Definition and Scope of Assessment

Definition of Assessment

• Assessment is from the Latin "assidere," meaning "to sit beside another."
• It's gathering quantitative and qualitative data for decision-making.
• It covers all information teachers synthesize about students and classrooms.
• Information is gathered through observation, exchange, assignments, tests, reports, etc.
• Assessment looks at how much a student's skill, knowledge, or volume has changed before and after a learning experience.
• It refers to collecting performance data, analyzing, interpreting it, and using statistical techniques for valid results.
• Assessment in learning is a systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of student learning evidence for informed decisions relevant to learners.
• The goal is to use evidence to promote and manage learning, categorized by process based on objectives and courses.

Scope of Assessment

• Assessment includes evaluating the relevance and responsiveness of curricular offerings to societal needs.
• It entails appraising school programs to determine teacher workload.
• It requires evaluating the adequacy and currency of instructional materials.
• It involves assessing the adequacy of instructional facilities.
• It includes evaluating the qualifications, competence, and research orientation of teachers and professors.
• It means assessing students' progress towards learning goals.
• It requires evaluating graduates' success in licensure exams and employment status.
• It includes assessing school managers' leadership, approachability, and integrity.
• It requires evaluating research activities for efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assessment is a comprehensive concept that focuses on broad personality changes and educational objectives, including values.

Functions of Assessment

• Measures achievements by assessing task results to determine if goals were met.
• Evaluates instruction and teaching strategies based on student test results.
• Assesses lessons to be taught by analyzing item difficulty.
• Evaluates school programs for relevance and responsiveness to societal needs.
• Motivates learning by arousing enthusiasm based on test results.
• Predicts success or failure based on prior learning assessments.
• Diagnoses the nature of difficulties to identify areas needing remedial instruction.
• Evaluates teachers' performance through student learning assessments.
• Evaluates the adequacy of school facilities and resources based on student learning outcomes.
• Evaluates school managers' performance based on subordinates' achievements.

Types of Classroom Assessment

• Official assessment is undertaken by teachers for bureaucratic tasks like grading.
• Sizing up assessment is done to provide teachers information regarding the student's social, academic, and behavioral characteristics
• Instructional assessment is utilized in planning instructional delivery and monitoring the progress of teaching and learning

Approaches to Education

• Norm-referenced evaluation compares a student's performance to other students.
  • Example: Girls score in the periodical examination below the mean in relation to the other girls scores.
  • Example: Cynthia ranked 5th in the unit test in physics, in relation to the class
  • Example: A race percentile rank in the math achievement test is 88, in relation to other racers
• Criterion-referenced evaluation compares performance against a standard.
  • Example: Sid construct a paragraph with 76% accuracy against a English Language Standard
  • Example: Avis scored 7 out of 10 on the spelling test, against a spelling Standard
  • Example: Little can encode an article with no more than 5 hours in spelling, against a English Language Standard

Principles of Assessment

• Assessment should have a clear purpose: it should be designed with a specific goal.
• Assessment is not an end in itself: it is a means to inform, improve learning, and aid decision-making.
• Assessment is ongoing: it is a continuous process that supports learning and improvement through regular monitoring and feedback.
• Assessment is learner-centered: it focuses on needs, abilities, and progress, involving students actively.
• Assessment should be process- and product-oriented: It's both how learning happens as well as the final outcome.
• Assessment must be comprehensive and holistic: covers all areas of learning.
• Assessment requires the use of appropriate methods: involves selecting the proper methods.
• Assessment should be authentic: Reflect real world tasks.
• Assessments should be unbiased and accessible.
• Authentic assessments increase engagement by making learning more meaningful.

Basic Concepts in Assessment in Learning

• Test: Method to find out what a student knows, can do, and is capable of. It's an instrument, variety of techniques used to obtain data to measure earning targets in the form of paper and pencil test.
• Measurement: Assigning scores to student preformance with respect to criteria.
• Assessment: Successfully conducting a test, checking or scoring student output to get valuable insights.
• Evaluation: Giving meaning and interpreting organized data to judge changes in students.

Evaluation Chronology

• You perform a test
• You measure the test
• You then assess, and finally evaluate

Classifications of the Roles of Assessment

• Assessment of Learning occurs after instruction to answer "What have students learned?"
• It informs students, teachers, and the community of achievement, usually at the end of a class, course, or year.
• Summative assessment measures outcomes and reports them to students and administrators; performance-based assessment is similar.
• Assessment for Learning occurs before, during, and after instruction to answer "How can we help students more?"
• It helps teachers understand what students know in order to plan instruction and provide feedback through educative or diagnostic assessment.
• Assessment as Learning (Self-Assessment) occurs before, during, and after instruction.
• Students develop awareness of how they learn and use it to adjust and advance their learning.

Types of Assessment

• Norm-referenced: Compares a student to others in the class
• Criterion-referenced: Compares a student’s performance to specific standards, not other students
• Domain-referenced: Determines learning in a particular field or area of the subject matter
• Diagnostic: Identifies weakness, strength, and the problems of student's learning
• Formative: Checks whether students have achieved the objective of the lesson taught.
• Summative: Gives a rating or grade to students based on their performance or achievement.
• Ipsative: The process of self-assessment
• Authentic: What students can actually do in real-life situations
• Performance: Demonstrate their learning through performance in real or simulated situations.

Modes of Assessment

• Traditional Assessment
  • Paper-and-pencil test that usually accept one correct answer
• Objective supply - no option e.g. Identification, Completion Test, Enumeration, Labeling Test, Cloze Test
• Objective selection - with option e.g.. Multiple-choice test, Matching type, True or False, Rearrangement
• Alternative Assessment
  • Measures the skills or competence directly known as performance test
• Portfolio Assessment
  • Dynamic process the collects the students output

Educational Measurement:

• Objective measurement: The test relies on a standard basis in analyzing the results.
• Subjective measurement: Results depend upon the assessor’s personal standards.

Educational Measurement Uses

• Direct instructional decisions: Ongoing observations, measuring, and conclusions in classrooms.
• Instructional Management: Classification, placement, counseling, and guidance decisions.
• Entry-exit decisions: Tests help decide who enters programs
• Program/Administrative: Impacts all educational programs
• Testing

Types of Evaluation

• Diagnostic: Assessing prior knowledge before instruction conducted to check pupils' prior knowledge of a topic or lesson.
• Formative: Continuous feedback during teaching the lesson that impacts the students learning and the instructors lesson
• Summative: Determines student achievement after instruction with grading

Types of Evaluation

• Karl's score in the periodical examination is below the mean.
• Cynthia ranked fifth in the unit test in Physics.
• Rey's percentile rank in the Math achievement test is 88.

Criterion-referenced evaluation example

• Sid can construct a pie graph with 76% accuracy
• Yves scored 7 out of 10 on the spelling test.
• Lito can encode an article with no more than 5 errors in spelling.