Assessment and evaluation stand as foundational pillars within the educational sphere, serving as crucial components for educators, learners, policymakers, curriculum designers, and all stakeholders alike. A profound understanding and how to master their effective application of these concepts are paramount for enriched teaching and learning experiences and ultimately achieving educational excellence.
What is Assessment in general terms?
Assessment: Is the process of obtaining information that is used for making decisions about students, curricula, programs, and educational policy. It includes the full range of procedures used to gain information about student learning. These procedures may be formal (pencil and paper tests) or informal (observations). Its purpose is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of learners to enable teachers to ascertain their response to instructions. Certain concepts and terms are associated with assessment. These include tests, measurement, and evaluation.
Purposes, Reasons, or Why We Assess?
Assessment provides information for decisions about students, curricula and programs, and educational policy. These decisions are:
- Instructional Management decisions
- Selection decisions
- Placement decisions
- Counseling and Guidance decisions (diagnostic)
- Credentialing and Certification decisions
For Communication Purposes, assessment provides the following;
- Teacher: feedback on his/her teaching
- Learner: feedback on his/her learning
- Curriculum designer: feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of the curriculum
- District, Regional, and National Education directorate: feedback on the resources used
Profile Dimension for Assessment
A ‘dimension’ is a psychological unit for describing a particular learning behavior. More than one dimension constitutes a profile of dimensions.
- Knowledge (Being able to ‘describe’ something after the instruction has been completed means that the pupil has acquired ‘knowledge’)
- Understanding (Being able to explain, summarize, give examples, etc. means that the pupil has understood the lesson taught)
- Application (Being able to develop, plan, solve problems, construct, etc. means that the pupil can ‘apply’)
- Attitudes and Value Modification (Being able to change in attitudes and values)
Forms of Class or Pupil’s Assessment
- Class exercises
- Class tests
- Project work
- End-of-Term Examinations
- Mock Examinations
- Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) and West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE)
Know These Common Terms in Assessment
Rubrics serve as a set of criteria or guidelines utilized for assessing the quality of work produced by learners.
- Process assessment evaluates the underlying processes involved in undertaking a task.
- Convergent assessment entails assessment types that restrict responses to a single correct answer, emphasizing precision and accuracy.
- Product assessment centers on appraising the final output or end results of a task.
- Divergent assessment encompasses assessment types that accommodate a variety of correct answers, encouraging creative thinking and exploration.
TYPES OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment has two main types. They are;
Formative assessment: It is the process of judging the worth of teaching and learning constantly during the period of instruction. It requires the gathering of detailed information on frequent occasions through such means as teacher observations, classroom questions, home assignments and short tests or quizzes. The main purpose is to provide feedback to both the teacher and the learner about progress being made and intended to provide remedial teaching to leaners.
Summative assessment: It is the process of judging the worth of teaching and learning at the end of the period of instruction or program. It is judgmental in nature. It attempts to determine to what extent the broad objectives of teaching and learning have been attained. It uses Examinations, Projects, and Presentation of Portfolios.
Other Forms of Assessment
ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING (AaL)
Assessment as learning is a form of assessment in which the teacher allows learners to engage before the start of a lesson. For instance, at the beginning of a lesson, the teacher enables learners to predict what they hope to achieve by the end of the lesson. The teacher then compares learners’ answers with the objectives he intends to impart to them. This approach involves learners in the teaching/learning process, encouraging them to reflect on their learning expectations. The information provided by learners forms the basis for refining teaching/learning strategies, empowering learners to take responsibility for their own learning and improve their performance.
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING (AfL)
Assessment for learning occurs when the assessment is aimed at identifying learners’ weaknesses to initiate remedial teaching. This happens during the learning program and involves providing feedback throughout the teaching and learning process. Methods include question & answer sessions, homework, observation, and progress review meetings between the teacher and the learner. This type of assessment can occur before and/or during instruction. It is an approach used to monitor learners’ progress and achievement continuously. Teachers employ assessment for learning to gather and interpret evidence for timely feedback, refining their teaching strategies and improving learners’ performance. Assessment for learning is formative in nature
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING (AoL)
Assessment of learning occurs when the assessment is intended to provide grades to learners. This is summative assessment, describing the level of learners’ attainment over a period, indicating what they know and can do. The emphasis is on achieving the learner’s cumulative progress and achievement at the end of a program or course.
General Principles of Assessment
- Test developers need to clearly define the learning objectives to be assessed, aiding in the selection of appropriate assessment methods.
- The chosen assessment techniques should be in line with the learning objectives, prioritizing their effectiveness.
- Assessment methods should offer valuable feedback to learners, informing them about their progress towards the learning objectives.
- Utilizing multiple performance indicators enhances the thoroughness of assessment, providing a more comprehensive understanding of student achievement.
- It is important for users to acknowledge the limitations of assessment techniques and consider them when interpreting results.
- Assessment serves as a tool to inform decision-making processes, rather than being an end goal in itself.
- It is essential to ensure that interpretations and utilization of students’ assessment results are both appropriate and reliable, providing evidence to support these actions.
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
What is continuous assessment?
Continuous Assessment is a systematic method of appraising a pupil/student over a given period of schooling. This involves determining the overall progress that a pupil has made in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes after a prescribed set of learning experiences. These assessments could be conducted through teacher-made tests, standardized tests, interview schedules, questionnaires, project sheets, observation schedules, and checklists. Specific times should also be specified for recording the scores that students obtain on the appropriate forms. Continuous Assessment also helps in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of learners.
It is important to note that Continuous Assessment was introduced in Ghana in 1987 and was replaced by the School-Based Assessment (SBA) in 2008.
School-based assessment (SBA)
A new School Based Assessment system (SBA), formerly known as Continuous Assessment, was implemented in Ghana as part of the new Educational Reforms starting in September 2008. This initiative was undertaken by the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD), which is now known as the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA). The SBA is deemed highly effective for teaching and learning when implemented correctly. Its design aims to provide schools with an internal assessment system to achieve several purposes:
- Standardize the practice of internal school-based assessment across all schools in the country.
- Reduce assessment tasks for each primary school subject.
- Offer teachers guidelines for constructing assessment items/questions and other assessment tasks.
- Introduce standards of achievement for each subject and class level within the school system.
- Provide guidance on marking and grading test items/questions and other assessment tasks.
- Implement a moderation system to ensure the accuracy and reliability of teachers’ marks.
- Offer teachers advice on conducting remedial instruction for challenging areas of the syllabus to enhance pupil performance.
Marks obtained through the SBA should collectively constitute 60 percent of the School Based Assessment component. The emphasis is on enhancing students’ learning by encouraging them to perform at a higher level. The SBA will thus comprise:
- End-of-month tests
- Homework assignments (specifically designed for SBA)
- Projects
Evaluation
Stufflebeam (1973) defined evaluation as “the process of obtaining, and providing useful information for judging decision alternatives”. The main concern of evaluation in the classroom is to arrive at a judgment on the worth or effectiveness of teaching and learning. Evaluation usually measures the effectiveness of a program or course or curriculum. Evaluation may either be formative or summative.
Formative evaluation: is the process of judging the worth of teaching and learning constantly during the period of instruction. It requires the gathering of detailed information on frequent occasions through such means as teacher observations, classroom questions, home assignments, and short tests or quizzes. The main purpose is to provide feedback to both the teacher and the learner about progress being made.
Summative evaluation: is the process of judging the worth of teaching and learning at the end of the period of instruction. It is judgmental in nature. It attempts to determine to what extent the broad objectives of teaching and learning have been attained.
Subscribe to gheducate.com for more credible information and updates
