PRINCIPLES OF ASSESSMENT PRACTICES
Assessment processes :
Assessment information is collected to determine students’ achievement and their learning needs. It provides a basis for the analysis of progress and achievement of students over time and assists the diagnosis of individual learning needs.
a) FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF ASSESSMENT:
1)PRINCIPLES RELATED TO SELECTION OF METHODS FOR ASSESSMENT :
● Assessment methods should be developed or chosen so that inferences drawn from the knowledge , skills , attitude and behaviors possessed by each student are valid and not open to misinterpretation.
● Assessment methods should be clearly related to the goals and objectives of instructions,and be compatible with the instructional approaches used.
● Consideration should be given to the consequences of the decisions to be made in light of the obtained information.
● Should be used to ensure comprehensive and consistent indications of student performance.
● It is better to use more than one assessment method to ensure the comprehensiveness of the performance.
● Assessment method should be suited to the backgrounds and prior experiences of students.
● Content and language should not cause any controversy.
2)PRINCIPLES RELATED TO COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT INFORMATION :
● Appropriate and consistent interaction with students should be needed for collecting assessment information.
● Students should be told why assessment information is being collected and how this information will be used.
● Assessment procedure should be used under conditions suitable to its purpose and form.
● In assessment involving observations, checklists or rating scales the number of characteristics to be assessed at one time should be small enough and concretely described so that the observations can be made accurately.
● The directions provided to students should be clear, complete and appropriate for the ability , age and grade level of the students.
● In assessment involving selection items (eg:true-false, multiple choice),the direction should encourage students to answer all items without a threat of penalty.
3)PRINCIPLES RELATED TO JUDGING AND SCORING OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE :
● A procedure for scoring should be prepared to guide the process of judging the quality of a performance or product, the appropriateness of an attitude or behavior, or the correctness of an answer.
● Students should be told how their responses or the information they provide will be judged or scored.
● Care should be taken to ensure that results are not influenced by factors that are not relevant to the purpose of the assessment.
● Comments formed as part of scoring should be based on the responses made by the students and presented in a way that students can understand and use them.
● Any changes made during scoring should be based on a demonstrated problem with the initial scoring procedure. The modified procedure should then be used to restore all previously scored responses.
● An appeal process should be described to students at the beginning of each school year or course of instruction that they may use to appeal a result.
4)PRINCIPLES RELATED TO SUMMARISATION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS :
● Procedures for summarizing and interpreting results for a reporting period should be guided by a written policy.
● The way in which summary comments and grades are formulated and interpreted should be explained to students and their parents .
● The individual results used and the process followed in deriving summary comments and grades should be described in sufficient detail so that the meaning of a summary comment or grade is clear.
● The meaning of a summary comment or grade is clear and different kinds of results should be graded separately.
● Summary comments and grades should be based on more than one assessment result and each result should have its intended emphasis or weight.
● Interpretations of results should be made with due regard for limitations, problems encountered etc in the method used, collecting, judging and scoring information.
● Assessment results that will be combined into summary comments and grades should be stored in a way that ensures their accuracy at the time they are summarized and interpreted.
● The basis for interpretation should be carefully described and justified.
● Interpretations of assessment results should take account of the background and learning experiences of the students.
Methods of interpreting the results :
1. Norm-referenced Interpretation
It describes student’s performance or progress in relation to others of the same peer group, age or ability. It may involve ranking or scaling a pupil to help with streaming classes. It may look at cross-school achievements to compare achievement in particular groups, subjects and years with local and national levels of attainment.
Examples:
1.Diya’s score in the periodical exams is below the mean.
2. Ram ranked 5th in the unit test in Physics.
3. Sheela’s percentile rank in the Math achievement test is 88.
2. Criterion-referenced Interpretation
It describes about the student performance according to a specified domain or clearly defined learning tasks e.g. divide three-digit whole numbers correctly and accurately, multiply binomial terms correctly. It is concerned with national examination and other assessment bodies. It is used in the assessment of vocational and academic qualifications. Results are given on a pass/fail, competent/not competent basis. Results are conclusive and usually open to review.
Examples:
1. Helen can construct a pie graph with 75% accuracy
2. Heera scored 7 out of 10 in the spelling test
3. Riya can encode an article with no more than 5 errors in spelling
5)PRINCIPLES RELATED TO REPORTING OF ASSESSMENT FINDINGS :
● The reporting system should be guided by written policy which is consistent with applicable laws and with basic principles of fairness and Human Rights and its confidentiality should be ensured.
● The report should contain a description of the goals and objectives of instruction.
● Report should be complete in their descriptions of the strengths and weaknesses of students so that strength can be build upon and problem areas addressed.
● The reporting system should provide discussions with teachers, parents and students.
● An appeal process should be described to students and parents so that they may use to appeal a report.
● The report should be clear , accurate, and of practical value to the audiences for whom they are intended.
Purposes of Assessment Reports :
● Historical Record
● Support for planning and decision
● Making for improvements
● Public relations
● Information dissemination
● Document your contributions to the learning environment
● To see how your efforts mattered
b) GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ASSESSMENT :
● Before selecting or developing the assessment procedure the intended learning goals should be clearly specified. Assessment procedure should be selected on the basis of its objectivity, accuracy or convenience.
● Comprehensive assessment requires the use of a variety of assessment procedure.
● Awareness of the limitations of assessment instruments or procedures is needed to use them properly.
● Assessment procedure should be fair to everyone.
● Criteria for judging successful performance should be clearly specified.
● Assessment procedure should be valid, reliable and consistent.
● Assessment for improved performance involves feedback and reflection.
● Good assessment provides useful information to teachers and parents on student achievement.
● The instructional relevance of the assessment procedure should be considered.
● The amount of assessed work should be manageable.
● Formative and summative assessment should be included in each programme.
● Information about assessment should be explicit, accessible and transparent.
● Assessment should be inclusive and equitable.
● Assessment is a means to an end, not an end in itself ie., some useful purpose may be served and the user must be clearly aware of that.
Additional points;
Principles of Assessment :
• It is central to classroom practice.
• It should be educational.
• It should be fair.
• It should be designed to meet their specific purposes.
• It should lead to an informative report.
• It should lead to a school wide evaluation process.
• It focuses on students' learning.
• It should be valid.
• It is reliable.
• It is objective.
• It is a key professional skill.
• It is a part of effective instructional planning.
• It is sensitive and collaborative.
• It should be inclusive and equitable.
• Information of an assessment should be explicit, accessible and transparent.
• The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student performance.
• Assessment should be based on an understanding of how students learn.
• Assessment should be an integral component of course design and not something to add afterwards.
• Good assessment provides useful information to report credibly to parents on students achievement.
• Good assessment requires clarity of purpose, goals, standards and criteria
• Good assessment requires a variety of measures
• Assessment methods used should be valid, reliable and consistent
• Assessment requires attention to outcomes and processes
• Assessment works best when it is ongoing rather than episodic
• Assessment for improved performance involves feedback and reflection
● Valid
• Is there constructive alignment between the Programme Aims, the Intended Learning Outcomes of the module and the method and content of the assessment?
● Reliable, fair and equitable
• Are the marking criteria sufficiently robust to ensure reasonable parity between the judgements of different assessors? Do students understand the criteria by which their work is to be marked?
● Purposeful
• Does the assessment help the student to benchmark their current level of knowledge or skills, identify areas for improvement and come to a judgement about the overall progress made?
● Timely
• Is the assessment appropriately timed during a given unit of study to enable students to come to such judgements?
● Demanding
• Is the assessment sufficiently challenging and rigorous to motivate students?
● Efficient and manageable
• Taking account of academic time, resource and space considerations, is the assessment practical and realistic?
Characteristics of good assessment tool :
• Reliability
• Validity
• Objectivity
• Practicability
• Comprehensiveness
● Reliability
Reliability of a tool refers to the degree of consistency and accuracy with which it measures what it is intended to measure. If the evaluation gives more or less the same result every time it is used, such evaluation is said to be reliable.
● Validity
A test is said to be valid when it measures what it needs to measure. It should fulfill the objectives for which it is developed. Validity of a test refers to it's truthfulness. Suppose you want to know whether a Numerical reasoning test is valid. If it really measure the reasoning ability, the test can be said to be valid.
● Objectivity
A tool is said to be objective if it is free from personal bias of interpreting its scope as well as in scoring the responses. Objectivity of a test refers to two aspects:
• Item objectivity
• Scoring objectivity
Item objectivity :
It means the items of the test must need a definite single answer. If the answer is scored by different examiner the marks would not vary.
Scoring objectivity :
It means that by whosoever scored, the test would fetch the same score.
● Practicability
The test or evaluation system should also be as practical as possible. To meet this criteria, it should be easy to prepare, easy to administer, easy in scoring etc.
● Comprehensiveness
It refers to its length and extensiveness as to cover the complete course or learning experiences to be tested. It should be competent enough to test all the stipulated objectives in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills, abilities, interests and attitudes etc.
● Assessment should be valid. Validity ensures that assessment tasks and associated criteria effectively measure student attainment of the intended learning outcomes at the appropriate level.
● Assessment should be reliable and consistent. There is a need for assessment to be reliable and this requires clear and consistent processes for the setting, marking, grading and moderation of assignments.
● Information about assessment should be explicit, accessible and transparent. Clear, accurate, consistent and timely information on
assessment tasks and procedures should be made available to students, staff and other external assessors or examiners.
● Assessment should be inclusive and equitable as far as is possible without compromising academic standards, inclusive and equitable assessment should ensure that tasks and procedures do not disadvantage any group or individual.
● Assessment should be an integral part of programme design and should relate directly to the programme aims and learning outcomes. Assessment tasks should primarily reflect the nature of the discipline or subject but should also ensure that students have the opportunity to develop a range of generic skills and capabilities.
● The amount of assessed work should be manageable.The scheduling of assignments and the amount of assessed work required should provide a reliable and valid profile of achievement without overloading staff or students.
● Formative and summative assessment should be included in each programme. Formative and summative assessment should be incorporated into programmes to ensure that the purposes of assessment are adequately addressed. Many programmes may also wish to include diagnostic assessment.
● Timely feedback that promotes learning and facilitates improvement should be an integral part of the assessment process. Students are entitled to feedback on submitted formative assessment tasks, and on summative tasks, where appropriate. The nature, extent and timing of feedback for each assessment task should be made clear to students in advance.
● Staff development policy and strategy should include assessment. All those involved in the assessment of students must be competent to undertake their roles and responsibilities.
PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE FOR ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING :
1. The assessment of student learning begins with educational values. Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effective practice, then, begins with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve. Educational values should drive not only what we choose to assess but also how we do so. Where questions about educational mission and values are skipped over, assessment threatens to be an exercise in measuring what's easy, rather than a process of improving what we really care about.
2. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth, and increasing degrees of integration. Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of learning, and therefore firmer bases for improving our students' educational experience.
3. Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes. Assessment is a goal-oriented process. It entails comparing educational performance with educational purposes and expectations-these derived from the institution's mission, from faculty intentions in program and course design, and from knowledge of students' own goals. Where program purposes lack specificity or agreement, assessment as a process pushes a campus toward clarity about where to aim and what standards to apply; assessment also prompts attention to where and how program goals will be taught and learned. Clear, shared, implementable goals are the cornerstone for assessment that is focused and useful.
4. Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes. Information about outcomes is of high importance; where students "end up" matters greatly. But to improve outcomes, we need to know about student experience along the way-about the curricula, teaching, and kind of student effort that lead to particular outcomes. Assessment can help understand which students learn best under what conditions; with such knowledge comes the capacity to improve the whole of their learning.
5. Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic. Assessment is a process whose power is cumulative. Though isolated, "one-shot" assessment can be better than none, improvement is best fostered when assessment entails a linked series of activities undertaken over time. This may mean tracking the progress of individual students, or of cohorts of students; it may mean collecting the same examples of student performance or using the same instrument semester after semester. The point is to monitor progress toward intended goals in a spirit of continuous improvement. Along the way, the assessment process itself should be evaluated and refined in light of emerging insights.
6. Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved. Student learning is a campus-wide responsibility, and assessment is a way of enacting that responsibility. Thus, while assessment efforts may start small, the aim over time is to involve people from across the educational community. Faculty play an especially important role, but assessment's questions can't be fully addressed without participation by student-affairs educators, librarians, administrators, and students. Assessment may also involve individuals from beyond the campus (alumni/ae, trustees, employers) whose experience can enrich the sense of appropriate aims and standards for learning. Thus, understood, assessment is not a task for small groups of experts but a collaborative activity; its aim is wider, better-informed attention to student learning by all parties with a stake in its improvement.
7. Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about. Assessment recognizes the value of information in the process of improvement. But to be useful, information must be connected to issues or questions that people really care about. This implies assessment approaches that produce evidence that relevant parties will find credible, suggestive, and applicable to decisions that need to be made. It means thinking in advance about how the information will be used, and by whom. The point of assessment is not to gather data and return "results"; it is a process that starts with the questions of decision-makers, that involves them in the gathering and interpreting of data, and that informs and helps guide continuous improvement.
8. Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change. Assessment alone changes little. Its greatest contribution comes on campuses where the quality of teaching and learning is visibly valued and worked at. On such campuses, the push to improve educational performance is a visible and primary goal of leadership; improving the quality of undergraduate education is central to the institution's planning, budgeting, and personnel decisions. On such campuses, information about learning outcomes is seen as an integral part of decision making, and avidly sought.
9. Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public. There is compelling public stake in education. As educators, we have a responsibility to the publics that support or depend on us to provide information about the ways in which our students meet goals and expectations. But that responsibility goes beyond the reporting of such information; our deeper obligation-to ourselves, our students, and society-is to improve. Those to whom educators are accountable have a corresponding obligation to support such attempts at improvement.
PRINCIPLES RELATED TO SELECTION OF METHODS FOR ASSESSMENT :
There is a wealth of assessment methods used in higher education to assess students' achievements, but how to choose?
The primary goal is to choose a method which most effectively assesses the objectives of the unit of study. In addition, choice of assessment methods should be aligned with the overall aims of the program, and may include the development of disciplinary skills (such as critical evaluation or problem solving) and support the development of vocational competencies (such as particular communication or team skills.)
Hence, when choosing assessment items, it is useful to have one eye on the immediate task of assessing student learning in a particular unit of study, and another eye on the broader aims of the program and the qualities of the graduating student. Ideally this is something you do with your academic colleagues so there is a planned assessment strategy across a program. When considering assessment methods, it is particularly useful to think first about what qualities or abilities you are seeking to engender in the learners.
Nightingale et al (1996) provide eight broad categories of learning outcomes which are listed below. Within each category some suitable methods are suggested.
1. Thinking critically and making judgements
(Developing arguments, reflecting, evaluating, assessing, judging)
● Essay
● Report
● Journal
● Letter of Advice to .... (about policy, public health matters .....)
● Present a case for an interest group
● Prepare a committee briefing paper for a specific meeting
● Book review (or article) for a particular journal
● Write a newspaper article for a foreign newspaper
● Comment on an article's theoretical perspective
2. Solving problems and developing plans
(Identifying problems, posing problems, defining problems, analysing data, reviewing, designing experiments, planning, applying information)
● Problem scenario
● Group Work
● Work-based problem
● Prepare a committee of enquiry report
● Draft a research bid to a realistic brief
● Analyse a case
● Conference paper (or notes for a conference paper plus annotated bibliography)
3. Performing procedures and demonstrating techniques
(Computation, taking readings, using equipment, following laboratory procedures, following protocols, carrying out instructions)
● Demonstration
● Role Play
● Make a video (write script and produce/make a video)
● Produce a poster
● Lab report
● Prepare an illustrated manual on using the equipment, for a particular audience
● Observation of real or simulated professional practice.
4. Managing and developing oneself
(Working co-operatively, working independently, learning independently, being self-directed, managing time, managing tasks, organizing)
● Journal
● Portfolio
● Learning Contract
● Group work
5. Accessing and managing information
(Researching, investigating, interpreting, organising information, reviewing and paraphrasing information, collecting data, searching and managing information sources, observing and interpreting)
● Annotated bibliography
● Project
● Dissertation
● Applied task
● Applied problem
6. Demonstrating knowledge and understanding
(Recalling, describing, reporting, recounting, recognising, identifying, relating & interrelating)
● Written examination
● Oral examination
● Essay
● Report
● Comment on the accuracy of a set of records
● Devise an encyclopedia entry
● Produce an A - Z of ...
● Write an answer to a client's question
● Short answer questions: True/False/ Multiple Choice Questions (paper-based or computer aided-assessment)
7. Designing, creating, performing
(Imagining, visualising, designing, producing, creating, innovating, performing)
● Portfolio
● Performance
● Presentation
● Hypothetical Projects
8. Communicating
(One and two-way communication; communication within a group, verbal, written and nonverbal communication, arguing, describing, advocating, interviewing, negotiating, presenting; using specific written forms)
● Written presentation (essay, report, reflective paper etc.)
● Oral presentation
● Group work
● Discussion/debate/role play
● Participate in a 'Court of Enquiry'
● Presentation to camera
● Observation of real or simulated professional practice.
Concept Map
Cartoon Images
Cartoon Video 👇
