Week-12

1. What is the primary purpose of assessment?

• Assessments are a source of inspiration. It's the time for demonstration of

abilities of students as well as the teachers. There are two types functions which
the assessment serve. Firstly, a goal is fixed up for which students and teachers
put in all their efforts to achieve. And secondly, an assessment on the capability
and progress of children is seen by the parents in particular and the society in
general. Assessment is the only possible way to judge where the students have
reached in the education system. To make learning meaningful and improve students’
learning we need to do assessments during the lesson or at the completion of the
course. Throughout a lesson or unit, the teacher might want to check for
understanding by using a formative assessment.
• Students who are having difficulty learning may benefit from a diagnostic test,
which may diagnose learning issues such as poor reading comprehension,
inability to recall written or spoken words, hearing or speech difficulties, and
problems with hand–eye coordination.
• Students generally complete a summative assessment after completing the study
of a topic. The teacher can determine their level of achievement and provide
them with feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. For students who didn’t
master the topic or skill, teachers can use data from the assessment to create a
plan for remediation.
• Teachers may also want to use informal assessment techniques. Using self-
assessment, students express what they think about their learning process and
what they should work on. Using peer assessment, students get information from
their classmates about what areas they should revise and what areas they’re
good at.

2. Why should a teacher use multiple forms of assessment?

Assessment is a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective

or goal. Assessment is a broad term that includes testing. A test is a special form of
assessment. Tests are assessments made under contrived circumstances especially so that
they may be administered. In other words, all tests are assessments, but not all assessments
are tests. We test at the end of a lesson or unit. We assess progress at the end of a school
year through testing, and we assess verbal and quantitative skills through such instruments
as the SAT and GRE(a standardized test held in the Unites States and Canada and few in
other countries). Whether implicit or explicit, assessment is most usefully connected to some
goal or objective for which the assessment is designed. A test or assessment yields
information relative to an objective or goal. In that sense, we test or assess to determine
whether or not an objective or goal has been obtained. Assessment of skill attainment is rather
straightforward. Either the skill exists at some acceptable level or it doesn’t. Skills are readily
demonstrable. Assessment of understanding is much more difficult and complex. Skills can
 be practiced; understandings cannot. We can assess a person’s knowledge in a variety of
ways, but there is always a leap, an inference that we make about what a person does in
relation to what it signifies about what he knows. In the section on this site on behavioral
verbs, to assess means to stipulate the conditions by which the behavior specified in an
objective may be ascertained. Such stipulations are usually in the form of written descriptions.

3. List and briefly explain two different forms of assessment.

a. Formative Assessment
b. Summative Assessment
c. Diagnostic Assessment
d. Ipsative Assessments
e. Norm-referenced Assessment
f. Criterion-referenced Assessment
g. continuous assessment
h. Performance assessment

Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing

feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to
improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:
o help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need
work
o help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems
immediately
Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no
point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:
o draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
o submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
o turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an

instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high
point value. Examples of summative assessments include:
o a midterm exam
o a final project
o a paper
o a senior recital
Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or
faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

4. Write one or two assessment practices that you use in your classes that you
think are appropriate and effective. Explain why such practices are good for
your work and your students.

I. Learning objective : The student will be able to learn the

characteristics[most formal and should be short & to the point] of a
business letter (able to write a proper cover letter )
Assessment - QUESTION “ Assume that you’re applying for a position
similar to your present one or for one that you like at a prestigious
institution and write a suitable cover letter”.

II. Learning objective : The student will be able to write a requesting letter
effectively. [ how would you address these applications; how and where
would you mention your address, where would you put the date of the
application and where the subject-matter]
Assessment - QUESTION “ You wish to follow a course which will help
you to develop a particular skill. A suitable course is offered by a
prestigious university. An application form will be posted to you
when you deposit a processing fee to the University bank account
and post the deposit slip to the Programme Coordinator. Write a
suitable letter to the Programme Coordinator requesting an
application form as well as more information on the course content
and panel of lecturers”.

• To identify students’ weaknesses and strengths.

As a facilitator, I believe that knowing my student better, rather than that knowing myself
better is pretty essential to have successful learning, teaching. However, there are no
other means than assessments to gain information about both ourselves and the
students. A good teacher always does not focus on what she or he will teach on a
particular day, instead, they focus on what the learners will attain from their teaching.
So, they mostly use the assessments as a profound tool to evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of the learners. For instance, when it comes to a language class reading,
writing, speaking, and listening come under important cognitive skills. Therefore, the
teacher should gather information on who is good at listening; reading; speaking;
writing. Because students might not be well-versed in all these factors, also they might
not be recon all the elements either. Thereby, assessments may help to know which
students need more help and attention in which skill.
 • Target that we need to work: As facilitators we are supposed to be working with
limited sources, meticulously speaking we have got a limited amount of time for a
session. Besides, we must be very responsive to use this time wisely as students
believe us and accord their time to us. While planning the lesson the issue that
most of the teachers go through is to which content should they give higher
priority and much attention, by allocating more time? If a teacher is really good in
assessing he or she rarely go through this issue, considering the fact that
assessments of an extended amount of information where student struggle and
need more aids. When this becomes vivid our target and the destiny will be well
focused and well determined

• Find out that where the students are struggling and address the problems.

The classroom is a melting part. Varied kinds of people from varied backgrounds come
to gather with one intention which is learning. As the facilitator of the class, we must be
aware that we will be facing plenty of challenges from the sides of students according to
the research on psychology thirty-five percentage of students have some kind of
learning disabilities for example; ADHD, Partial autism, and so on. In order to find out
these issues assessments are the ideal way. Particularly in developing countries like Sri
Lankan neither are parents nor are teachers trained to identify the psychological as well
as cognitive impartialities of the students. Even in general terms, students might not
have comprehended a particular lesson or a unit. Mostly they would not claim it, since
they are afraid of the teachers, or simply do not like to be mocked by the peers. So,
assessments work here as a mouthpiece to bring out needs and wants. Not only that
but also as teachers we get clarified where to focus and how much to focus.

The assessments are should be related to outcomes and we have to prepare assessments in
advance. We can identify the learning of the students through their answers and result from our
assessments. So, it depends on their results and answers after the assessments. If the student
or learner answer or the result of student exact we will come to know that our learners are on
the truck and we can make sure that they have understood the concept of the topic if it is not we
will come to know that they didn’t understand, their problems and what they need to know.

• Immediate results: continuous assessments are prevalently done during the

lesson. Therefore, it mostly gives the result of the assessments to the facilitator
as immediately as it was done. Facilitators chiefly go for continuous assessments
in order to ensure whether or not students have comprehended what was
intended; if they are supposed to wait for the result for a long period of time both
the facilitator and the student will be frustrated. To avoid this circumstance
continuous assessments are widely used for their innate availability.

• Timely: formative assessments are basically timely. They can be used by a

facilitator according to the situation, the events of the day, the mood of the
students, and the availability of the properties. Formative assessments can be
executed amidst any kind of scenarios, on the other hand, summative
 assessments never can be executed without certain measurements, properties,
and people. In other words, formative assessments are much more flexible in
terms of time since they can be shortened or extended according to the need.

• Entertaining: formative assessments are innately entertaining and fun-filled. At

times especially when the class gets bored many teachers utilize formative
assessments as a factor of entertainment to bring the students on track. Some of
the formative assessments like classroom debates, dictation, four-corner, and so
forth are emotionally stimulating. When one gets emotionally stimulated he or
she will be rather focused on the lesson more than ever before. Long story short,
formative assessments both entertain and stimulate critical thinking.

• Simplicity: formative assessments are naturally simple. Many teachers freak

out when it comes to assessments. Because they do not know how to give the
instruction are too big and complicated. The same applies to the students.
However, formative assessments, on the other hand, are very easy to be
interpreted; their instructions are much simpler both to give and receive. That’s
why formative assessments are rather popular than summative assessments.

5. What is the difference between summative assessment and formative

assessment?
Formative Assessment
• Goal is to monitor student’s
learning to provide ongoing
feedback that can be used by
instructors to improve their
teaching and by students to
improve their learning.
• Evaluation during the learning
process.
Summative Assessment
• Goal is to evaluate student’s
learning at the end of an
instructional unit by comparing it
against some standard or
benchmark.
• Evaluation after the course
completion.

• Monitor the learning process. • Assign grades.

 • The purpose is to improve • The purpose is to evaluate
student’s learning. student’s achievements.

• Evaluations include little content • Evaluations include complete

areas. chapters.

• Considers evaluation as a process. • Considers evaluation as a product.

6. What are the challenges that we face as teachers to use each form of
assessment?

I. We should write objectives or learning outcomes and communicate them to

students.
II. Selecting appropriate assessment techniques.
III. As teachers, we need to understand children better and to learn how to
assess their learning in many ways.
IV. Grading : Evaluating the student work, communicating/ discussing with
students, helping in motivating students to focus and also involving in the
course.
V. Changing the examination patterns in order to meet the requirements of every
student.
VI. Lack of training for new strategies and the use of technology for the
assessment.

Thank you.

-A.Liyona-