Prof. Ed.

10 – Chapter 1 Activity

Name: Nizelle A. Arevalo Block #: BEED III- Block 4 Date: January 24, 2023

Answer the following briefly but concisely: (5 pts. each)

1. What does a teacher do when he/she engages himself/herself in diagnostic, formative

and summative assessment?

In diagnostic assessment, they will conduct a test on their students, mostly paper-and-
pencil type of tests, to diagnose what students already know and don’t yet know in order to
guide their instruction. It is used to gather information about what students already know
and are able to do. It provides a way for teachers and trainers to chart a course of action.
Typical diagnostic assessment will be:

 A pre-tests
 KWL (know, want to know, and what did we learn)
 Graphic organizers

During formative assessment, teachers will ask their students if they understood what they
have learned. It will determine their level of understanding of the lesson. It could also be in
the form of drills. It is used during the learning process. It provides feedback on learning-
in-process. This assessment is dialogue-based and ungraded.
Typical formative assessment will be:

 Quiz
 surprise tests
 journals

In summative assessment, teachers give this type of test at the end of a project, unit, course,
semester, program or school year, after diagnostic assessment, teaching, and formative
assessment are done. They are done through paper-and-pencil tests and non-paper-and-
pencil tests. It is used at the end of the learning process. It evaluates student learning
against some standard or benchmark, and this assessment is graded.
Typical summative assessment will be:

 Unit tests
 final exams
 projects
2. Why does a teacher engage himself/herself in diagnostic, formative and summative
assessment?

Diagnostic assessments are used by the teacher to gather information about what students
already know and are able to do. It provides a way for teachers and trainers to chart a
course of action. On the other hand, formative assessments can occur throughout the
teaching-learning process. They provide multiple opportunities for students as well to
teachers if the targeted goals and learning objectives are achieved, without the concerns
about grading and getting good marks. Summative assessments are designed to determine
whether or not a module’s learning objectives have been achieved. This strategy is also an
essential part of the e-learning process, as it can help a teacher to determine whether or
not the learner is ready to move onto the next section.

3. What tests does a teacher give when he/she makes use of traditional assessment?
Authentic assessment?

In traditional assessment, students will be given paper-and-pencil tests which are either
the selected-response type like true/false, multiple choice, and matching type exams, or
constructed-response like writing an essay and problem solving exams.

In authentic assessment, students will be required to showcase what skills they have
learned through presentations of performances and demonstrations. This could be in the
form of “practicum”.

4. How does norm- referenced assessment differ from criterion-referenced assessment?

A norm-referenced assessment refers to standardized tests that assess competency using

norms to interpret and report scores. Rather than using expert judgment to establish
performance standards, norm-referenced tests use scores from a representative group of
students from across the country. The scores from this group are converted to percentiles,
usually ranging from the 1st to the 99th percentile to accurately represent the full range
ability. The full-range of percentiles is divided into smaller ranges to represent
performance levels or benchmarks

A criterion-referenced assessment, or score, compares a student’s knowledge or skills

against a criterion. The criterion might be based on expert judgment of, say proficiency, or
it might be based on an external indicator like the performance on another well-established
test. In other words, the performance categories are not determined strictly by
performance of other students.

In other words, norm-referenced assessment refers to how a student’s score compares to

other students, while criterion-referenced assessment refers to how a student’s score
compares to a criterion, such as a predetermined standard or goal.
5. What is meant by contextualized assessment? How does it differ from decontextualized
assessment?

In contextualized assessment, the focus is on the students' construction of functioning

knowledge. It is the students' performance in their application of knowledge and skills in
the real work context of the discipline area. Assessment tasks reflect the goal of learning. It
uses performance-based tasks which are authentic in nature. In addition, it describes
assessment practices which measure skills and knowledge in dealing with specific
situations or perform specific tasks which the students have identified as important and
meaningful to them. Application of the skills and knowledge must be in the context of the
real world as possible.

On the other hand, decontextualized assessment includes written exams which are suitable
for assessing declarative knowledge, and do not necessarily have a direct connection to a
real-life context (Biggs, 2011). It focuses on declarative knowledge and/or procedural
knowledge in artificial situations detached from the real work context.

Both contextualized and decontextualized learning and assessment has its role in
evaluating learning outcomes. In practice, decontextualized assessment has been
overemphasized compared to the place declarative knowledge has in the curriculum. Both
must be assessed appropriately. A common mistake is to assess only the lead-in declarative
knowledge, not the functional knowledge that emerges from it (Biggs and Tang, 2011).

6. When can we say that assessment is of high quality? Explain each quality.

Assessment of high quality is valid. Assessment is valid if it measures what it is supposed to

measure, i.e., how well the learning outcomes have been attained. A teacher must be true to
his/her intended learning outcomes/s. The idea of the alignment of intended learning
outcomes, teaching learning activities and assessment is what John Biggs (2003) called
constructive alignment, the essence of outcome-based education.

Assessment of high quality is reliable. Assessment is reliable when the test produces
consistent scores. If you give a test-retest in Math and find out that those who got high
scores in the first take also got high scores in the second take of the test and those who got
low scores in the first take also got low in the re-test of the same test, then the assessment
is reliable.

Assessment of high quality is fair. It is fair if it assesses what it is supposed to be assessed

as stated in the learning outcome which is expected to have been taught. This is the
principle of constructive alignment in action. Obviously, assessing learners constructive
alignment in action. Obviously, assessing learners on something they have not been taught
is unfair.
7. What are the current trends in assessment? Explain each.

Assessment of learning assists teachers in using evidence of student learning to assess

achievement against outcomes and standards. Sometimes referred to as ‘summative
assessment’, it usually occurs at defined key points during a teaching work or at the end of
a unit, term or semester, and may be used to rank or grade students.

Assessment for learning involves teachers using evidence about students’ knowledge,
understanding, and skills to inform their teaching. Sometimes referred to as ‘formative
assessment’, it usually occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify
student learning and understanding.

Assessment as learning occurs when students are their own assessors. Students monitor
their own learning, ask questions and use a range of strategies to decide what they know
and can do, and how to use assessment for new learning.