Ed.

Strat 4: ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING

PRELIM NOTES

1. Basic Concepts of Assessment

Assessment
 Linn and Miller (2005) define assessment as any of a variety of procedures used to
obtain information about student performance.
 Assessment refers to the full range of information gathered and synthesized by teachers
about their students and their classrooms. (Arends, 1994)
 Assessment is a method for analyzing and evaluating student achievement or program
success.
 This information can be gathered through informal ways, such as observation or verbal
exchange. It can also be gathered through formal ways, such as assignments, test, and
written reports or outputs. (Garcia, 2008)
 Assessment looks into how much change has occurred on the student’s acquisition of a
skill, knowledge or value before and after a given learning experience.

Measurement

 Measurement may be defined as an instrument or device to measure individual’s

achievement, personality, attitude, and intelligence among others that can be expressed
quantitatively. For instance, tests, questionnaires, rating scales, checklists, etc.
(Calmorin, 2006)
 Measurement answers the question, how much does a student learn to know?

Evaluation

 Evaluation is a process of making judgments, assigning value or deciding on the worth of

student’s performance. Thus, when a teacher assigns a grade to the score you obtained
in a chapter quiz or term examination, he is performing an evaluative act. This is
because he places value on the information gathered on the test. (Garcia, 2008)
 Evaluation Is different from both measurement and assessment.
 Measurement answers the question, how much does a student learn to know?
 Assessment looks into how much change has occurred on the student’s acquisition of a
skill, knowledge or value before and after a given learning experience.
 Since evaluation is concerned with making judgments on the worth or value of a
performance, it answers the question, how good, adequate or desirable it is?
 Measurement and assessment are, therefore, both essential to evaluation (Garcia,
2008)

2. Purpose of Educational Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation
 Improvement of Student Learning- Knowing how well the students are performing in
class can lead teachers to devise ways and means of improving student learning.
  Identification of Student’s Strengths and Weaknesses- Through measurement,
assessment, and evaluation, teachers can be able to single out their students’ strengths
and weaknesses. Data on these strengths and weaknesses can serve as bases for
undertaking reinforcement and/or enrichment activities for the students.

 Assessment on the Effectiveness of a Particular Teaching Strategy- Accomplishment of

an instructional objective through the use of a particular teaching strategy is important
to teachers. Competent teachers continuously evaluate their choice of strategies on the
basis of student achievement.

 Appraisal of the Effectiveness of the Curriculum- Through educational measurement,

assessment and evaluation, various aspects of the curriculum are continuously
evaluated by curriculum committees on the basis of the achievement test results.

 Assessment and Improvement of Teaching Effectiveness- Results in testing are used as

bases for determining teaching effectiveness. Knowledge of the results of testing can
provide school administrators inputs on the instructional competence of teachers under
their charge. Thus, intervention programs to improve teaching effectiveness can be
undertaken by the principals or even supervisors based on results account of the
educational measurement and evaluation.

 Communication with and Involvement of Parents in Their Children’s Learning- Results

of educational measurement, assessment, and evaluation are utilized by the school
teachers in communicating to parents their children’s learning difficulties. Knowing how
well their children are performing academically can lead them to perjure a partnership
with the school in improving and enhancing student learning.

3. Types of Assessment

 Assessment for Learning

involves the use of information about student progress to support and improve student
learning, inform instructional practices, and:

 is teacher-driven for student, teacher, and parent use;

 occurs throughout the teaching and learning process, using a variety of tools;
and
 engages teachers in providing differentiated instruction, feedback to
students to enhance their learning, and information to parents in support of
learning.
 Diagnostic Assessment and Formative Assessment
 Diagnostic Assessment is a form of pre-assessment where teachers can
evaluate students’ strengths, weaknesses, knowledge and skills before their
instruction.
  Formative Assessment is a term for any type of assessment used to gather
student feedback and improve instruction. Formative assessments occur
during the learning process, often while students are engaged in other
activities.

 Assessment of Learning
involves teachers’ use of evidence of student learning to make judgements about
student achievement and:

 provides opportunity to report evidence of achievement related to curricular

outcomes;
 occurs at the end of a learning cycle using a variety of tools;
 provides the foundation for discussions on placement or promotion.
Evaluation compares assessment information against criteria based on
curriculum outcomes for the purpose of communicating to students,
teachers, parents/caregivers, and others about student progress; and to
make informed decisions about the teaching and learning process.
 Summative Assessment occurs at the end of a unit of study in order to
measure the amount of information the students have learned. Most
traditional assessment types are considered summative. Summative
assessments reflect students' learning and the teacher's ability to
communicate information effectively.
 Assessment as Learning
actively involves student reflection on learning, monitoring of his/her own progress,
and:

 supports students in critically analyzing learning related to curricular

outcomes;
 is student-driven with teacher guidance; and
 occurs throughout the learning process.
 Ipsative Assessment compares a learner’s current performance with
previous performance either in the same field through time or in comparison
with other fields, resulting in a descriptor expressed in terms of their
‘personal best’.

4. Approaches to Evaluation
Norm-Referenced Evaluation
 is one wherein the performance of a student in a test is compared of the other
students who took the same examination.

 Norm-referenced measures compare a person’s knowledge or skills to the

knowledge or skills of the norm group. The composition of the norm group
depends on the assessment.
  A norm-referenced evaluation test is used to ascertain an individual’s status
with respect to the performance of other individuals on that test.

 Example:

 Jella stood first in Mathematics test in her class.

 Jaynive rank third in the spelling test.
 Yebin can type 60 words per minute stands above 90 percent of the
typist who appeared in the interview.
 Advantages
 they work well in situations requiring rigid differentiation among
students where, for example, program size restrictions may limit the
number of students advancing to higher level courses
 Norm-referenced systems are very easy to use.
 Disadvantages
 One objection to norm-referenced systems is that an individual's grade
is determined not only by his/her achievements, but also by the
achievements of others.
 This may be true in a large non-selective lecture class, where we can be
fairly confident that the class is representative of the student
population; but in small classes (under 40) the group may not be a
representative sample. One student may get an A in a low-achieving
section while a fellow student with the same score in a higher-achieving
section gets a B.
 A second objection to norm-referenced grading is that it promotes
competition rather than cooperation. When students are pitted against
each other for the few As to be given out, they're less likely to be helpful
to each other.

Criterion-Referenced Evaluation

 Is an approach to evaluation where in a student performance is compared

against a predetermined or agreed upon standards.
 When the evaluation is concerned with the performance of the individual in
terms of what he can do or the behavior he demonstrate.
 A criterion refenced test is used to ascertain individual’s status with respect to a
defined achievement domain.
 The purpose of criterion-referenced evaluation/test is to assess the objectives.

 Example
 Jella got 93 marks in a test of Mathematics.
 Jaynive scored 7 out of 10 in spelling test.
 Yebin can encode 60 words per minute.
  Advantages
 Students are not competing with each other and are thus more likely to
actively help each other learn.
 A student's grade is not influenced by the caliber of the class.
 Disadvantages
 It is difficult to set reasonable criteria for the students without a fair
amount of teaching experience. Most experienced faculty set these
criteria based on their knowledge of how students usually perform (thus
making it fairly similar to the norm referenced system).

5. Principles of High Quality Assessment

 Clarity of Learning Targets
Sound Assessment begins with clear and appropriate learning targets which
include both what students know and can do and the criteria of judging student
performance.
 Appropriateness of Assessment Methods
It is best to match the method of assessment to learning targets. Knowledge
and simple understanding of targets are matched best with selected-response
and brief constructed-response items, deep understanding and reasoning
targets with essays and affective targets with observation and self-reports.
Performance-based assessments are best for measuring deep understanding
skills and products.
 Validity
Validity is the degree to which a score-based inference is appropriate,
reasonable, and useful. Different types of evidence are used to establish the
validity of classroom tests.
 Reliability
Reliability is used to measure the error in testing. It measures the degree of
consistency when several items measure the same thing and stability when the
same measures are given across time.
 Fairness
Assessment is fair if it is unbiased and provides students with a reasonable
opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
 Positive Consequences
Positive consequences for both teachers and students enhance the overall
quality of assessment, particularly the effect of the assessment on the student
motivation and study habits. A goal of high-quality assessments is that they will
lead to better information and decision making about students.
 Practicality and Efficiency
Assessment need to take into consideration the teacher’s familiarity with the
method, the time required, the complexity of administration, the ease of
scoring and interpretation, and the cost to determine the assessments’
practicality and efficiency.
6. Types of Tests
As to mode of response, tests can be oral, written or performance.
 Oral Test – it is a test taker gives his answer orally.
 Written Test - It is a test where answers to questions are written by the test
taker.
 Performance Test – It is one in which the test taker creates an answer or
product that demonstrates his knowledge or skill, as in cooking and baking.

As to ease quantification of response, tests can either be objective or subjective.

 Objective Test - It is a paper and pencil test wherein students’ answer can be
compared and quantified to yield a numerical score. This requires convergent or
specific response.
 Subjective Test – It is a paper-and-pencil test which is not easily quantified for
students are given the freedom to write their answers to a question, such as an
essay test. Thus, the answer to this type of test is divergent.

As to mode of administration, test can either be by individual or by group.

 Individual Test – It is a test administered to one student at a time.

 Group Test - It is simultaneously administered to a group of students.

As to test constructor, test can be classified as standardized or unstandardized.

 Standardized Test – It is a test prepared by an expert or specialist. This type of

test samples behaviour under uniform procedures. Questions are administered
to students with the same directions and limits. Results in this kind of test are
scored following a detailed procedure based on its manual and interpreted
based on specified norms and standards.
 Unstandardized Test – It is prepare by teachers for use in the classrooms with
no established norms for scoring and interpretation of results. It is constructed
by a classroom teacher to meet a particular need.

As to the mode of interpreting results, tests can either be norm-referenced or criterion-

referenced.

 Norm-referenced Test – It is a test that evaluates student’s performance by

comparing it to the performance of a group of students on the same test.
 Criterion-referenced Test – It measures student’s performance against an
agreed upon or pre-established level of performance.
7. Kinds of Tests
 Intelligence Test. This test measures the intelligence quotient (IQ) of an
individual. It is designed to measure a variety of mental functions such as
reasoning, comprehension and judgement.
 Personality Test. A questionnaire or other standardized instrument designed to
reveal aspects of individual’s character or psychological make up. It measures
personality characteristics or discover personality disorders.
 Aptitude Test. This kind of test is a predictive measure of a person’s likelihood
of benefit from instruction or experience in a given field such as the arts, music,
clerical work, mechanical tasks, or academic studies.
 Prognostic Test. This test forecasts how well a person may likely do in a certain
school subject or work. For instance, Iowa Placement Examination predicts
which of the subject in the curriculum a student will be doing well.
 Performance Test. A test requiring little or no use of language, the test
materials being designed to elicit manual or behavioural responses rather than
verbal ones.
 Diagnostic Test. This test identifies the weaknesses and strength of an
individual’s achievement in any field which serves as basis for remedial
instruction.
 Achievement Test. This measures how much students attain the learning tasks.
For example, NAT (National Achievement Test)
 Preference Test. This test is a measure of vocational or academic interest of an
individual or aesthetic decision by forcing the examinee to make force options
between members of paired or grouped items.
 Scale Test. This test is a series of items arranged in the order of difficulty.
 Speed Test. This test measures the speed and accuracy of examinee within the
time imposed. It is also called the alertness test.
 Power Test. This test is made up of series of items arranged from easiest to the
most difficult.
 Standardized Test. This test provides exact procedures in controlling the
method of administration and scoring with norms and data concerning the
reliability and validity of the test.
 Teacher-Made Test. This test is prepared by classroom teachers based on the
contents stated in the syllabi and the lessons taken by the students.
 Placement Test. This test is used to measure job an applicant should fill in the
school setting and the grade or year level the student or students should be
enrolled after quitting from school.