LESSON 16: Assessments

• Assessment is a continuous process whose primary purpose is to improve student learning
• Reasons for Classroom Assessment

  • To provide feedback to students
  • To make informed decisions about students
  • To monitor, make judgments about, and document students’ academic performance
  • To aid student motivation by establishing short-term goals and feedback
  • To increase retention and transfer of learning by focusing learning
  • To evaluate instructional effectiveness
  • To establish and maintain a supportive classroom learning atmosphere
• Assessment


  A broad range of processes by which teachers gather information about student learning
• Assessment processes


  • Paper-and-pencil tests
  • Performance and project ratings
  • Observations
• Test


  A particular type of assessment, usually a set of questions that all students must answer in a fixed period of time and under similar conditions to demonstrate learning
• Measurement


  A process that assigns numbers to assessment results
• Norm-referenced standardized test


  A paper-and-pencil test standardized for a large population and administered under the same conditions and time limits to all test-takers
• Validity


  The degree to which a test measures what it is intended to measure
• Reliability


  The consistency of test results
• Factors affecting reliability

  • Unclear directions
  • Insufficient time
  • Presence of distractions
  • Objectivity of scoring
• Evaluation of student learning


  Determining whether the students are achieving or have achieved the objectives of the lesson, unit, or subject
• Evaluation validates the objectives and points out the effectivity and propriety of the learning experiences
• Purposes of Classroom Assessment

  • For PLACEMENT
  • For DIAGNOSIS
  • For FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
  • For SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
• Placement


  To determine whether the student has prerequisite skills to begin instruction
• Diagnosis


  To determine causes of persistent learning problems
• Formative Assessments


  To monitor learning progress, provide feedback to reinforce learning, and correct learning errors
• Summative Assessments


  To determine final achievement for assigning grades or certifying mastery
• Areas Teachers Assess

  • Knowledge and Conceptual Understanding
  • Thinking
  • Skills
  • Attitudes
• Types of Data – Areas of Evaluation

  • Cognitive Domain
  • Psychomotor Domain
  • Affective Domain
• Formative Classroom Assessment is devoted entirely to the enhancement of student learning and achievement
• Formative feedback


  • Illustrates the gap between what the student currently knows and understands and what the teacher’s expectations are for this knowledge and understanding
• Formative assessment strategies

  • Questioning
  • Peer assessment
  • Feedback through grading
• Summative assessment is a process of summing up achievement
• Formative assessment is designed to provide information to students that they can act on to close the gap between where they are and where they need to be relative to the standard
• Understanding Assessment Tools

  • TEACHER-MADE ASSESSMENTS
  • LARGE-SCALE ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
  • STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
• Good Reasons for Teacher-Made Assessments

  • The teacher has monitored the learning experiences
  • Teacher assesses the learning based on what they taught
  • The teacher is familiar with the students and instruction
• Potential Uses and Limitations of Large-Scale Achievement Tests

  • Assess student performance according to district-wide and state-wide curricula
  • Monitor student achievement
  • Assess student aptitudes prior to high school graduation
• Strengths of Large-Scale Achievement Tests

  • Technical excellence in questions
  • Extensive technical data
  • Cost-efficiency
  • Easy-to-use data
  • Ease of administration and scoring
  • Customization
• Student-led conferences involve the student taking major responsibility for discussing and evaluating his or her current level of achievement
• Benefits of Student-Led Conferences

  • Students learn to take ownership for their learning
  • Communication among student, parents, and teacher is enhanced
• Categories and Item Types for Constructing Classroom Assessments

  • Short-answer, Matching Type, and True-False items
  • Multiple-Choice items
  • Interpretive items
  • Essay items
• Objective test items have a single best or correct answer; no professional judgment is required to score them
• Types of Objective Test Items

  • SELECTION Type
  • SUPPLY Type
• True-false questions are susceptible to guessing
• Matching Exercises


  • Variation on the true-false format
  • Assess mostly recall
  • Best use: Identify relationships within homogeneous material
• Short-answer and completion items require the student to provide a word, phrase, or symbol
• Multiple-choice items are considered the most useful objective test item
• Column A


  • Has no answer at the time
  • Makes discussion proceed
• Column B


  • factual
  • probing
• SHORT-ANSWER and COMPLETION ITEMS


  These are supply-type rather than selection-type items<|>Generally require the student to provide a word, phrase, or symbol<|>Completion items can measure comprehension level