2PROFED07 Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning
Study Guide
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 to set performance standards that are used to establish annual
adequate yearly progress to ensure that all students will perform
at the proficient level or above, if not meet, they will be placed
in a need improvement category where they must develop
improvement plans
 used for the school accountability and accreditation, grade-tograde promotion and graduation
 administered as part of the national surveys, and for international
assessments
 provide a context for classroom assessment
 formative assessment under the control of classroom teachers
are frequently referred to as assessments for learning to
distinguish them from externally mandated standardized tests
that are referred to as assessments of learning
 educational reformers have used results of mandated tests and
assessments to document shortcomings, but, more important,
they have used them as instruments of educational reform
 tests and assessments are expected to provide information about
current status and progress of student achievement and the
quality of schooling
 they are also expected to serve as a mechanism of reforming
educational practices by clarifying priorities by holding
educators and students accountable for results
 test and assessments are appealing to educational policymakers
because (1) they are relatively inexpensive (2) they can be
externally mandated (3) can be rapidly implemented and last (4)
results are visible
 the reliance on tests as a mechanism of reform aims to use it as
an instruments to improve education through their use to (1)
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certify the student’s credentials (2) identify the need for
remedial interventions and (3) identify the opportunity for
advanced work
it gives emphasis on adopting ambitious world class standards
that both shape the assessments and define levels of acceptance
performance
the use of assessments will require the students to perform more
substantial tasks
allows the attachment of high-stakes accountability mechanisms
for schools, teachers, and sometimes students
educational improvement must begin with a clear idea of what
students are expected to learn
standards are statements that specify what should be taught and
what students should learn; it specifies goals or expectations for
students
the key to effective standards is that they be specific enough to
identify what students need to learn and to determine when the
standards have been met or achieved which corresponds to the
two types of standards that are commonly distinguished
content standards specify the what, whereas performance
standards specify how well
content standards are public statements that specify what
students should know and be able to do in specific content or
subject-matter areas at identified points of their education
performance standards are dependent on content standards but
add the specification of the level of performance that students
are expected to achieve in relationship to the content standards
authentic assessment stresses an emphasis on real world tasks
relevant outside the classroom
alternative assessment stresses something other than the familiar
multiple-choice test
performance assessment stresses the actual doing of a task rather
than merely recognizing or knowing a right answer
 assessment is intended to suggest a shift from fixed-response,
machine scored tests to the use of tasks requiring students to
construct responses
 reliance on performance-based assessment generally rest on
three premises: (1) what you test is what you get (2) you do not
get what you do not assess and (3) make assessments worth
teaching to
 these premises suggest that performance-based assessment
shapes instruction and student learning
 however, some argued that it is assessments that need to be
modified not only to eliminate the negative effects of teaching
to the assessment but also to make that activity have the desired
result of enhanced student learning
 a prominent feature of standards-based educational efforts is the
emphasis on high expectations for all students
 when the specific items on the test are taught, the validity of the
inference about the student’s level of achievement is threatened
 teaching to the test emphasize the objectives that are on the test
without teaching the specific test items
 issues concerning the use and effectiveness of standardized tests:
 (1) the nature and quality of tests: multiple-choice items place
toom much emphasis on well structured problems when
problems of greatest interest both in and out of school are often
ill structured and where skills such as problem identification and
hypothesis generation are often as important as problem
situation; it measures only limited aspects of an individual, that
is, tests do measure behaviors, verbal and communicative skills,
student performance, they may fulfil their function well but the
problem is we expected more of them that was intended; no
major educational decision should ever be based on test scores
alone; it is important that all assessment are subject to error and
that predictions in all areas are fallible, it is also important to
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compare tests’ reliability, validity, and fairness with the
alternatives
(2) effects of testing on students: test create anxiety; test
categorize and label students; tests damage students’ selfconcepts; tests create self-fulfilling prophecies
(3) fairness of tests to minorities
the main purpose of formative assessments is to provide
information that can be used to guide instruction and enhance
student learning
formative assessment must be considered with important student
learning goals
teachers must be able to control the time that formative
assessments are administered and the choice of tasks that
students are asked to perform
the assessment must provide feedback to students and teacher
 Assessment
 assessment is a general term that includes the full range of
procedures used to gain information about student learning and
the formation of value judgements concerning learning progress
 process for making decisions using information obtained
through measurements
 process of interpreting the data presented to the process and
learning outcomes in the form of a score by converting it into a
value based on a specific procedure through measurement
 include both quantitative descriptions and qualitative
descriptions of students
 always include value judgments concerning the desirability of
the results
 an integrated process for determining the nature and extent of
student learning and development
 most effective when considering this principles:
 (1) clearly specifying what is to be assessed; specifying the
intended learning goals
 (2) has a relevance to the characteristics or performance to be
measured; frequently selected on the basis of their objectivity,
accuracy, or convenience but most importantly on its
appropriateness (it may be effective to others but some are not)
 (3) requires a variety of procedures: a complete picture of
student achievement and development requires the use of many
different assessment procedures such as multiple choice are used
for measuring knowledge and understanding, essay and other
written projects are used for measuring the ability to organize
and express ideas, projects that require to formulate problems
and accumulate data are use to measure the performance skills
of students, and self-report are use to measure the interests and
attitudes of the students
 (4) an awareness of their limitations: assessment procedures
range from highly developed measuring instruments to rather
crude assessment devices
 (5) assessment is a means to an end, not an end in itself: the use
of assessment procedures implies that some useful purpose is
being served and that the user is clearly aware of this purpose;
assessment is best viewed as a process of obtaining information
on which to base important educational decisions
 Test
 test is a particular type of assessment that typically consists of a
set of questions administered during a fixed period of time under
reasonably comparable conditions for all students
 used to measure a particular characteristic of an/or a group of
individual
 used to assess the status of one’s skill, attitude, and fitness
 used to accumulate data on a person’s ability to performed a
specified task
 used to measure a test-taker’s knowledge, skill, aptitude,
performance, or classification in many other topics
 one of the evaluation procedures that are comprehensive,
systematic, and has an objective results that can be used as a
basis for decision making
 Measurement
 measurement is the assigning of numbers to the results of a test
or other type of assessment according to a specific rule
 limited to quantitative descriptions of students that is, the results
of measurement are always expressed in numbers
 process of collecting data on attribute of interests
 the process of quantifying this number is separate from using
this information to evaluate student outcome and achievement
 process of data collection through empirical observation to
gather information relevant to the intended purpose
 to compare something with/or on the basis for a certain size or
criteria in accordance with the objectives set in order to give
judgement, which is a decision on the process and learning
outcomes
 Evaluation
 process of taking decisions based on assessment results
 the process of obtaining, analysing, and interpreting
information to determent the extent to which students
achieve instructional objectives
 the act or process to determining the value or worth of
something
 making judgement based on criteria and evidence
 includes a series of steps: (1) establishing objectives (2)
classifying objectives (3) defining objectives (4)
selecting indicators (5) comparing data with objectives
 answer the question how good, adequate, or desirable