In the name of GOD

:Chapter 6

Measuring LSP learning

and
Course effectiveness

:Presented by
Rounia
This chapter will:

 define assessment and evaluation

 define and discuss validity and reliability in the LSP context

 describe high-stake testing and the use of standardized test.

 present different positions on LSP testing

 discuss placement test and the role of self-assessment

 discuss the matching of testing methods to teaching methods

 Assessment
 what is assessment:
It is the ongoing process of gathering ,
analyzing and reflecting an evidence to
make informed and consistent judgment
to improve future student learning.

 According to Dictionary of
Education (1989):
“Assessment is the process
whereby one attempts to measure the
quality and quantity of learning and
teaching using various assessment
techniques.”
 Why Assess?

1) To match learning experiences to the learner’s needs.

2) To seek to measure progress.

3) To generate effective ‘feedback’ to learners.

4) To enable relative and absolute judgments.

5) To ‘build-in’ a competitive dimension into the learning environment

for students.

6) To rank students performance.

7) To discover future potential of the learners.

 Types of Assessment

Diagnostic assessment

 They are pretests and measure

students’ current knowledge and
skills for the purpose of
identifying a suitable program of
learning.

 This kind of assessment help

teachers to know how much
learners know and don’t know
about an upcoming topic.
 Components of Diagnostic Assessment

 Happen at the beginning of a unit, lesson,…

 Goal of understanding students’ current position to inform

effective instruction.

 Identify strength or areas of improvement for the students.

 Low-stake assessment usually do not count as grade.

 Types of Assessment
 Formative assessment
A continuous and several
assessment done during the
instructional process for the
purpose of improving teaching
or learning.
 Summative assessment
Takes place after the learning has
been completed and provides
information and feedback that
sums up the teaching and
learning process.
Types of Assessment
Types of Assessment
 Formative vs. Summative Assessment
Assessment for learning Assessment of learning

Used to drive instruction Used to assign a grade

Ongoing After instruction

Low-stake High-stake
 Evaluation

 What is Evaluation:

It is the process of determining the value of

something or the extent to which goals
are being achieved. It is a process of
making a decision or reading a
conclusion.
 The Purposes of Evaluation

According to Oguniyi (1984)

 To determine the relative effectiveness of the program in terms
of students’ behavioral output;
 To make reliable decisions about educational planning;
 To identify students’ growth or lack of growth in acquiring
desirable knowledge, skills, attitudes and societal values;
 To help teachers determine the effectiveness of their teaching
techniques and learning materials;
 To help motivate students
 To identify problems
 To predict the general trend in the development of the teaching-
learning process;
 Types Of Evaluation

 Formative evaluation

 Summative evaluation
 Formative Evaluation

It analyzes the response to a specific intervention.

Look at the particular pieces of the action plan and
the relative importance to the whole.
Focus on the process of carrying out the action plan.
 Summative Evaluation

It evaluates the progress towards an established

outcomes.
Focus on the achievement or lack of outcomes.
Looks at more than one learner’s performance to see
how well a group did.
 Advantages of Formative Evaluation

Formative evaluation enables the teacher to: 

 Identify the levels of cognitive process of his students;
 Choose the most suitable teaching techniques and
materials;
 Determine the feasibility of a program within the classroom
setting;
 Determine areas needing modifications or improvement in
the teaching-learning process; and
 Determine to a great extent the outcome of summative
evaluation. (ogunniyi, 1984)
 Advantages of Summative Evaluation

1. Its existence (learners will need to be aware of it

from the start) provides motivation and helps create an
appropriate learning environment.
2. Positive results give the trainees a boost in
confidence and can act as a springboard into subsequent
behavior change back in the workplace.
3. Trainers can identify those areas where results are
consistently lower and can then consider alternative
delivery methods – helping to develop the training for
future events.
 Formative vs. Summative

 Formative <---------------------------------> summative

 Informal <------------------------------------> formal

 Continuous <--------------------------------------> final

 Process <-------------------------------------> product

 Reliability and Validity

Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool

.produces stable and consistent results

Validity refers to how well a test measures what it is supposed to

.measure
 Remember!!!

 An assessment that is highly reliable is not necessarily

valid. However, for an assessment to be valid , it must also
be reliable.
 The relationship between validity & reliability

 Validity is the more important feature.

 Reliability is a prerequisite to validity.( in other word, if

items accurately assess a domain of content, the scores will
also be consistent.)

 Assessment results may be reliable(consistent) but not

valid(accurate).
 Types of Validity

 Face validity is concerned with whether the test looks

valid to the stakeholders – the test-takers, employers,
academics and so on.
For example, a mathematical test consisting of problems in
which the test taker has to add and subtract numbers may
be considered to have strong face validity.
 Types of Validity

 Construct validity refers to the degree to which a test or

other measure assesses the underlying theoretical construct
it is supposed to measure (i.e., the test is measuring what it
is purported to measure.)
 Content validity demonstrating that a test is relevant to
and covers a given area of content or ability.
For example: an exam over chapters 1-6 that only has
questions about chapter 2 has poor content validity.
 Criterion-related validity demonstrating a relationship
between test scores and some criterion which is the
indicator of the ability.
 Types of Reliability

 Inter-rater reliability
This refers to the degree to which different raters give
consistent estimates of the same behavior.
Inter consistency reliability
Internal consistency reflects the extent to which items within
an instrument measure various aspects of the same
characteristic or construct.

 Parallel forms reliability 

is a measure of reliability obtained by administering different
versions of an assessment tool (both versions must contain
items that probe the same construct, skill, knowledge base,
etc.) to the same group of individuals.
 High-stake tests

 A high-stakes test is any test used to make important decisions about

students, educators, schools, or districts, most commonly for the
purpose of accountability—i.e., the attempt by federal, state, or local
government agencies and school administrators to ensure that students
are enrolled in effective schools and being taught by effective teachers.

Tests that are "high-stakes" are used to determine whether a student

passes into the next grade, whether a teacher retains his or her job or
receives a bonus, and whether a school receives penalties such as the
removal of the principal or the teachers or more comprehensive
changes to the school's approach. 
 High Stakes vs. Low Stakes

 A “low-stakes test” would be used to measure academic achievement,

identify learning problems, or inform instructional adjustments, among
other purposes. What distinguishes a high-stakes test from a low-stakes
test is not its form (how the test is designed) but its function (how the
results are used). For example, if test results are used to determine an
important outcome, such as whether a student receives a high school
diploma, the test would be considered a high-stakes test regardless of
whether it’s a multiple-choice exam, an oral exam, or an essay exam.
Low-stakes tests generally carry no significant or public consequences
—the results typically matter far more to an individual teacher or
student than to anyone else—and scores are not used to burnish or
tarnish the reputation of teachers or schools.