Nature And Meaning

Of Assessment
Jeffrey D. Bermudez
 Meaning of Assessment

In education, the term assessment refers

to the wide variety of methods that
educators use to evaluate, measure, and
document the academic readiness, learning
progress, and skill acquisition of students
from preschool through college and
adulthood.
http://edglossary.org/assessment/
 Meaning of Assessment
It identify academic weaknesses and
strengths so that educators can provide
specialized Academic Support, educational
programming, or social services.

A process about collecting information

conducted to improve educational
programs.
http://edglossary.org/assessment/
 Nature of Assessment
Three major reasons why conduct assessment

Program Improvement

Recruitment

Accountability
 Nature of Assessment

Program Improvement
•Helps program developers
identify areas of improvement
for the program.
•Shows program developers
the actual impact the program
has on student.
 Nature of Assessment

Recruitment

•Provides parents with

evidence of the value a
program has for their child.
•Gives prospective students
evidence of why they should
participate.
 Nature of Assessment

Accountability
•Meets University and schools
annual program reporting and
program review requirements.

•Addresses accrediting agency

program evaluation requirements.

•May apply to other funding or

regulatory agencies requirements.
Nature of Assessment
The process of assessment
Program
Objective

Use Assessment
Result Design

Report Collect
Result Data

Analyzed
Data
 Nature of Assessment

Program Objectives

At this stage, program leaders clearly state

the impact the program is expected to have on
participants. These goals are broken down into
more specific statements in the form of
learning objectives, statements that specify
an observable behavior and expected level of
the behavior after completing the program.
 Nature of Assessment

Assessment Design

Plan how the observable behavior

stated in the objective will be measured
and when. The first challenge in this step
is identifying an assessment instrument
to measure the observable behavior.
 Nature of Assessment

Data Collection

Make the assessment happen! Administer the

assessment instrument at the planned times
and collect trustworthy data. Things to consider
in this step include whether the instrument will
be administered online or on paper, who will
administer the instrument, and under what
conditions. The conditions for administration
should be standardized as much as possible.
 Nature of Assessment

Analyze Data

Information gathered through the assessment process

can be either qualitative (textual) or quantitative
(numbers). There are general guidelines for
appropriate analysis of either type of data. In order to
ensure that the valuable data is analyzed in a way that
maximizes the trustworthiness of the conclusions
drawn from the analysis, a person skilled in data
analysis methodologies should guide this phase of
assessment.
 Nature of Assessment

Report Result

Reports of assessment results can be verbal or written

and can take many different forms. When reporting
results to different stakeholders, customize the format
and presentation to the specific needs and interests of
that audience. When reporting results the goal should
always be to maximize the utility and applicability of
the results for that audience. Also, make sure to use
language appropriate for the audience.
 Nature of Assessment

Use Results

Assessment is only useless if the results

are not used! When done well,
assessment provides valuable
information that can inform decisions
about a program, there should be some
action that can be made to improve the
program for the next cycle.
“If students have not been told
where they are going, it is
unlikely that they will arrive.”
– Shirley Clark