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Importance of assessment in teaching and learning
The importance of assessment in education
Roles of teachers in evaluation
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Recommended: Importance of assessment in teaching and learning
1. Assessment is a process that aims at setting certain goals and standards that the teacher needs to meet during the teaching process and thereafter gather and analyze evidence from the feedback realized from the students to determine if the performance by the students matches the expected goals and standards. Evaluation is a process of collecting data and analyzing it in order to establish if there are any strengths and weaknesses in the strategies in the teaching process. I found the link between testing, assessing and teaching most relevant to me. This is because they all supplement and depend on each other. Good testing strategies assists the teacher assessing the usefulness of the strategies and consequently affects the approach the teacher has towards teaching. If the assessment shows the strategies are good, the teacher will keep the strategies and if they seem not to yield whatever goals he had, he will abandon them. I found the different types of assessments in this reading most enlightening. Often, people think that all assessments have the same goal but this perception is wrong as seen in this reading. Formal assessments use data to make conclusions from a test. For example, results from a test may make the teacher conclude that a student is reading below average in a certain area. Informal assessments concentrate on the content and are not data driven. The difference between the two types of assessment are important because they determine the purpose of assessment. Formative assessment is assessment that takes place as the unit of instruction goes on in order to monitor ongoing progress for example in the middle of a lesson. The teacher is able to realize immediately any weaknesses in the students. Summative assessmen...
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...ls provided by the author to produce and interpret valid data in order to make good decisions in the classroom.
5. New terms learnt are,
• Criterion referenced assessment: this is an assessment that compares a learner to other students. For example comparing the scores of a student with those of other students in the same class.
• Analytic scoring: it is a type of scoring that separates the scoring strategies into categories observed one at a time. For example, the teacher looks at grammar, clarity, and so on.
• Assessment literacy: this is the knowledge of principles that guide assessment. This includes methodologies and techniques.
• Cohort: this is a group that goes through observation over time and its progress measured.
• High stakes testing: this is a program of testing where the results are of important outcomes to the learners and the teachers.
Elwood, J. (2006). Formative assessment: possibilities, boundaries and limitations. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 215-232, doi:10.1080/09695940600708653
Formative Assessment is used in any classroom to check students understanding of a topic. The type of formative assessment used in each classroom is different, depending on the teacher and the student’s needs. Teachers should incorporate a variety of formative assessments to truly see if students are learning. Dixson and Worrell describe formative assessment as gathering data to improve student learning. They are correct, but teachers also need to provide students with feedback.
Assessment is the process of observing, recording and documenting a child’s actions and behavior to measure a child’s development. Assessment is an essential part of teaching and educating, because it can provide a record of cognitive, physical/motor, and language development. Records of this documentation can help identify strengths and weaknesses of the child as well as a helpful tool for the families to see the development of their child. There are different types of methods to use for assessment. Observations, portfolios and standardized test are some of the methods I would incorporate in my teaching. An observation is simply observing what the child is doing and recording what you see. A portfolio is a folder filled with different recorded
EDAHOD5: The Teacher as an Assessor Assignment 1: Establishing guidelines that can be used to plan an assessment activity Bronwyn Huber, Student Number 58127550 Table of Contents Question 1 3 Question 1 When planning an assessment, it is important that certain guidelines are followed in order to create an assessment that is fair. I have made use of the prescribed textbook as well as the CAPS document to formulate ten guidelines that are used to prepare assessment activities in my subject. The guidelines have been placed into the table below as well as a brief description/explanation of each. Guideline Description/ Explanation 1) The type of questions and scope must be sufficient and cover the spread of work done
Although somewhat vague compared to summative assessment, several key features help frame formative assessment. First, formative assessment happens while learning is taking place as opposed to at the end of content delivery. Rather, this is considered “assessment for learning,” (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012, pg. 5). The format is formal or informal, but the outcome in its use is an in-progress check of what students know and what students do not know. Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, and Arter (2012) define formative assessment as, “Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning,” (pg. 24). Second, this type of assessment is used to make instructional strategy adjustments. If student learning did not happen via one instructional method, the teacher must make the necessary accommodations to reteach the concept or skill. Next, it is not only used by teachers for feedback on instruction, but formative assessment is also used for providing timely, descriptive feedback to students and extends to allow for student self-assessment (Chappuis, J., Stiggins, Chappuis, S., & Arter, 2012; Popham, 2008). Formative assessment provides opportunity to provide specific feedback to students on where they are currently in their learning, and where they should be headed.
However, a formative assessment is ongoing and is used to check for students’ understanding throughout a lesson. Both work samples “matched learning objectives” and I was able to identify the students’ strength and weaknesses. I was also able to “analyze assessment data to understand patterns and gaps in learning” to guide my future instructions. In the word problem assessment, I recognized where the student was struggling and gave “effective and descriptive feedback” to address the area that she needs work in.
In the context of education, testing refers to “a method to determine a student’s ability to complete certain tasks or demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge” (Danuri 2012). Assessment is “the process of gathering information to monitor progress and make any decisions necessary” regarding curriculum and teaching (Danuri 2012). Assessment is a process that measures growth over time whereas testing is a form of evaluating what a student knows at...
There are different methods and uses of assessment that are used in the Education system, the reason for this, is that not all assessments serve the same purpose for its methodologies, the feedback that learners receive needs to correspond with the purpose of the assessment. (Sieborger, 1998)Thus educators tend to make use of multiple assessments to establish a fair and just measurement of the learner’s capability. This essay will extensively describe and analyse the tensions between the two methods of assessment: Summative assessment and Formative assessment and further reflect on their ability to integrate.
Regular use of formative assessment improves student learning as instruction can be adjusted based on students’ progress and teachers are able to modify instructions to cater to students’ individual needs (Black & Wiliam, 2010; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Various forms of informal and formal formative assessment methods are conducted as learning takes place, continuously through teacher observations, questioning through individual interactions, group discussions and open-ended tasks (McMillan, 2011). tests can tell us a lot about students and be used to inform and guide teaching, rather than simply to determine grades. Teachers can learn a lot from test results if they analyse the data generated to inform their teaching and learning programs (Perso, 2009). However, high stakes tests may result in students becoming stressed, leading to misreading questions, careless working and incomplete answers (Booker et al., 2010).
Today teachers have various forms of evaluating the students before taking a performance test as ISTEP or ACT. The evaluation, falls into two categories known as formal or informal. Formal assessments have data to defend the conclusions made from the exam; these tests usually are referred to as a standardized test, (Noyce 2011). For example, the SAT is a performance test, meaning it is testing everything a student has learned up until that point in time. The SAT gathers information and gives a student the score, the score then determines acceptance into college as well as some financial aid. This is a big deal because it determines where the student will go and what profession they could go into. It is even harder for those learning English as a second language. According to the Journal of International students, 63% of students admit they have problem reading and ...
Assessments are according to Edglossary.org (2014), “the wide variety of methods that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning process, and skill acquisition of students”. Assessments can be used to identify several important aspects of learning and development. First, they can be used to distinguish a child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as measure specific knowledge and skills. Assessments can also be used to demonstrate what a child has learned and what they understand (“Assessment,” 2014). My opinion of assessment has not changed; however, now I understand how to use assessments that will help ensure that I am providing the most benefits for my students.
Assessments allow for teachers to monitor the progress and growth of his/her students, help engage students and help guide teachers as well as students in their decision making. Teachers should know that tests are not the only way to assess students in the classroom. It is important for educators constantly assess their students on comprehension and progression.Teachers can take use of both formal and informal assessments so that they can engage students in their own learning, as well as monitor their comprehension and progress.
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.