Concept of Assessment

 

Concept of Assessment

Definitions

·         Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning.  

·         Assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students.  It is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and using information to increase students’ learning and development.

The Purpose of Assessment

Seven purposes of assessment:

1.       To assist student learning. 

2.       To identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. 

3.       To assess the effectiveness of a particular instructional strategy. 

4.       To assess and improve the effectiveness of curriculum programs. 

5.       To assess and improve teaching effectiveness. 

6.       To provide data that assist in decision making 

7.       To communicate with and involve COI(Cultural Orientation Instruction). 

     Test:  The term test is the narrowest of the three terms, and may be defined as follows:

 “It is device or procedure for confronting a subject with a standard set of questions or tasks to which the student is to respond independently and the results of which can be treated in such a way as to provide a quantitative comparison of the performance of different students”.

The following are the important aspects of the definition:

• A test often implies the presentation of a standard set of questions to be answered or tasks to be performed.
• It is the student who does this and does it independently.
• The test results in a measure (a numerical value) of a characteristic of the students.
• The test provides a quantitative comparison of the performance of different students.
• It is a technique that yields only a verbal description.

MEASUREMENT:

     Measurement may be defined as “an act or a process that involves the assignment of a numerical index to whatever is being assessed”.

There are three types of measurement namely;

Nature of Educational Measurement:

• Measurement in education is quantitative-we set scores, norms, IQ’s average etc, all of which are numerical expressions.
• As we gain knowledge and experience in a field, our measurement techniques improve, the margin of error decreases, the result become more exact.
• Education measurement is generally indirect rather than direct.
• Educational measurements are relative; they are not in any sense absolute. There is no unit of achievement in arithmetic; no quite of school intelligence etc. standards in educational measurement are based on observed performance of typical subject.

EVALUATION:

     Evaluation is an act or a process that allows one to make a judgment about the desirability or a value of a measure.

Evaluation is a process of determining, obtaining and providing useful information for judging decision alternatives.

      Thus, the word “evaluation” refers to the act or process of determining the value of something.

The following are the important aspects (importance) of the definition:

1) Evaluation implies a systematic process, which omits the casual uncontrolled observation of pupils.

2) Evaluation is continuous process. In an ideal situation, the teaching-learning process on the one hand and the evaluation procedure on the other hand, go together. It is certainly a wrong belief that the evaluation procedure follows the teaching-learning process.

3) Evaluation emphasizes the broad personality changes and major objectives of an educational programme. It includes, attitudes interests and ideals, ways of thinking, work habits and personal and social adaptability.

4) Evaluation always assumes that educational objectives have previously been identified and defined.  This is the reason why teachers are expected not to lose sight of educational objectives while planning and carrying out teacher-learning process either in the classroom or outside it.

5) A comprehensive programme of evaluation involves the use of many procedures; a great variety of tests; and other necessary techniques.

6) Learning is more important that teaching. Teaching has no value, if it does not result in learning on the part of the pupils.

7) Objectives of learning experiences should be so relevant that ultimately, they should be so relevant that ultimately, they should direct the pupils towards the accomplishment of educational goals.

8) To assess the students and their complete development brought through education is evaluation.

9) Evaluation includes all the means of collecting evidence of student’s behaviors.

10) Evaluation is more concerned with the growth which the student has made, than with his status in the group.

11) Evaluation is continuous, an integral part of all training and testing.

12) Evaluation is descriptive as well as quantitative.

13) Evaluation is concerned with the total personality of the student and with gathering evidence on all aspects of personality development.

14) Evaluation is co-operative process involving students. Teachers and parents.

15) Evaluation is determination of the congruence between the performances of objectives.

    Evaluation= Measurement (qualitative and quantitative) + Value judgment.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION

MEASUREMENT	EVALUATION
1) Measurement is limited to quantitative descriptions of pupils’ behavior.	1) Evaluation includes both quantitative and     qualitative descriptions of pupils’ behavior.
2) It is used for identifications of progress     through the use of achievement tests.	2) It is used for identifications of major     Objectives for a curriculum.
3) It is concerned with how much?	3)  Concerned with the total personality of the Pupil.
4) It has a limited scope.	4) It has a wider scope.
5) It is not possible to realize the pupil’s behavior by measurement alone.	5) Through evaluations pupil’s behavior are to be realized.
6) It determines the present status of pupils in     a particular area.	6) Determines past, present and future progress of the pupil in a particular area or in various areas.
7) Construction of valid and reliable     measurement is not possible.	7) Construction of valid and reliable evaluation      Instrument is possible.
8) Measurement does not require the co- operation of students, teacher and parents.	8) Requires the co-operation of students, teachers and parents.
9) It describes a situation and not its worth or       Value.	9) It describes situations and judges its worth      Or value.

 

PROCESS OF EVALUATION

1) EVALUATION IS A CONTINUOUS ROCESS:  In order to make evaluation a tool of learning it has to be used more frequently as a part of teaching-learning activities. Since an individual grows all the time and acquires new behaviors, it becomes imperative that the desirability and adequacy of these behaviors be judged side by side. Making performance-assessment, a part of the teaching –learning activity can ensure this continuity. The more frequent the check-ups for regular feedback of student’s performance, the more continuous does the evaluation process become. Continuing of evaluation brings quality control into the process of learning. Therefore, evaluation should be made3 completely integrative with the teaching-learning process instead of being treated it as an end of the course activity.

2) EVALUATION IS A COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS: A pupil has different dimensions of growth-the intellectual, the emotional, the social and the physical. These aspects are represented in the form of cognitive, affective and psychomotor objectives. Apart from testing all possible objectives and content area, comprehensive evaluation involves the use of different tools and techniques to get different types of evidences on various aspects of evaluation. Evaluation, should therefore, be considered a comprehensive process.

3) EVALUATION IS A CO-OPERATIVE PROCESS: Since comprehensive evaluation seeks evidence on all aspects of pupil’s development, the teacher alone cannot get full evidence about his growth. To collect evidence-regarding social relationships, emotional behaviors, initiative, scientific attitude, social attitudes, likes and dislikes etc; we need the collaboration of pupils, his peers, his parents and all those teachers who watch him grow and develop. Therefore, for good evaluation the cooperation of different individuals and agencies is necessary and as such evaluation should be considered a cooperative process.

Guiding principles of evaluation

The principles of evaluation as suggested by Grim can be summarized as under:

(i) Evaluation takes into consideration the complete picture just as we consider the total personality of the child in learning.

(ii) For evaluation of the child an attempt is made to collect varied and relatively objective evidence.

(iii) Evaluation should enable the child to appraise himself.

(iv) For the success of evaluation process that teachers, parents, pupils, community, administration should participate in the process of evaluation.

(v) Evaluation must be a continuous and cumulative process.

(vi) Evaluation must be closely related to the guidance programme

Principles of Evaluation:

        Evaluation is a sys­tematic process of determining to what extent instructional ob­jectives has been achieved. Therefore, evaluation process must be carried out with effective techniques.

The following principles will help to make the evaluation process an effective one:

1. It must be clearly stated what is to be evaluated:

          A teacher must be clear about the purpose of evaluation. He must formulate the instructional objectives and define them clearly in terms of student’s observable behaviour. Before selecting the achievement measures the intended learning out comes must be specified clearly.

2. A variety of evaluation techniques should be used for a comprehensive evaluation:

          It is not possible to evaluate all the aspect of achievement with the help of a single technique. For the better evaluation the techniques like objective tests, essay tests, observational techniques etc. should be used. So that a complete’ picture of the pupil achievement and development can be assessed.

3. An evaluator should know the limitations of dif­ferent evaluation techniques:

         Evaluation can be done with the help of simple observation or highly developed standardized tests. But whatever the instrument or technique maybe it has its own limitation. There may be measurement errors. Sampling error is a common factor in educational and psychological meas­urements. An achievement test may not include the whole course content. Error in measurement can also be found due to students guessing on objective tests. Error is also found due to incorrect interpretation of test scores.

4. The technique of evaluation must be appropriate for the characteristics or performance to be measured:

       Every evaluation technique is appropriate for some uses and inap­propriate for another. Therefore while selecting an evaluation technique one must be well aware of the strength and limitations of the techniques.

5. Evaluation is a means to an end but not an end in itself:

        The evaluation technique is used to take decisions about the learner. It is not merely gathering data about the learner. Because blind collection of data is wastage of both time and effort. But the evaluation is meant for some useful purpose.

Functions of Evaluation:

        The main aim of teaching learning process is to enable the pupil to achieve intended learning outcomes. In this process the learning objectives are fixed then after the instruction learning progress is periodically evaluated by tests and other evaluation devices.

The function of evaluation process can be summarized as following: 

1. Evaluation helps in preparing instructional objec­tives:

        Learning outcomes expected from class-room discussion can be fixed by using evaluation results.

What type of knowledge and understanding the student should develop?

What skill they should display?

What interest and attitude they should develop?

Can only be possible when we shall identify the instructional objectives and state them clearly in terms of intended learning outcomes. Only a good evaluation process helps us to fix up a set of perfect instructional objectives.

2. Evaluation process helps in assessing the learner’s needs:

        In the teaching learning process it is very much necessary to know the needs of the learners. The instructor must know the knowledge and skills to be mastered by the students. Evaluation helps to know whether the students possess required knowledge and skills to proceed with the instruction.

3. Evaluation help in providing feed back to the stu­dents:

             An evaluation process helps the teacher to know the learn­ing difficulties of the students. It helps to bring about an im­provement in different school practices. It also ensures an ap­propriate follow-up service.

4. Evaluation helps in preparing programmed materials:

         Programmed instruction is a continuous series of learning sequences. First the instructional material is presented in a limited amount then a test is given to response the instructional material. Next feedback is provided on the basis of correctness of response made. So that without an effective evaluation process the programmed learning is not possible.

5. Evaluation helps in curriculum development:

           Cur­riculum development is an important aspect of the instructional process. Evaluation data enable the curriculum development, to determine the effectiveness of new procedures, identify areas where revision is needed. Evaluation also helps to determine the degree to what extent an existing curriculum is effective. Thus, evaluation data are helpful in constructing the new curriculum and evaluating the existing curriculum.

6. Evaluation helps in reporting pupil’s progress to parents:

        A systematic evaluation procedure provides an objective and comprehensive picture of each pupil’s progress. This com­prehensive nature of the evaluation process helps the teacher to report on the total development of the pupil to the parents. This type of objective information about the pupil provides the foun­dation for the most effective co-operation between the parents and teachers.

7. Evaluation data are very much useful in guidance and counselling:

       Evaluation procedures are very much neces­sary for educational, vocational and personal guidance. In order to assist the pupils to solve their problems in the educational, vocational and personal fields the counsellor must have an objec­tive knowledge of the pupil’s abilities, interests, attitudes and other personal characteristics. An effective evaluation procedure helps in getting a comprehensive picture of the pupil which leads to effective guidance and of counselling.

8. Evaluation helps in effective school administration:

        Evaluation data helps the administrators to judge the extent to which the objectives of the school are being achieved, to find out strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum and arranging special school programmes. It also helps in decisions concerning admis­sion, grouping and promotion of the students.

9. Evaluation data are helpful in school research:

       In order to make the school programme more effective, researches are necessary. Evaluation data help in research areas like comparative study of different curricula, effectiveness of different methods, effectiveness of different organizational plans, etc.