Classroom Assessment: An Overview PDF

Lesson 1 CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT: AN OVERVIEW Introduction The primary quality assurance tool in tracking student’s progress is assessment. As this provides basis for profiling student performance based on the achieved standards, pr...

Lesson 1 CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT: AN OVERVIEW Introduction The primary quality assurance tool in tracking student’s progress is assessment. As this provides basis for profiling student performance based on the achieved standards, promoted ability to self – reflect and personal accountability for one’s learning. Teachers and other people in the field of education are continuously involved in making decisions about students’ welfare. In such decision-making, sound judgment based on scientifically collected data are most crucial. Here is where evaluation of data collected through tests and other measurement devices are most needed. Nevertheless, most beginning teachers use important concepts in assessment interchangeably. These concepts include measurement, evaluation and assessment. Hence, this lesson targets to get beginner teachers like you familiarize with the basic concepts, which will be used throughout the course. Furthermore, the Beginning Teacher Indicators (BTIs) of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) under the Domain 5 – Assessment and Reporting stipulates the different standards that a beginning teacher like you should possess. Hence, ensuring utmost understanding of the basic concepts about assessment is necessary in order for you to easily learn other vital and underlying concepts on how to properly and effectively assess your learners. As you progress with the different lessons in this module, you are expected to learn and acquire each of the specified indicators specifically focused in process of assessment of learners. bjectives After completing this lesson, you are expected to:  understand assessment and reporting as one of the domains of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) ;  define classroom assessment, measurement and evaluation;  identify the different components of classroom assessment;  differentiate the different types of evaluation integrated in the various phases of instruction; and  explain the role of assessment in making instructional decisions. The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) laid out standards that define teacher quality, anchored on the principle of lifelong learning. The development of teachers in PPST progresses developmentally with an increasing level of knowledge, practice, and professional engagement (DepEd Order 42,s, 2017), as teachers refine their practice and respond to the different complexities of the educational arena (Roberto & Madrigal, 2018). The PPST articulates what constitute teacher quality through the seven (7) well- defined domains, thirty – seven (37) collective strands and indicators which serve as gauge for teacher’s professional learning, competent practice, and effective engagement. The seven (7) domains stipulated in the PPST includes: Domain 1 – Content Knowledge and Pedagogy Domain 2 – Learning Environment Domain 3 – Diversity of Learners Domain 4 – Curriculum and Planning Domain 5 – Assessment and Reporting Domain 6 – Community Linkage and Professional Engagement Domain 7 – Personal Growth and Professional Development Each domain is described fully at each career stages of development of teachers starting from Career Stage 1 – Beginning Teachers, Career Stage 2 – Proficient Teachers, Career Stage 3 – Highly Proficient, and Career Stage 4 – Distinguished Teachers). One of the most critical responsibilities of the teacher is the assessment of student performance (Mertler & Campbell, 2005) as the quality of the teaching and learning process may be dependent on the quality of the assessment utilized (Mitchell, Robinson, Plake, & Knowles, 2001). In the PPST, Domain 5 – Assessment and Reporting focuses on the processes related to the utilization of different assessment tools and strategies as means to inform and enhance the teaching and learning process and programs through proper monitoring, evaluation, documentation, feedback and reporting of learner’s needs, progress, and achievement (DepEd Order 42,s, 2017). As a pre -service teacher, you are classified under Career Stage 1 – Beginning Teachers. Under the Beginning Teacher Indicator for Domain 5 – Assessment and Reporting, pre -service teachers are expected to demonstrate knowledge, familiarity, and understanding on the five (5) strands of the Domain 5.  Domain 5 Assessment & Reporting covers the following strands: 1. Design, selection, organization and utilization of assessment strategies (DSOUAS) 2. Monitoring and evaluation of learners progress and achievement (MELPA) 3. Feedback to improve learning (FIL) 4. Communication of learner needs, progress, and achievement (CLPA) 5. Use of assessment data (UAD) These strands are also aligned with the Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students developed by the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME, 1990). Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students (Developed by the American Federation of Teachers National Council on Measurement in Education National Education Association) 1. Teachers should be skilled in choosing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions. 2. Teachers should be skilled in developing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions. 3. The teacher should be skilled in administering, scoring and interpreting the results of both externally – produced and teacher- produced assessment methods. 4. Teachers should be skilled in using assessment results when making decision about individual student, planning teaching, developing curriculum, and school improvement. 5. Teachers should be skilled in developing valid pupil grading procedures which use pupil assessments. 6. Teacher should be skilled in communicating assessment results to students, parents, other lay audiences, and other educators. 7. Teachers should be skilled in recognizing unethical, illegal, and otherwise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information. Therefore, the challenge now to you as a pre – service teacher is to acquire the standards set for a Beginning Teacher. Specific to this module is grasping the ideals set for Domain 5 assessment and Reporting. Learning this kicks off with understanding the four (4) components of classroom assessment. Moreover, understanding and grasping fully this domain initially starts with knowing why should a teacher become skillful and knowledgeable in assessing the learners – that is, the purpose of assessment. Purpose Classroom assessment starts from a clear and well-defined purpose or doing the assessment. We need to have clear answers to the following questions: a. Why are you doing the assessment? b. What will be gained by it? c. What teacher decision is enhanced by the information gathered through assessment? d. How will student learning be enhanced by this assessment? e. Will your assessment deliberately improve student performance or simply to audit them? f. Has the assessment motivated students to learn? g. Do the assessment provide a realistic estimation of what the students are able to do? In the course of the teaching learning process, we do three kinds of assessment – FOR, OF and AS learning which suggest to us the reason why we are doing the assessment process. Assessment FOR Learning. This includes three types of assessment done before and during instruction. These are placement, formative and diagnostic. a. Placement - done prior to instruction  Its purpose is to assess the needs of the learners to have basis in panning for a relevant instruction.  Teachers used the assessment to know what their students are bringing into the learning situation and use this as starting point for instruction.  The results of this assessment place students in specific learning groups to facilitate teaching and learning. b. Formative – done during instruction  It is this assessment where teachers continuously monitor the students’ level of attainment of the learning objectives (Stiggins, 2005)  The result s of this assessment are communicated clearly and promptly to the students for them to know their strengths and weaknesses and the progress of their learning.  c. Diagnostic – done during instruction  This is used to determine students’ recurring and persistent difficulties.  It searches for the underlying cause of students’ learning problems that do not respond to first aid treatment.  It helps formulate a plan for detailed remedial instruction. Assessment OF Learning. This is done after instruction. This is usually referred to as the summative assessment. d. Summative Assessment  It is used to certify what students know and can do and level of their proficiency or competency.  Its results reveal whether or not instructions have successfully achieved the curriculum outcomes  The information from assessment of learning is usually expressed as marks or letter grades.  The result of which are communicated to the students, parents, and other stakeholders for decision making.  It is also a powerful factor that pave away for educational reforms. Assessment AS Learning. This is done for teachers to understand and perform well their role of assessing FOR and OF learning. It requires teachers to undergo training on how to assess leaning and be equipped with the following competencies needed in performing their work as assessors.  Summary of the Assessment FOR, AS and OF learning FOR Learning AS Learning OF Learning By teachers By students By teachers To determine what to do next To determine what to To determine student’s instructionally (strategies, do next in my learning level of achievement of differentiation) (e.g. strategy,focus) overall expectations at a given point To provide descriptive feedback To provide descriptive As evidence to support to students (what they are doing feedback to peers and professional judgement well, what needs improvement, self (peer and self and how to improve) assessment) The goal is to become reflective, self monitoring learner Measurement Measurement can be defined as the process by which information about the attribute or characteristics of things are determined and differentiated. For example, length and temperature can be differentiated as long or short and hot or cold, respectively. To arrive at such differentiation, we use devices such as meter sticks and thermometers.This process of determining the quantity of something and the device that we use in expressing the quantity of the attribute is called measurement. In education, measurement is the device or instrument that we used to measure students’ achievement, skills, attitude, intelligence, personality or anything that can be expressed quantitatively. Tests are the most common device used in measuring students’ achievement, skills and other attributes. Tests, such as achievement tests are useful in measuring qualities like knowledge and skills, or the attributes that are readily defined. On the other hand, non-tests such as interview and checklists are those we use to measure qualities like attitude and values, or the attributes that are not readily defined. However, unlike physical attributes like length and temperature, students’ attribute which are mostly psychological in nature cannot just be measured by means of observation. Neither can they be easily be quantified. The task of the teacher is to express this attribute in quantities to make it less ambiguous and subjective.  Quantification reduces subjectivity and ambiguity as when achievement is expressed as 80th percentile rather than just by giving descriptions such as “good” student, whose interpretation will surely differ from one person to another. To be most useful in quantifying students/’ attribute, a measurement device therefore should be both relevant and accurate- relevant to what is being measured and accurate in terms of the scores or measures it reveals. The following items summarize key concepts about measurement: - systematic process of assigning numbers to performance - is used to determine how much trait, attribute or characteristic an individual possesses - techniques used include tests, ratings, observations, and interview. Evaluation Evaluation, on the other hand, can be defined as the process of summing up the results of measurements or tests, giving them some meaning based on value judgment. From the educational standpoint, we defined evaluation as a systematic process of determining the extent to which instructional objectives are achieved by the students (Grondlund, 1981). Objectives are the intended learning outcomes and it is the paramount consideration in evaluation. These definitions suggest that evaluation is much more comprehensive and inclusive than measurement. Measurement is limited to the quantitative description of the attribute, as in “Student A got 90 on the test”, and does not include qualitative description as in whether the particular score is good or bad for a particular purpose. In other words, evaluation involves interpretation of scores or measurement data because scores themselves do not have any meaning. One way of interpreting the score is to assign a grade using a fixed standard like a score of 90 receives a grade of 1.25. It could also be interpreted in relation to the students’ rank in the class. Evaluation therefore includes quantitative description (measurement) or qualitative description and value judgment concerning the result of measurement. In the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum, learners are assessed through various processes and measures that are appropriate to and congruent with the learning competencies defined in the curriculum. Furthermore, the new curriculum uses a standards-and-competency- based grading system, and all grades will be based on the weighted raw score the learner’s summative assessments. Learners from Grades 1 to 12 are graded on Written Work (WW), Quarterly Assessment (QA) and Performance Tasks (PT) every quarter. The three components are given specific percentage weights that vary according to the nature of the learning area. For example, for Grade 1-10 Science and Math, written work is 40%, performance tasks is 40% and quarterly assessment is 20%. On the other hand, for Grades 1-10 Languages, Araling Panlipunan and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, Written Work is 30%, Performance Tasks is 50% and Quarterly Assessment is 20%. Students’ weighted raw scores will be their initial grade and shall be transmuted accordingly. For example, a weighted raw score 80 shall be transmuted into 87, while a weighted raw score 90 shall be transmuted into 93. The transmuted grade will be described as follows: Grading Scale Descriptor Remarks 90-100 Outstanding Passed 85-89 Very Satisfactory Passed 80-84 Satisfactory Passed 75-79 Fairly Satisfactory Passed Below 75 Did Not Meet Expectations Failed Below summarizes the important elements of evaluation: - Once measurement is used, you need to place some degree or value on different numbers - Evaluation involves judging about quality – how good the behavior or performance is - Involves interpretation of what has been gathered through measurement - Performance standards are used to determine whether a performance is good or bad - Criteria are the specific dimensions that are evidenced to successfully attain the standard Assessment If measurement is the process of quantifying the quality of the attribute and evaluation is the process of interpreting the results measurement, assessment involves the process of organizing quantitative (tests) and qualitative (non-tests) data. It is also defined as the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. After the attribute has been determined and differentiated through tests and non-tests measures, assessment involves the systematic collection and organization of data in order for evaluation or giving meaning is facilitated. Assessment is very important because if data are not organized properly, judging and making decisions about student’s performance or achievement will be prone to ambiguity and subjectivity. In broader terms, classroom assessment refers to the collection, evaluation and use of information that will help teachers make better decisions. Thus, measurement (collection) and evaluation (interpretation) are components of classroom assessment. The diagram below summarizes the components of classroom assessment. Purpose Measurement Evaluation Use Classroom assessment refers to the collection, evaluation and use of information that will help teachers make better decisions. Uses of Assessment Data Assessment data can be used in three broad areas: diagnosis, grading and instruction. Diagnosis. Assessment data allows the teacher to determine the specific area that needs further attention. For example, the students still find difficulty in accomplishing specific intended learning outcome even after the teacher had revised instruction, a diagnostic test can be given to identify the specific weakness. Assessment of why a student may be having difficulty is essential so that more appropriate instructional activities can be prescribed Grading. Grades that teachers assigned to students’ performance are based on measurement-driven information. At the end of each period, semester or academic year, grades are the direct and concrete evidence of students learning. In the classroom, some teachers use grading to “control” students behavior and some teachers use grades to “motivate” students to achieve more. For parents and students, uses of grades are many.  Instruction. Assessment helps teachers make instructional decisions. If the objectives of the lesson are not satisfied, as evidenced by unsatisfactory student performance, say for example in a quiz, the teacher has to examine the methods and strategies utilized, or check whether the objectives are realistic and attainable. Furthermore, the teacher can gain immediate feedback whether the students understand the lesson or not (even before at the end of instruction) by giving oral questioning or recitation so that he/she can immediately adjust his instructional procedures and activities. Knowing the different concepts of assessment will not complete understanding of a teacher on the process of assessment. Thus, teachers should also determine how it will work on the teaching and learning process itself. The Interdependence of Teaching, Learning and Evaluation Teaching has been defined as the process of facilitating learning and learning is broadly defined as the process of acquiring knowledge, attitude, skills, habits and abilities. To determine if the teaching has facilitated learning, evaluation is carried out. In other words, teaching, learning and evaluation are three interdependent aspects of the educative process (Grondlund, 1981). This interdependence is clearly seen when the main purpose of instruction is conceived in terms of helping students achieve a set of learning outcomes which include changes in the cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains. Simply put, the instructional objectives or the desired changes in the students (learning) are brought about by planned learning activities (teaching), and the students’ progress is determined by tests and other devices (evaluation). The integration of evaluation (always remember that measurement and assessment are always part of it) into the teaching –learning process can be seen in the following stages of the process: 1. In setting instructional objectives Both teaching and evaluations start with the determination of objectives. These objectives are stated in terms of desirable student behavior in the three general domains of learning: cognitive (i.e. knowledge), affective (i.e. attitude) and psychomotor (i.e. skills). It is these objectives that provide direction to teaching. They aid the teachers in making decisions regarding the types of methods, activities and materials he has to provide. To be most useful, these objectives must be attainable, observable and measurable. If for example, the teacher’s instructional objective is for the students to “draw and label the parts of a gumamela flower”, this outcome will determine his methods, his materials and the kinds of tests he will be giving at the end of instruction. 2. In determining student variables that can affect instruction Prior to instruction, it is generally desirable for teachers to carry out pre- assessment to determine students’ background abilities, experiences and interests in relation to learning outcomes. This process provides information which the teacher can use in making instructional plans, and remedial works to meet students’ needs. While some students already have the prerequisite skills in learning the new lesson, evaluation will help the teacher determine the degree of background information the students have in their repertoire. 3. In providing instructional activities that are relevant and necessary to achieve the desired learning outcomes. During this stage, lessons or subject matter and the procedures of teaching are integrated into the learning activities which are designed to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes. At this stage, evaluation provides the teacher and the students with the necessary feedback or information regarding students’ progress and difficulties. This feedback is very useful in helping teachers make adjustments in the various instructional procedures. 4. In determining the extent to which desired learning outcomes are achieved. To determine the extent to which desired learning outcomes are achieved, various types of tests and evaluative instruments are used. Evaluation of learning outcomes provides the students with information regarding the nature of the learning outcomes, his progress toward attaining these outcomes as well as his difficulties in moving towards them. On the other hand, the teacher gains information regarding the appropriateness of the instructional objectives, and the effectiveness of his teaching methods and materials. Therefore, evaluation improves both the teaching and learning process.  In the various phases of instruction, evaluation is integrated. The type of evaluation is determined by the phase of instruction it is employed. The four types of evaluation are placement, formative, diagnostic and summative. The table below summarizes the four types of evaluation: Type of Function Example evaluation 1. Placement Determines student’s entry behavior Pre-test, aptitude (what they already know) test, readiness test 2. Formative Determines feedback whether students Quizzes, oral are accomplishing the objectives questioning (recitation) 3. Diagnostic Determines areas of weaknesses that Diagnostic tests cannot be assessed by formative evaluation 4. Summative Determines if students satisfied Summative test the goals of the learning task ( achievement tests, final examinations)