critical thinking

Outline:

Introduction

Definition of assessment, evaluation, measurement , test and scoring.

Philosophy of evaluation in education.

General principles of evaluation.

Purposes of  assessment & evaluation.

Assessment and instruction process relationship.

 

Introduction:

         Assessment is embedded in the learning process. It is tightly interconnected with curriculum and instruction. Recently, educators and scientists have been becoming more interested in the requirements of assessment procedures in the scope of teaching and the learning process.    Assessment has an important role in education and it has a critical role in the teaching process. Through appropriate assessment, teachers can classify and grade their students, give feedback and structure their teaching accordingly. Teachers use many different processes and strategies for classroom assessment, and adapt them to suit the assessment purpose and needs of individual students.

Philosophy of Evaluation in Education

     Evaluation based on two philosophies; traditional philosophy  and new philosophy.

          Traditional philosophy is that ability to learn is randomly distributed in the general population. It means that if some learning task is assigned to a class and then a test is administered to study their performance. The result of the test shows that some students’ score is very high and some students’ score is low and majority of the students, score falls between these two extremes. It was the opinion of old educators that all are not endowed with same intellectual abilities to benefit from schooling.

The new philosophy of evaluation is based on democratic values and gives importance to the environment. It assumes that if education is thought universal, the responsibility of the teacher is to help as many students as possible to learn. All individuals can attain mastery of a learning task, provided are given opportunities and time. It assumes that every child could reach 100 per cent mastery of any objective, it suggests that an absolute standard be used as reference for evaluation. These standards are the objectives specified for instruction. Each student’s status is determined by how he achieves these objectives for example, before a unit begins, the teacher may have decided that three objectives were essential for every student. A student has to achieve each in order to receive a passing grade.

 

   The two philosophies of evaluation are based on different concepts of human potencies and their development, one believes that human abilities are not evenly distributed in the population. Achievement of individual learner differs greatly whereas the other believes that all learners can attain the mastery of learning task irrespective of individual differences among them.

Assessment

Assessment is a process of collecting, reviewing and using data, for the purpose of improvement in the current performance.

Assessment is an interactive process between students and faculty that informs faculty how well their students are learning what they are teaching. The information is used by faculty to make changes in the learning environment, and is shared with students to assist them in improving their learning and study habits. This information is learner centered, course based, frequently anonymous, and not graded.

Modes of Assessment

Three modes of assessment are:

Rational mode: It will be used at planning stage for planning any program or activity using participative methodology to get experts’ opinion for arriving at consensus.

Ex to assess student need before design course 

 when dr ola discuss with us content of strategy course and we told her we previously attained lecture with same name in other course  she change it by another one 

 

Formative mode: It will be used at the implementation stage to identify inadequacies and weaknesses in the programs, strategies and development of materials.

Ex during lecture teacher ask questions to determine our understanding and if we reach to the objectives or not.

Summative mode: It will be used at the review stage to judge the efficacy and effectiveness of the materials, strategies, programs, outputs and collateral effects.

Ex final written exam

 

Evaluation

Evaluation is a process that critically examines a program. It involves collecting and analyzing information about a program’s activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Its purpose is to make judgments about a program, to improve its effectiveness, and/or to inform programming decisions (Patton, 1987)

 Evaluation, it is a final process that is determined to understand the quality of the process.

Evaluation it is a process of obtaining, analyzing and interpreting information to determent the extent to which students achieve instructional objective.

Example certified exam

 

Measurement

Measurement refers to the process by which the attributes or dimensions of some physical object are determined.

Educational measurement is that process by which the usefulness of various factors of educational process, the usefulness of various activities of persons concerned, and the intelligence, interest, attitude, personality and educational achievements of the students are measured on the basis of definite standards and are expressed in definite words, symbols or units. Some of the basic principles of measurement in educational evaluations would be raw scores, percentile, ranks, derived scores, standard scores, etc.

Types of Measurement:

Qualitative Measurement: Measuring the characteristics of an object, person or activity in the form of a quality is called qualitative measurement;

for example, describing a student  written skills in  an assignment as very good is qualitative measurement.

Quantitative Measurement: Measuring the characteristics of an object, person or activity in the form of quantity is called quantitative measurement;

for example, to measure written skills in assignment 8/10 it is quantitative measurement

Test

Test: A method or instrument  to determine a students ability to complete certain tasks or demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge of content. Some types would be multiple choice tests, or long essay.

Scoring

  Is a recording and grading of student’ performance.

There are two broad approaches to recording performance based assessment ; analytic and holistic.

Holistic scoring and recording reflects an overall impression of performance and results in a single score or grade.  Holistic scoring tools can be developed and applied more rapidly.

An example of holistic scoring includes a scale such as:Excellent ,Good ,Fair and Unsatisfactory.

Analytical scoring and reporting methods view performance as being made up of many components and provide separate scores for each component and more detailed information that may be useful when providing feedback.

    The analytical approach minimizes bias, allowing for all activities or answers to be remembered and documented as they occurred.

Example rubric

     A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure students’ work. It serves as a working guide for students and teachers, usually handed out before the assignment begins, in order to get students to think about the criteria on which their work will be judged.

 

   Lynch(2010) provides a conceptual framework as the basis for understanding the inter-related constructs of evaluation, measurement, and testing. Figure 1 is the schematic representation of the constructs of evaluation, measurement, and testing as applied in education. The conceptual framework sought to illustrate the superordinate-subordinate relationship between these concepts and demonstrate the areas of overlap

 Fig1

Purposes of  assessment &evaluation:

according to type assessment

Diagnostic

Assess student strength, weakness,knowledge and skills prior to  instruction

Norm-referenced

compare student performance against anational or other norm group

Formative

assesses student performance during instruction, assess quality effectiveness of instruction

Benchmark

evaluate student performance at periodic interval  at the end of grading period

Summative

measure student achievement at the end of instruction

 

Importance  of Assessment according

For teacher

Helps teachers to identify  learner’s needs and set objectives.

to determine the effectiveness of instruction and to guide future learning

to gather information about students - how they learn - what they know - how they make connections this may help students to adavance their learning

To familiarize the teacher with nature of student learning , development and progress

To identify successes and failures of the curriculum with a view to correcting deficiencies.

To make decisions about the value or worth of the program of the study and the activities implemented to realize the expected outcomes

To provide basis for modification of the curriculum and course.

Purpose of Assessment for Student

• Assessment involves student in the learning process where they monitor thier own progress.

for the student, assessment is beneficial because it provides timely constructive feedback about their understanding.

Students use this feedback to adjust their lerning and to identity areas for further growth

To motivate students toward better attainment and growth.

General principles of assessment and evaluation

The Principle of Validity

Extend to which the test serve its purpose Efficiency in which it measures what it intends to measure

Face Validity: Whether the test “looks valid” to the examinees who take it

Content Validity: Validators have to ensure that the contents taught, as stated in the objectives, are similar with the contents portrayed by the assessment instruments.

 

The Principle of Clarity of Learning

Evaluation should be based on clearly stated objectives.

 

The Principle of Reliability

   They should be reliable in their ability to measure educational outcomes accurately on repeated tests.

The Principle of Appropriateness of Assessment

Subjective Tests  Evaluated by giving an opinion about the issue, concept, ideas and the like.

Performance Tests  At the end of the lesson students are required to perform in an activity.

 The Principle of Fairness

Ensures that teachers should set aside personal bias and give away to fairness in the assessment of students learning

Guiding Principles to ensure Fairness in the Evaluation of students:

Students should have knowledge of learning targets and assessment.

 Students should be provided equal opportunity to learn.

The students should have acquired prerequisite knowledge and skills.

The teachers should refrain from stereotyping.

Teachers should avoid bias in their assessment tasks and procedures.

The Principle of Practicality & Efficiency

 States that evaluation should be finished in a specific period of time and applicable in a particular educational setting.

Suggestions to follow for Practicality & Efficiency

The teacher should be familiar with the assessment method.

Evaluation should be finished in a specified time required.

Teachers should avoid the complexity of administration procedures.

Ease of scoring.

Ease of interpretation.

 

 

Principles of Authenticity

  Basically, using the principle of authenticity in a test uses the test for performing an assignment in a real life situation.

Thus, in a test, authenticity may be presented in the following ways;

 includes as much natural language as possible

contains components which are contextualized  

has meaningful, relevant, real life themes

 provides some thematic organization to items, such as a story line or episode

offers assignments that replicate real world assignments

Principles of Washback

    Is the effect of a test on teaching

A test that provides beneficial washback

Positively influences teachers’ teaching

Positively influences learners’ learning

Learners can adequately prepare

Feedback for language development

More formative than summative

Conditions for peak performance

Principles of Continuity

Evaluation is an ongoing enterprise, not a “tag-on” event at the completion of a program of learning. It must be frequent, recurrent, and continuous.

 The Principles of Ethics

   Teachers should prevent themselves from exercising personal biases     when evaluating students; performances in the classroom

Gathering Data  Teacher should remember that there's information about students' life that needs to be held confidential.

Recording Data  Teacher should be extra careful when recording information about students' lives.

Reporting Data  Teachers should realize that there are standard forms used to report students' scholastic data.

The Principle of Positive Consequences

Students are expected to positively express their feelings and thoughts toward evaluation to have a better chance to learn more.

 Teachers are also given the opportunity to look inward and examine their own performance. The result of evaluation can provide information about the area of instruction which the teacher needs to improve on.

Assessment and Instruction relationship

    The close connection between instruction and assessment is a defining characteristic of effective classroom instruction. There are a cyclical relationship between assessment and instruction

Assessment

Instruction

 

 

   A teacher does not plan instruction without first collecting “measurements” about students’ strengths, interests, and differences, and determining which type of assessment to use 

   teachers assess during the learning to see how much students have learned. Additionally, the teacher should maintain records for each student and hold regular conferences with opportunities for student reflection and steps for student growth. The results of assessments inform instruction

  Instructors make decisions about how to deliver or modify any given curriculum based on assessment that the instructor continually collects and reviews.

 

 

 

 

 

    According to McTighe and Brown (2005), “Responsive teaching demands diagnostic and ongoing assessments of student progress in relationship to required content and performance standards. Through this process, teachers will decrease skill and knowledge gaps, and will accommodate students’ demonstrated strengths, interests, and personal learning goals” .Differentiated instruction results when teachers provide clear performance and feedback and prompt interventions to direct learning (Chapman & King, 2005). Instructional strategies target students’ current levels of knowledge and skill.

Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction are closely aligned so that they reinforce one another.

 Curriculum details what students should learn.

 Instruction provides a vehicle as to how students will learn.

Assessments reveal how well students have learned.

 

 

Reference:

 

Adom.d, Adu-Mensah. J (2020), Test, measurement, and evaluation: Understanding and use of the concepts in education,

Brown, G. T. L., & Hattie, J. A. (2009, April). Understanding teachers' thinking about assessment: Insights for developing better educational assessments. Paper presented at annual conference of the National Council for Measurement in Education, San Diego, CA.

 

Chapman, C., & King, R. (2005). Differentiated assessment strategies: One tool doesn’t fit all. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Kizlik, R. J., Measurement, assessment, and evaluation in education, 2012. Retrieved on October 2019. [Online]. 

 

Linn,R &Gronlund,N( 2008).measurement and assessment in teaching 

 

Lynch, B. K.,( 2001) Rethinking assessment from a critical perspective, Language Testing, vol. 18, no. 4

Masters, G., Getting to the essence of assessment, 2014. Retrieved on October 2019. [Online]. Available: 

McTighe, J., & Brown, J. L. (2005). Differentiated instruction and educational standards: Is détente possible? Theory Into Practice, 234–244

Miller,M &Linn,R &Gronlund,N ( 2013).measurement and assessment in teaching (11thed) . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

 

 

Oluwatosin.V.(2018). Difference between assessment, measurement and evaluation in science education.

 

Patton, M.Q. (1987). Qualitative Research Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers

 

Seif, A.(2008). Measurement, Assessment and Education Evaluation. Doran publishing center

 Tosuncuoglu.I  (2018) Importance_of_Assessment_in_ELT. Journal of Education and Training Studies Vol.  6,  No.  9