Introduction:
Assessment is one of the crucial components of the education. Traditional exams and tests are mostly based on materials taught in the course to meet predetermined objectives. They cannot assess whether or not learners can apply it. To truly understand some new ideas, students need to apply it. My experience as an English teacher provides some ideas to frame my discussion of assessment. Although many teachers think that the scores of the exams and the tests are objective and cannot be wrong, I think that these scores are uncertain they need to be supplemented by some other assessments. Traditional assessments in their summative and formative forms such as tests, quizzes or exams are often graded and returned back to the students. Unfortunately, the grades become more important than the learning itself. Most of the students care about the number or the letter that is written on the top of the paper. Although some of the teachers provide comments and feedback associated with the score, but the students assume that what matters in the end is the number or letter grade because it is the only measure. Furthermore, assessment is a complex but fundamental process that must be based upon a well designed network of practices. A single assessment cannot completely describe and measure what a student has learned or understood. Consequently, associating the traditional assessment with certain alternative assessments could create better learning environment and enhance the learning-teaching process for both learners and teachers though engaging the learners directly in different stages of this process. In fact, some research addresses the benefits of providing the students with an active role in taking the responsibility of l...
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...thout grading it, and then gives it back to the students to evaluate their work according to a rubric (see appendix 2), and return it back to the teacher. This procedure is repeated before and after every formative test. At the end of the course, the learners fill in a survey questionnaire to understand the feasibility of the self assessment and tell about their experience. Interviews with some learners are done to clarify some obscure aspects. The teacher’s first evaluation is taken into consideration to drive the conclusion of the research. The results of their placement test are compared to their results of the summative test. The data collected from the questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively by using SPSS program. While the data collected from the interviews is analyzed qualitatively. All these data is completed by observing the students and their changes.
The tools and techniques used are comprehensive which helps assess a learner’s development in the area of learning like the ability to understand, analysis, and apply knowledge acquired through creative process that are evaluated. The evaluation section was divided into two broad categories Scholastic that looked at the areas which were subject specific and Co-Scholastic that included activities that were co-curricular like life skills, attitudes and values. The Scholastic evaluations was divided into Summative assessment to help analyse how much the students have learned after teaching through various medium like multiple choice questions, long and short answers , match the following , fill in the blanks and understanding diagrams in science and Formative assessment were to evaluate the students everyday learning situations during teaching to help identify gaps which help provide feedback to teachers to be able take remedial action through the use of various tools like observation, document analysis ,peer reviews ,self-assessment ,tests and implementation of various techniques like projects ,assignments , activities , making of posters ,charts ,collages ,group discussions and seminars. While the life skills activities looked at enhancing the thinking, social and emotional skills, the summative assessment looked at assessing skills like teamwork
Quizzes are also a valuable tool to use after a lesson, to help measure where the students are in the material covered. These quizzes are corrected but the grades are not recorded, they are used only so the students can know how well they did. After quizzes are given,...
Assessments have always been a tool for teachers to assess mastery and for a long time it was just to provide a grade and enter it into the grade book or report card. Through resources in and out of the course, there has been a breath of new life into the research on how to use assessments. They take many forms and fall within the summative or formative assessment category. Sloan (2016) addresses how formative assessments has traditionally been used by teachers to modify instruction, but when we focus on a classroom that is learner-centered “it becomes assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning” (slide 4). The fact is, the students are the ones that should be and are the ones using the data we collect through assessments, since it is our way of providing feedback in order
In the article Seven Practices for Effective Learning by Jay McTighe and Ken O’Connor, several assessment and grading practices are presented. Characteristics of summative, diagnostic, and formative assessments are outlined. Based on these categories, descriptions of each practice is provided and compared with other typical forms of assessment typically used by teachers in the category. Justifications of how and why the practices enhance student achievement are also revealed.
“Assessment is one of the most effective instructional strategies to increase learning.” (Edutopia)When teachers think about assessment quality, they often focus on the accuracy of the instrument itself- the scope of which the assessment item tasks and scoring rubrics produce accurate information. It is imperative to use the different testing technique to improve learning. By taking tests, students can establish that they are independently capable of expressing their understanding of the material. I will have an opportunity to analyze each student's understanding and ability to apply learned information. I can then decide whether the
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
There are two main ways of evaluating a student’s work: objective tests and essay questions. Objective testing places emphasis on a precise, efficient focus on a student’s knowledge of defined variables (Kopeikin, 2000). That is, a teacher can use this format to measure a specific amount of a student’s knowledge. This can include multiple-choice, matching, true-false, and fill in the blank formats of testing. These kinds of testing are best used for checking whether students have learned facts and routine procedures that have one, clearly correct answer. In some subjects, carefully written test questions with planned outcomes can accurately distinguish students who grasp a basic concept from those who do not (Fairtest, 98?). With multiple-choice questions, a teacher can strategically place answer choices in a manner that will best evaluate what her students have...
A major controversy within the world of education is the type of role which assessments should play in the elementary classroom. The dispute whether tests should be the main form in which students are assessed is widely deliberated. Students who are just getting adjusted to school are thrown into standardized test in second grade and are expected to take math quizzes in grades as young as kindergarten. Is this overly stimulating students to the world of testing or is this what they need in order to succeed? The argument can be contested on either side, but in reality, students at these young ages should not have their grades weighed most heavily on results of their tests. There are many other effective ways in order to determine a student’s
Assessment, in the context of education, was defined by Lambert, D (2000, pag 4) as the processs of gathering, recording and using information about pupils' responses to educational tasks. Despite some can consider that assessment is separated from the learning process, assessment is, in fact, an essential part of the learning proccess. Maguire, M. and Dillon, J. (2007, pag 213) pointed out that assessment is intrincately bound-up in the teaching-learning cycle.
in recent years the view toward educational assessment changed noticeably. Assessment and student learning showed inseparable
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...
Assessment is an integral part of any language program. Assessment defines what students regard as important, how they spend their time and how they come to see themselves as students and then as graduates. It is a major concern of those who learn, those who teach and those who are responsible for the development and accreditation of courses. In the area of language learning and teaching, teachers usually correct the learners. However, rarely do these corrections lead to further improvement, especially in productive, skills. Sometimes, the teacher asks the students to correct or, more generally, assess their classmates, but, again, there is no significant development on the part of the learner being assessed in most cases ( Huetra – Marcias
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.
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
In the teaching profession, assessment is one of the most important things that teachers need to know. Not only to know the assessment itself, but also the critical elements of it. Chueachot, Srisa-ard, and Srihamongkol (2013) stated that Assessment for learning in elementary classroom is a concept that aims to stimulate self-learning and development among the student via assessment model. In addition, the authors came up with a conclusion of assessment for learning in elementary school that can be divided into two stages, each with 3 steps, altogether 6 steps: First stage of assessment, The planning stage is composed of (1) define assessment objectives and what students need to achieve (2) define