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/
0 comments:
Post a Comment