Assessment Strategies in Education

Roles of Assessment in Teaching and Learning

• Assessment is differentiated from tests, measurement, evaluation
• Assessment involves explaining the general principles of assessment in teaching and learning
• Formative and summative assessments are differentiated
• Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests are justified
• Current trends in assessment are discussed

Tests, Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment

• Tests measure academic aptitude and evaluate whether learning occurs
• Measurement is assigning numbers to a phenomenon; assigning numerical values to attributes
• Evaluation is making judgments based on criteria and evidence; assessing quality
• Assessment is the process of collecting, documenting, and interpreting learning data
• These concepts are often confused but distinct in education

General Principles of Assessment

• Assessment should be clearly specified to measure what is supposed to be measured
• Assessment procedures must be selected based on their relevance to the characteristics being measured
• Different assessment procedures are needed to provide a comprehensive view of student achievement and development

Why Do We Assess?

• To determine whether students understand the concepts and can solve problems
• Assess whether the teaching methodology and instructional material are effective
• Assess student progress towards learning objectives
• Diagnosing learners' needs and providing assistance or additional instruction
• Tracking performance and progress as well as providing documentation for learners' certification and educational decisions

Purposes of Assessment

• Learning assessment is used to make decisions about progress, enrichment, selection, exceptionality, progress and certification
• Teaching assessment is used to identify methods and materials' effectiveness
• To diagnose learners' readiness, needs of additional support and student performance levels in advance
• To evaluate students' learning progress through placements and further studies or employment decisions
• Communicate results to learners and their parents to enable continuous learning
• Support administration and counselling activities
• To evaluate schools and programmes through a comparison between learners' outcomes

Types of Assessment

• Formative assessment is ongoing assessment to help improve learning
• Summative assessment is a comprehensive assessment done at the end of a phase for accountability
• Criterion-referenced assessment focuses on comparing learners to a specific standard
• Norm-referenced assessment focuses on comparing learners among other learners

Current Trends in Assessment

• Written exams are transitioning to regular classroom assessments and coursework.
• Student involvement is increasing.
• Collaborative assessment strategies are becoming more common to reduce competition.
• Learning outcomes are explicitly outlined for assessment.
• Process-based assessment is now emphasized alongside product-based assessment.
• There is a change from teacher-centered goals to student-centered learning outcomes.

Foundation for Assessment: What to Assess

• Educational assessment should consider all domains, not just facts and concepts
• Cognitive learning outcomes such as knowledge, comprehension and application
• Affective learning outcomes such as attitudes, feelings and values
• Psychomotor learning outcomes such as physical skills and abilities

Assessing Cognitive Learning Outcomes

• Cognitive learning outcomes assess knowledge and higher-order thinking skills
• Bloom's Taxonomy outlines six levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation
• The Helpful Hundred (100 verbs) is a useful guide when constructing questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy

Assessing Affective Outcomes

• Affective outcomes include feelings and emotions such as attitudes, values, self-esteem and interests.
• Pedagogical attention is required to measure and assist learners with attitudes
• Knowledge and experience with content, rather than specific pedagogical attention is unproven

Assessing Psychomotor Outcomes

• Motor skills, coordination and physical movement abilities are assessed
• Bloom's Taxonomy for psychomotor learning includes seven levels: Perception, Set, Guided Response, Mechanism, Complex Overt Response and Adaptation, and Origination
• Assessment of these traits is not as developed or widely practiced as cognitive or affective outcomes

Planning the Classroom Test

• Teachers plan tests based on the purpose, learning objectives and overall learning process
• Test specifications are developed to ensure the effectiveness of tests and accuracy of results
• Different item types (multiple-choice, short-answer, true/false, matching and essay) have strengths and limitations in application
• Criteria and procedures for evaluating and scoring constructed test items are developed

Constructing Objective Test Items

• Objective tests are standardized assessments, suitable for evaluating different types of learning outcomes
• Four common types of objective tests are short-answer, true/false, matching, and multiple-choice
• Guidelines are provided for constructing effective objective test items

Constructing Essay Questions

• Holistic grading methods consider the essay as a whole, evaluating elements such as presentation and argument
• Analytic grading methods use a rubric, breaking down the response to identify elements, allowing assessment of particular skills and arguments, for example