Refresher Course for Licensure Examinations for Teachers: Assessment of Learning

 I.  BASIC CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT

MEASUREMENT

• The use of tools or instruments to provide a quantitative description of the progress of students toward desirable educational goals
• A process of quantifying the degree to which someone/something possess a given trait

TEST OR TESTING

• A systematic procedure to determine the presence or absence of certain characteristics or qualities in a learner
• An instrument designed to measure any characteristics, quality, ability, knowledge or skills.
• Comprised of items in the area it is designed to measure

ASSESSMENT

• The process of interpreting the measurement data
• A process of gathering and organizing quantitative or qualitative data into an interpretable form to have a basis for judgment or decision making

EVALUATION

• Implies that measurement and assessment of an educational characteristic had been done and that it is now desired to pass a value judgment on the educational outcome by comparing results with predetermined criteria or objectives.
• Provides a tool for determining the extent to which educational process or program is effective and indicates directions for remediating processes of the curriculum that do not contribute to successful student performance

Types of Measurement

a) Objective measurement

• More stable since repeated measurements of the same quantity or quality of interest produce more or less the same outcome
• Do not depend on the person or individual taking the measurements

b) Subjective measurement

• Are used in certain facets of the quantity or quality of interest that cannot be successfully captured by objective measures
• Often differ from one assessor to the next even if the same quantity or quality is being measured

Forms/Kinds of Assessment

1. Traditional Assessment

• Refers the use of paper-and-pencil test

2. Alternative Assessment

• Refers to the use of methods other than pen-and-paper objective test which includes performance test, projects, portfolios, journals and the like.

3. Authentic Assessment

• Refers to the use of assessment methods that simulate true-to-life situations
• This could be objective tests that reflect real life situations or alternative methods that are parallel to what we experience in real life

Roles of Assessment

a) Diagnostic

• Determines the gaps in learning or learning processes and hopefully to be able to bridge these gaps
• Used to determine students’ recurring or persistent difficulties
• Searches for the underlying causes of student’s learning problems that do not respond to first aid treatment
• Helps formulate a plan for detailed remedial instruction

b) Formative 

• Allows the teacher to redirect and refocus the course of teaching a subject matter
• Teachers continuously monitor the student’s level of attainment of the learning objectives
• The results are communicated clearly and promptly to the students for them to know their strengths and weaknesses and the progress of their learning

c) Summative

• Determines the extent to which the learning objectives are met and why
• Used to certify what students know and can do and  the level of their proficiency or competency
• Reveals whether or not instructions have successfully achieved the curriculum outcomes
• Paves the way for educational reforms

d) Placement

• Determines the appropriate placement of a student both in terms of achievement and aptitude
• Assess the needs of the learners to have basis in planning for relevant instruction
• Used to know what the students are bringing into the learning situation and use this as a starting point for instruction