10 Assessment Scriptures

10 Assessment Scriptures

            Nothing we do to, or for our students is more important than our assessment of their work and the feedback we give them on it. The results of our assessment influence students for the rest of their lives (Race, 2005). According to Washtenaw Community College (2015) assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information to increase students' learning and development. Through a variety of measures, students are assessed to determine whether or not they are achieving the learning outcomes that faculty have determined for their courses and programs. 

            Assessment helps most specially the teachers to be able to know if they are teaching what they are supposed to teach, to know what are the strengths and weaknesses of the learner and also to help the teachers to know how they will supposed to teach for them to be an effective teacher in the field cited by (Edutophia, 2008). Assessment is a very crucial role to the part of the teachers it’s because all the decisions that the teacher will make; on how the teacher will teach and care the learner will vary with the kind of assessment the teachers will utilize (Morrison, 2010). To have an effective teaching and learning process here are the 10 Assessment Scriptures that can help the teachers to utilize appropriate and reliable assessment;

Secrets unfold 

            In assessment, transparency is necessary for assessing students because Information that will be gathered in assessment will be more meaningful and understandable when it is contextualized and a touch to its goals for student learning ( Jankowski, 2013)and not hidden to them.

            Student must know what is included or excluded in the test, the criteria prior to the assessment and the strategies and formats in assessment.

Create Time Intervals

               Adequate time opportunities for all students are needed in a fair assessment.

            Assessment has a vital role to play in measuring and evaluating student learning and achievement, the continued reliance on one‐time testing diverts attention away from content and the substance of what is being taught. And as a result students became not prepared in engaging the assessment that is offered for them.

            In common with other assessment purposes, an assessment must have the quality of having the resources required to provide it – teachers’ time, expertise and cost, and pupils’ learning time – should be commensurate with the value of the information for its users.(Harlen, 2003).

Remember early prerequisite pointers 

            A good communication of pointers leads to a fair assessment success.

            Pointers help educators to determine the student skill gaps. It works on mapping the coverage of the assessment to uncover the prerequisite skills students don’t have.  by this information, an individual generates  learning plan, saving teachers time and giving every student resources for learning more.

Irrelevant assessment we don’t need

            Academic assessment should assess both knowledge and skills.  When formulating an assessment tasks, it is important that it the activity will suit the skills you want the student to develop.  In addition, they should set an objectives that will say ‘real purpose’ behind the task and that there is a sense of a ‘real audience’ in relevance.(Queen’s University Belfast, 2015).

Provide clear assessment instruction 

         In assessment there should be an alignment between assessment instructions and learning experiences of the students in their given learning tasks. student  must understand the assessment process  facilitated by clear explanations of the assessment tasks and how the assessment tasks relates to the learning outcomes, the criteria and the set standards  which students will be assessed.(allen, p. et. Al. (2007) cited by Cordiner (2011).

Thou shall not be Bias

            When you conduct an assessment to your pupils you should avoid Bias, Educational tests are considered biased if a test design, or the way results are interpreted and used, systematically disadvantages certain groups of students over others, such as students of color, students from lower-income backgrounds, students who are not proficient in the English language, or students who are not fluent in certain cultural customs and traditions (Abbott, 2014). According to O’Niel, sometimes we are not aware that we are bias because there are times that these bias are hidden but sometimes obvious and sometimes we do not know what are these bias. There are two forms of Bias;

            Offensiveness – happens if the test takers get distressed, upset or distracted about how an individual or a particular group is portrayed in the test and;

            Unfair Penalization – harm students’ performance due to the test content not because items are offensive but, rather, the content caters to some particular groups from the same economy.

            In order for your assessment to be credible and reliable you should make an assessment that is not bias.

Understanding and vocabulary of the pupils we shall consider

            We should make a test that is appropriate to the level of understanding and vocabulary of the pupils, make sure that the questions and instructions are understandable and answerable to the capacity that learner can give (Stahl & Bravo, 2010). 

            There are many instances that the learners has a wide range of learning in the said subject matter but the learner cannot understand the questions written in the test, how can the learner measure his/her capacity if the assessment is not reliable and credible and how can the teacher measure the true outcome and performance of the learner in that situation. So imagine how the learning of the pupil was wasted by an unappropriate assessment. So in every assessment that we will conduct we should use only appropriate words that they can understand for it – the learning of the learner, not to be wasted (Assessment tools & Strategies, 2012)

Restore who are in need

            Teaching diverse student population is a very big challenge for the teachers because we cannot deny the fact that there is 1 or more pupil in every classroom that has special needs or shall we say needs special attention. Teachers should consider the capability of the learner in order to measure appropriate learning outcome of the said learner (Luke & Schwartz, 2010). So these are some recommendations on how the teacher will accommodate the learners who has special needs:

·                   Presentation – repeat directions, read-aloud, use large prints.

·                 Response – mark answers in the test booklet, permits responses by a digital recorder or computer, use reference materials like dictionary.

·                  Timing – give an extended time, frequent breaks, and unlimited time.

·            Scheduling – give a specific time and day, subtest in different order, administer test in several time sections.

·                    Others – special test preparation techniques and out of level test.

            By these teachers can now assess the learners with special needs appropriately and measuring there learning outcomes and academic performance with credibility and reliability.

Effective and reliable assessment tools must be used

            The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning (Growing Success, 2010). If this is so, then we may do extending our capacities in calculating the scores which the pupils have achieved or the grade alone, but by waiting them learn to love learning for better, effective and reliable assessment.

            The use of effective and reliable assessment brings about motivation in the teaching-learning process. Thus, the learners feel more interested in assessing themselves.

“ to nurture healthy motivation, it is important to have an effective assessment” (Banta, Jones & Black, 2009) 

Stop Stereotyping

                Stereotyping is not limited to those who are biased. We all are stereotypes all the time. They are a kind of mental shortcuts (Murphy, 2012). Stereotyping has been crucial to our community, adding some odds of my more like a crab mentality or dragging someone down. We may be stereotyping at times, but we can prevent it through looking at the positive side and being an optimistic one. Though, this kind of mentality still causes some troubles. According to Can We Prevent Stereotypes (2014), we should learn to recognize and avoid generalizations. People usually jumps to conclusion without seeing the problems themselves, thus making generalizations which are wrong and perceive as mistakes.

References:

          Race, P. (2005). Engage in Assessment. University of reading. October 26, 2015 Retrieved from https://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinassessment/why-is-assessment-important/eia-why-is-assessment-important.aspx.

          Washtenaw Community College. (2015). Curriculum & Assessment: Assessment and it’s importance. October 26, 2015 retrieved from http://www4.wccnet.edu/departments/curriculum/assessment.php?levelone=importance.

          Edutophia. (2008). Designing Learning that Matters: Why is Assessment Important?. October 27, 2015 retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-guide-importance.

          Morrison, G. S. (2010). Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education: Why is Assessment Important?. October 27, 2015 retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/why-assessment-important/.

          O’Neil, C. (nd). The Reflective Educator: Bias in Assessment. October 27, 2015 retrieved from http://davidwees.com/content/bias-assessment/.

           Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum.

           Dougherty Stahl, K.A., & Bravo, M.A. (2010, April). Contemporary Classroom Vocabulary Assessment for Content Areas. The Reading Teacher, 63 (7), 566–578. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.7.4. October 27, 2015 retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/classroom-vocabulary-assessment-content-areas.

           Luke, S. D. & Schwartz A. (2010). Evidence for Education: Assessment and Accomodations, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2007. October 27, 2015 retrieved from http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/assessment-accommodations/.

          Jankowski, n. (2013) General Education Outcomes and NILOA’s Transparency Framework.(2013)Retrivedfrom,http://www.learningoutcomesassessment.org/Presentations/AACUGenEdTrans.pdf

          Harlen, W. (2003) The Role of The Teachers in Assessment of Learning. September, 2003. Retrived from, http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/.

          NWEA,ASSESSMENT Skills Pointer Promoting Academic Success,(nd) retrived from, https://www.nwea.org.

          Queen’s University Belfast, 2015. Principles of Assessment (2015). Retrived from, https://www.qub.ac.uk.

          Cordiner, M.(2011) Good Assessment Process.(20011) retrived from, http://www.teaching-learning.utas.edu.au/

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO INDUSTRY

          Education brings great benefits to mankind, it"s society’s primary needs. It’s a great investment that we should invest with.  It’s primordial role is to improve, innovate and produce well equipped human being that would be able to perform well in the labor market.

                

       In Education, teachers are not just responsible for delivering Instructions, but also gathering informations about the efficacy of their Instructional strategies. It is called Assessment, it is an act or process of collecting and interpreting information about the student’s performances. Assessment is very important for teachers and also to the industry, through the collected informations of the teachers from the students the industry would able to identify educational material needs of the school in order to deliver the instructions effectively, the industry would able to create and innovate new educational materials for the learning needs of the students, the industry would able to supply of Instructional materials that would be useful for teachers in delivering their lessons. It’s the greatest relevance of assessment to the industry, because the school is the consumer, and the industry is the provider.

        Education and industry supports each other. Education provides well equipped human that would be a great asset to the labor market of the industry while industry create something that has a great value and use to the mankind and especially for the development of education.

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO ADMINISTRATORS AND STAFFS

Administration and program staff also plays a role in assessment. Assessment is the process where in we gather or collect information about student’s learning.

Assessment tools are the guide of administrators and public staff. Assessment doesn’t end with teachers alone. Administrators and staff are also concern to the results of the assessment.

Through this they can be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Hence, they can create more effective styles that could improve the teaching quality of the teachers.

Quality education can be achieve through evaluation conducted in a particular school.

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO TEACHERS

              Assessment brings about the ways of giving interpretation to the performance of the learners. Thus, it helps in determining the intellectual progress and, too, to monitor the physical development of the learners as a whole. Assessment provide evidence of the improvement of the individuals.

                Since the establishment of education systems, teachers frequently do assessment to monitor the learning process of their learners. Assessments are considered as instructional practices that provide information to cater the learning needs. Moreover, assessments reveal if the teaching methods and strategies, and approaches of the teachers are effective enough for the learning process of the learners. As such, ways to measure and evaluate their progress through having assessment tools.

                And since assessments are to diagnose learners’ weaknesses and strengths, determine learner’s performance and mediate the teaching and learning process, assessment draw directions on how the teachers are able to help their learners. Indeed, assessment is a vital page in education and a partner to teachers for learners improvement required for the development of teaching learning process.

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO STUDENTS

                

               Students/ learners are the main focused and the most concerned with the assessment. It is really designed for them in order to be guided in their learning process. Assessment is a really big necessary for them.

                Students are becoming actively engaged in the learning process. They are really the subject in assessment in order for them to assess them on what are the things they need. Assessment of student learning is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves setting goals and standards for student learning and then systematically gathering and analyzing evidence to determine how well student performance matches those expectations and standards. Through assessment, better learning performance will be achieved.

                This would also help the students to motivate themselves in performing at their maximum level to achieve the standard of their learning.

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO POLICY MAKERS

Many assessment debates are popping-out such as, How assessment might best support learning and teaching? and, How assessment is use to provide information on the progress of learner, school, and country? These are some of the questions that needs evidences that will prove that assessment is important.

Assessment plays a vital role for the progress and effectiveness of different educational methods, it is being used to determine what is needed and fill what is lacking in the educational services, it's result will help to solve the dynamic needs of the learners and may help to address the solutions that is suitable for the better development of the school can offer.

Policy makers needs assessment results to do their duty to play a significant part in the field of educational system as every components in the system gets implemented on the basis of their decisions. The role of the policy makers includes the monitoring of the school size, class size, school choice, school privatization, tracking, teacher education and certification, teacher pay, teaching methods, curricular content, graduation requirements, school infrastructure investment and the values that schools are expected to uphold and model, but because of the dynamic needs of the learner, policy makers needs to adjust things and create new policies that will fill the needs of the learners succeed to bring the best education that our time demands.

Policy maker needs to assessment for them to determine what is the solution to be done to supply the demand of the dynamic needs of the learners because, policy makers also needs to make clear in analyzing educational policies for them to achieve the goal of giving better education for the students to help them reach their profession and innovate teachers as a competitive professionals that is capable of making their class room as dynamic as the world around us.

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RELEVANCE OF ASSESSMENT TO PARENTS

          Assessment is a critical aspect of planning an educational program for a child. Yet most parents of children with visual impairments will find this process to be one of the most difficult and stressful ones that they encounter. Assessment is something that occurs regularly, and will often form a basis for long-term decisions about their child. It is important that parents develop their own skills in understanding the process and providing relevant information to the teachers who is conducting assessment.

          It is difficult for parents to see the advantages of formalized assessment in addition to that conducted in the classroom. When the need for additional assessments is discussed, parents often are not sure how they feel about the issue. The assessments are sometimes seen as a way to add undesired additional disabilities and part of a discriminatory process that further increases the isolation of their child. It is important that teams make a realistic appraisal of the advantages of the assessment process.

          The final reason for assessment, and the one most often feared by a parent, is an assessment requested to explore the possibility of an additional disability. This is difficult for parents especially if that additional disability may be significantly impacting learning in a number of areas. Parents need information about assessment and decision-making processes to be communicated effectively to them in ways that they understand.

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