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Third Group of The Princples of Assessment
Third Group of The Princples of Assessment
Third Group of The Princples of Assessment
Written by:
ALIYA IZET BEGOVIC YAHYA
EVI MALA WIJAYANTI
NAFRIANTI
RAIHANAH PERMATA SARI
A. Summary
Assessment is an ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain than a test
(Brown, 2004, p. 4). It is meant that all students’ performance, whether written or spoken work.
It does imply that the teacher does not only rely on testing score but also the things happen along
the classroom are being assessed.
Related with assessment, Brown explores the principles of assessment which are divided
into five types: practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity and washback. These five principles
should be applied in assessment.
First, practicality related to factors such as cost, time, administration, and
scoring/evaluation (Brown, 2004, p. 19). It refers to the relationship between the resources that
will be required in the design, development and use of the test and the resources that will be
available for assessment.
Second, reliability refers to the extent which a test produces consistent scores at different
administrations to the similar group of test takers. Reliability are divided into 4 types which are
student-related reliability, rater reliability, test administration reliability and test reliability.
The first type of reliability, student-related reliability refers to psychological and physical factors
including illness, fatigue and bad day which can affect the true score of the test-takers and brings
out ‘observed score’. It infers to students’ performances are not fully administered during the
tests. The second type of reliability, rater reliability is divided into two types which can affect the
assessment: inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability. These two types related to the rater’s
internal and external factors affect the assessment. The third type of reliability, test
administration refers to the conditions that triggers in which test is administered such as noisy
sound, the amount of light, variations in temperature, etc. The last type of reliability, test
reliability is meant that the tests should be fit into the time constraints, not too long or short and
it also should be clearly written.
Third, validity is about the extent to which inferences made from assessment results are
appropriate, meaningful and useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment. In order to
establish validity, we have to consider five types of validity: content validity, criterion validity,
construct validity, consequential validity and face validity. The first type of validity, content
validity is about the relations between what the tests actually matters and the conclusions are to
be drawn from it. For example, in assessing listening, the teacher can use multiple-choice test.
The second type of validity, criterion validity is referred to the extent to which performance on a
test is related to criterion which the indicator of ability being tested. For example we can obtain
criterion validity in communicative classroom test if test scores are added to communicative
measures of grammar points. Criterion validity falls into two categories: concurrent validity
and predictive validity. It refers to the test scores are supported by other concurrent
performance whereas predictive validity refers to a prediction of a test-taker’s likelihood of
future success. The third type of validity, construct validity is about the extent to which a test
actually taps into the theoretical construct (theory) as it has been defined. For example,
proficiency and communicative competence are linguistic constructs. The fourth type of validity,
consequential validity is about the positive or negative consequences of a particular test. The last
type of validity, face validity is the extent to which students view the assessment as fair, relevant,
and useful for improving learning. It is meant that the validity is all about test-taker’s point of
view so it becomes more subjective than other types of validity.
Fourth, authenticity refers to the degree of correspondence of the characteristics of a
given language test task to the features of a target language task and then suggest an agenda for
identifying those target language tasks and for transforming them into valid test items. In short,
the task will be valid if it is likely to be enacted in the real world. Therefore, in a test,
authenticity may be present in the following ways: the test should be natural as possible; items
are contextualized; topics are meaningful for the learner; some thematic organization to items is
provided through a story line or episode; and tasks represent closely real-world tasks.
Fifth, washback refers to the effects the tests have on instruction in terms of how
students prepare for the test. It can be said as a facet of consequential validity. This validity also
refers to the effects of an assessment on teaching and learning prior to the assessment itself, such
as preparation before tests. In enhancing washback, the teacher should consider to comment
generously and specifically on test performance which we call it as feedback. It is much better
than single letter grade or numerical score in a test.
Here some books that also discussed about the principles of assessment. The books are:
Anderson, L. W. 2003. Classroom assessment. London: LEA Publisher
Earl, L.M & Katz, M. S. 2006. Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in
mind: Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Manitoa
Education
Russel,l, M.K. 2012. Classroom assessment: Concept and application. McGraw
Hill
Stufflebeam, D.L & Coryn, C. L. S. 2014. Evaluation theory, models, and
applications. Jossey-Bass
To know more detail about the principles from those authors, in the below the summary of each
books.
No Name Definition
1 Assessment a process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting
information in order to make a decision. Depending on the
decision being made and the information a teacher needs in
order to inform that decision, testing, measurement, and
evaluation often contribute to the process of assessment.
2 Testing a formal, systematic procedure used to gather information
about student’s achievement or other cognitive skills
3. Measurement a process of quantifying or assigning a number to a
performance or trait. The example is when a teacher scores a
quiz or test.
4. Evaluation a product of assessment that produces a decision about the
value or worth of a performance or activity based on
information that has been collected, synthesized, and
reflected on.
a. STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT
Administered, scored, and interpreted in the same way for students, regardless of where
and when they are assessed. The main reason for standardizing assessment procedures is to
ensure that the testing conditions and scoring procedures have a similar effect on the
performance of students in different schools and states.
b. NON-STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT
Constructed for use in a single classroom with a single group of students. It majorly
focused in the single classroom. It's important to know that standardized tests are not necessarily
better than non-standardized ones. Standardization is only important when information from an
assessment instrument is to be used for the same purpose across many different classroom and
location.
chapters are classroom assessment and societal change, the effects of classroom assessment on
learning, classroom assessment and its effects on motivation, using classroom assessment for
differentiating learning, and quality in classroom assessment. The quality in classroom
assessment’s chapter explains about four basic principles or quality issues that are important in
classroom assessment: reliability, reference points, validity, and record-keeping.
1. Reliability
There are many ways to promote reliability:
1. Teachers can use a variety of assessment tasks to provide a range of information. The
more information gathered, the clearer is the picture of a student’s learning profile.
2. Students can show their learning in many different ways. If teachers are to have a good
understanding of an individual student’s learning, they need to allow that student to
demonstrate his or her competence in a manner that suits his or her individual strengths
3. Teachers can work with other teachers to review student work.
2. Reference Point
In classroom assessment, there are three reference points teachers use when considering a
student’s performance:
1. How is the student performing in relation to some pre-determined criteria, learning
outcome, or expectation (criteria- or outcomes-referenced)?
2. How is the student performing in relation to the performance of other students in the
defined group (norm-referenced)?
3. How is the student performing in relation to his or her performance at a prior time
(self-referenced)?
3. Validity
Validity of classroom assessment depends on:
• analyzing the intended learning and all its embedded elements
• having a good match among the assessment approaches, the intended learning, and the
decisions that teachers and students make about the learning
• ensuring that the assessment adequately covers the targeted learning outcomes,
including content, thinking processes, skills, and attitudes
• providing students with opportunities to show their knowledge of concepts in many
different ways (i.e., using a range of assessment approaches) and with multiple measures,
to establish a composite picture of student learning
4. Record Keeping
High-quality record-keeping is critical for ensuring quality in classroom assessment. The
records that teachers and students keep are the evidence that support the decisions that are made
about students’ learning. The records should include detailed and descriptive information about
the nature of the expected learning as well as evidence of students’ learning and should be
collected from a range of assessments.
3. (Anderson, 2003)
This part will discuss the summary of chapter one and two in Anderson’s
book (2003) which related to the principles in classroom assessment.
Chapter one discuss the introduction of classroom assessment while in
chapter two (Anderson, 2003) discuss the why, what, and when of
assessment.
1. Chapter one: Introduction of Classroom Assessment
In this chapter, Anderson (2003) emphasizes that one of the keys to
be a good teacher is laying in the decision that teacher make. He
argues that any teaching act is the result of a decision, whether
conscious or unconscious, that the teacher makes after a complex
cognitive processing of available information. The reasoning leads the
hypothesis that the basic teaching skill is decision making.
In line with the decision making by the teachers, another thing to
be concerned is that how we understand the teacher decision. The
teacher decision making is closely related to how teacher will place
students in certain cell. In the process of decision making, teacher
needs the source of information as consideration as following:
- Health information
- Transcripts course taken and grades earned in those course
- Written comments made by teacher;
- Standardized test score;
- Disciplinary referrals;
- Correspondence between home and school;
- Participation in extracurricular activities
- Portions of divorce decrees pertaining to child and visitation
rights;
- Arrest records.
The quality of information
a. Validity
In general terms, validity is the extent to which the information
obtained from an assessment instrument (e.g., test) or method
(e.g., observation) enables you to accomplish the purpose for
which the information was collected. In terms of classroom
assessment, the purpose is to inform a decision. For example, a
10 CHAPTER 1 teacher wants to decide on the grade to be
assigned to a student or a teacher wants to know what he or she
should do to get a student to work harder.
b. Reliability
Reliability is the consistency of the information obtained from
one or more assessments. Some writers equate reliability with
dependability, which conjures up a common-sense meaning of
the term. A reliable person is a dependable one—a person who
can be counted on in a variety of situations and at various times.
Similarly, reliable information is information that is consistent
across tasks, settings, times, and/or assessors.
c. Objectivity
In the field of tests and measurement, objectivity means that the
scores assigned by different people to students’ responses to
items included on a quiz, test, homework assignment, and so on
are identical or, at the very least, highly similar. If a student is
given a multiple-choice test that has an accompanying answer
key, then anyone using the answer key to score the tests should
arrive at the same score. Hence, multiple-choice tests (along
with true-false tests, matching tests, and most short answer
tests) are referred to as objective tests. Once again, as in the
case of test validity, this is a bit of a misnomer. It is the scores on
the tests, not the tests per se, that are objective.
(Anderson, 2003) (Lorna & Katz, (Russell & Airasian, 2012) (Stufflebeam,
2006) Daniel, L., & Coryn,
Chris, 2014)
1. Anderson 1. The same term 1. The book 1. Overall
used terms of ‘quality’ by emphasizes not coherence
2. Tested
quality Anderson is used only in classroom
hypotheses
information in in here assessment, but
2. Earl and Katz concerning how
referring to also to the action
added two evaluation
principles after that: Decision
principles which procedures
2. The terms of making;
are reference 2. The book produce desired
objectivity is
point and record- provides the outcomes
overlapped with
3. Ethical
keeping important things
Brown’s
requirements
definition of related to 4. A general
reliability. classroom framework for
3. The book assessment: why, guiding program
mainly discuss what, when and evaluation
issues about how the practice and
classroom classroom conducting
assessment. So it assessment need research on
is more practical to be conducted; program
3. The book discuss
than Brown. evaluation
the issues of
classroom
assessment. One
of them is the
ethics of
assessment
E. Conclusion
In conclusion, five of books are well written and well conceptualized. The way to explain
the principles can be understood by beginning-level and advanced teachers. Overall, the concept
of the principles of assessment are same, how to evaluate in appropriate way. The Brown’s book
is given the theoretical basic in the principles of assessment rather than others book. On the other
hand, the rest of books can be useful to enrich knowledge about the principles of assessment
from various perspectives that can help develop the assessment appropriately. Each book has
strengths and weaknesses. However, they can complete the gap among them. It is recommended
to read all of those books.
References
Anderson, L. W. (2003). Classroom Assessment: Enhancing the Equality of Teacher Desicion
Making.
Brown, D. (2004). Language Assessment Principles and Classroom Practices. Longman.
Lorna, E., & Katz, S. (2006). MB: Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind.
Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Retrieved from
http://www.wncp.ca/media/40539/rethink.pdf
Russell, M. K., & Airasian, P. W. (2012). Classroom assessment. Concepts and applications.
Stufflebeam, Daniel, L., & Coryn, Chris, L. S. (2014). Evaluation, Theory, Models &
Applications (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.