
Students’ Knowledge of Lerning Targets and
Assessments
¨speaks of transparency. Transparency defined as
disclosure of information to students about assessments
¨Inform students regarding the assessment details like
learning outcomes to be assessed and evaluated,
assessment methods and formats, weighting of items,
allocated time in completing the assessment and grading
criteria or rubric.
¨Informing students regarding assessment details—
students can prepare and recognize the importance of
assessment. Students become part of assessment process.

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Test-taking skills
¨Some students may be good in answering
multiple choice test items than other students.
¨All students should be familiar with the test
strategies before they take the assessment
¨Teachers should not create unusual hybrids
of assessment formats. E.g. a matching type
of three columns may leave test-takers
perplexed, deciphering the test format rather
than having them show how well they’ve
learned the subject matter.

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Opportunity to Learn
¨Teachers are forced to give reading
assignments because of the breadth of content
that has to be covered in addition to limited or
lost classroom time, Then, there is little or no
instruction that follows. This put students at a
disadvantage because they were penalized for
lack of opportunity.
¨Discussing an extensive unit in an hour is
insufficient,
¨Inadequate instruction approaches would not
be just for the learners
¨Give learners enough experience to process
information and develop their skills
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Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
¨Students may perform poorly in an assessment if
they do not possess background knowledge and
skills.
E.g. if they lack adequate knowledge about ratios
and direct proportion, they would not fully grasp the
concept of inverse proportion.
¨To be fair in assessment, the teacher must identify
early on the prerequisite skills necessary for
completing an assessment.
¨Prerequisites are imposed to ensure that students
possess the background knowledge and skills
necessary to become successful in subsequent
courses.
Avoiding Stereotyping Avoiding Bias in Assessment Tasks and
¨Stereotype is caused by preconceived judgments of people.
E.g. A professional education teacher may believe that Procedures
Literature Review
education program is dominated by females, they are better off
as teachers than males.
¨Assessment must be free from bias.
¨Fairness demands that all learners are given equal chances
¨Stereotypes may either be positive or negative. E.g. ¨Aspect of fairness includes removal of bias towards students
foreigners would regard Filipinos as hospitable and with limited English or with different cultural experiences.
hardworking individuals, but Filipinos are also stereotyped as ¨Two forms of assessment bias: Offensiveness and Unfair
domestic helpers and caregivers. penalization. These forms distort the test performance of
¨Avoid terms and examples that they may be offensive to individuals in a group.
students of different gender, race, religion, culture, or Offensiveness—test-takers get distressed, upset, or distracted
nationalities. about how the individual or a particular group is portrayed in
Theoryperformance
¨Stereotypes can affect students’ 1 in the test. E.g. An essay about traffic congestion
Theory 2 sweepingly
examinations. portraying traffic enforcers of the MMDA as corrupt is an
Mercury
E.g. a female student whois was
the closest
told that example of bias. ThisVenus has a beautiful
assessment may affect students whose
femalesplanet
who to
arethe Sun and the
academically parents are workingname andMMDA.
with the is the second
inferior in smallest
Math one
mayinfeel
thea certain level Unfair penalization planet from
–harms the Sun.
student It’s
performance due to test
of anxiety andSolar System expectation
the negative content, not because itemsterribly hot but rather, because the
are offensive
may cause her to underperform in the content caters to some particular groups from the same economic class,
assessment. race, gender, etc.

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Accommodating Special Needs
¨Teachers need to be sensitive to the needs of students.
¨CertainLiterature
accommodations Review must be given especially for those who are physically or
mentally challenged.
¨Accommodation does not mean giving an advantage to students with learning
disabilities but rather allowing them to demonstrate their knowledge on assessments
without hindrances from their disabilities. E.g. for students who do not have perfect
vision, the teacher can adjust and print the written assessment with a larger font.
¨Three importantTheory elements 1 to take into account:: Theory 2
A) NatureMercury
and extent of the learner’s
is the closest Venus has a beautiful
Disability—accommodation
planet to the Sun and the is dictated by the typename
andand degree of
is the second
smallestdisability
one in the possessed by the learner. planet from the Sun. It’s
Solar System terribly hot

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B) Type and format of assessment— accommodation is
Literature
matched to theReview
type and format of assessment given

E.g partially deaf child would not require assistance

in a written test.
C) Competency and content being assessed
— doesTheory
not alter 1 the level of performance or Theory
content 2
the assessment measures
Mercury is the closest Venus has a beautiful
planet to the Sun and the name and is the second
smallest one in the planet from the Sun. It’s
E.g. In Math, if the objective is to add and
Solar System terribly hot
subtract counting numbers quickly, extended time
would not be a reasonable accommodation.
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Relevance
¨ It can also be thought of as an aspect of fairness.
Literature Review
¨ Irrelevant assessment would mean short-changing students of worthwhile assessment
experiences.
¨ Assessment should be set in a context that students will find purposeful.
¨ Criteria for achieving quality assessments:
A) Assessment should reflect the knowledge and skills that are most important for
students to learn - Assessment should not include irrelevant and trivial content.
Instead, it should measure learners’ higher-order abilities such as critical thinking,
problem-solving, and creativity
Theory 1 which are 21st-century skills. Theory 2
B) Assessment should support every student’s opportunity to learn things that are
Mercury is the must
important. Assessment closest provide genuine opportunitiesVenus has a beautiful
for students to show what
planet to the Sun and the name and is the second
they have learned andone
smallest encourage
in the reflective thinking. planet from the Sun. It’s
C) Assessment should tell teachers and individual studentsterribly
Solar System something
hot that they do
not already know.—Assessment should stretch students’ ability and understanding.
Assessment tasks allow them to apply their knowledge in new situations.
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Ethical Issues—Asking pupils to answer sensitive questions like their
sexuality or problems in the family are unwarranted, especially without
the consent of the parents. Grades and reports of teachers generated from
Schedule
using invalid and unreliable test instruments are unjust. The resulting
interpretations are
Phase 1
inaccurate and
Jupiter is a gas
giant
misleading.
Phase 3
Venus is
terribly hot
Other ethical issues in testing are :
Þpossible harm to the participants
ÞConfidentiality
May
of results June July August
ÞDeception in regard to the purpose and use of assessment
ÞTemptation to assist students in answering tests or responding to
surveys. Saturn is the Phase 2 Mars is a cold Phase 4
ringed one place

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Activity
Activity: ASSESSMENT SCENARIOS:
Suppose you are the principal of a private high school. You received complaints from
students concerning their tests. Based on their complaints, you decided to talk to the teachers
concerned and offered advice based on ethical standards. Write down your recommendations
citing specific aspects of ethics or fairness discussed in the module.
Scenario 1: Seventh-grade students complained that their music teacher uses only written tests as
their sole method of assessment. They were not assessed on their skills in singing or creating
musical melodies.
Scenario 2: Grade 8 students complained that they were not informed that there is a summative test in
Statistics.

Scenario 3. Students were tested on the article they read about the Filipino ethnic group. The article depicted
Ilocanos as stingy. Students who hail from Ilocos were not comfortable answering the test.
SHARING OF INSIGHTS