The
Importance of Assessment and Evaluation
Hazel Mae Salim
In education, assessment
and evaluation are essential to improve students’ learning. These approaches also
play an important role for measuring the effectiveness of teaching-learning
process. On the first hand, assessment is a process where teachers
seek and use evidence to decide where learners are in their learning, where
they need to go, and how best to get there. In addition, Assessment is used to
take a closer look at the progress of learners and to collect information and
evidence about their learning and the teaching process. This includes engaging
in an ongoing dialog to gather inputs and feedback from the learners and
providing them with critical feedback that is helpful towards meeting the
learning outcomes. In that sense, the primary purpose of assessment is to
improve both the learners’ learning as well as the facilitator’s
teaching. On the other hand, evaluation is used to make a judgment or put a
value to the learning and the achievement of the outcomes based on established
criteria. Once we provide value to the learning, we can then make key decisions
about providing inputs and feedback to improve performance or consider other
steps such as providing additional inputs and resources to further enrich the
learning. In addition, evaluation plays
an enormous role in the teaching-learning process. It helps teachers and
learners to improve teaching and learning. Evaluation is a continuous process
and a periodic exercise. It helps in forming the values of judgment,
educational status, or achievement of student.
Formative and Summative
Assessment
Two key approaches in
assessing students are the formative and summative assessment:
Formative Assessment is to monitor
student learning and provide ongoing feedback to staff and students. It is
assessment for learning. If designed appropriately, it helps students identify
their strengths and weaknesses, can enable students to improve their
self-regulatory skills so that they manage their education in a less haphazard
fashion than is commonly found.
Summative Assessment is to evaluate
student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it
against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments often
have high stakes and are treated by the students as the priority over
formative assessments. However, feedback from summative assessments can be used
formatively by both students and faculty to guide their
efforts and activities in subsequent courses.
Data-Driven Decision
Making:
Data-driven decision-making can be a critical tool
to address resource disparities, enhance student success, and promote equitable
outcomes. Collecting and analyzing relevant data gives insights into student
performance, attendance patterns, disciplinary actions, and more. In
addition, Data-Driven
Decision Making is an approach widely accepted as best practice for designing
instruction and improving student learning outcomes. Data-driven instruction
allows teachers to utilize student data to inform and guide decisions about the
learning process and helps students gain a voice in their education. Moreover,
DDI holds schools accountable for the level of academic success of students and
how well they meet state and federal standards in education.
Rubrics and
Performance-Based Assessment
Methods in assessment
provide specific ways to evaluate student performance and learning outcomes. Here
are the two important methods in assessment:
1.
Rubric is an assessment tool that clearly
indicates achievement criteria across all the components of any kind of
student work, from written to oral to visual. It can be used for marking
assignments, class participation, or overall grades. There are two types of
rubrics: holistic and analytical.
A holistic rubric consists
of a single scale with all criteria to be included in the evaluation being
considered together (e.g., clarity, organization, and mechanics).
An
analytic rubric is one that explicitly breaks down
an assignment into its constitutive skills and provides students with
guidelines for what each performance level looks like for each skill.
2.
Performance-based assessment move beyond
multiple-choice and written tests in order to determine not only what students
know but how they apply their knowledge. Occasionally called authentic
assessments, performance assessments emphasize the importance of “real-world”
application. In addition, Performance-oriented performance assessments allow
students to interact with an audience to demonstrate their applied knowledge.
References:
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998).
Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles,
Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7-74.
Popham, W. J. (2014). Classroom
assessment: What teachers need to know (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Shepard, L. A. (2000). The role of
assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14.
Stiggins, R. J. (2005). From formative
assessment to assessment for learning: A path to success in standards-based
schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(4), 324-328.
Andrade, H. G. (2000).
Using rubrics to promote thinking and learning. Educational Leadership,
57(5), 13-18. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285750862_Using_rubrics_to_promote_thinking_and_learning
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