ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT

LEARNING
What is Assessment?

 Assessment is a systematic process of gathering,

interpreting, and acting upon data related to student
learning and experience for the purpose of
developing a deep understanding of what students
know, understand, and can do with their knowledge
as a result of their educational experience; the
process culminates when assessment results are
used to improve subsequent learning.
Huba and Freed, 2000
Why link assessment with instruction?

Better assessment Better

teaching
means better teaching.
means
better
learning.

Better students
mean better Better learning
opportunities
for a better life. means
better students.
Importance of Assessment

 To find out what the students know (knowledge)

 To find out what the students can do, and how well
they can do it (skill; performance)

 To find out how students feel about their work

(motivation, effort)
How should we assess?

 True –False Item  Self Rating

 Multiple Choice  Journal
 Short Answer  Portfolio
 Essay  Discussions
 Practical Exam  Interviews
 Papers/Reports
 Projects
 Questionnaires
 Criteria In Choosing an Assessment
Method

 It should be reliable.
 It should be valid.
 It should be simple to
operate, and should not
be too costly.
 It should be seen by
students and society in
general.
 It should benefit all
students.
Paper and Pencil Assessment
 Strengths
-Can cover a lot of material reasonably well
-Fair
- Easier to construct and administer than performance assessments
 Weaknesses
-Less effective in assessing procedural knowledge and creative
thinking
-Construction of good higher level recognition items is difficult
-Recall items that do a good job of assessing higher level thinking
(essay questions) are difficult to score.
Performance Assessments

- assessment that elicits and evaluates

actual student performances
 Types of Performances:
1. Products: drawings, science experiments,
term papers, poems, solution to authentic
problems
2. Behavior: time trial for running a mile,
reciting a poem, acting tryouts, dancing
Classroom Assessment

 Informal Assessment: teachers’

spontaneous, day to day observations of
student performances.
Examples
 Verbal
-Asking questions
-Listening to student discussions
Performance assessments

 Strengths
-Effective for assessing higher level thinking and authentic
learning
-Effective for assessing skill and procedural learning
-Interesting and motivating for students
 Weaknesses
-Difficult to construct
-Time consuming to administer
-Hard to score fairly
Portfolios

 A collection of student samples representing

or demonstrating student academic growth. It
can include formative and summative
assessment. It may contain written work,
journals, maps, charts, survey, group reports,
peer reviews and other such items.
 Portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and
meaningful collections of students’ work in
one or more subject areas.
What do portfolios contain?

Three basic models:

 Showcase model, consisting of work samples
chosen by the student.
 Descriptive model, consisting of representative work
of the student, with no attempt at evaluation.
 Evaluative model, consisting of representative
products that have been evaluated by criteria.
Importance of Portfolios

For Students
 Shows growth over time
 Displays student’s accomplishment
 Helps students make choices
 Encourages them to take responsibility for
their work
 Demonstrates how students think
Importance of Portfolios

For Teachers
 Highlights performance-based activities over year
 Provides a framework for organizing student’s work
 Encourages collaboration with students, parents, and
teachers
 Showcases an ongoing curriculum
 Facilitates student information for decision making
Importance of Portfolios

For Parents
 Offer insight into what their children do in school
 Facilitates communication between home and school
 Gives the parents an opportunity to react to what
their child is doing in school and to their development
 Shows parents how to make a portfolio so they may
do one at home at the same time
Importance of Portfolios

For Administrators
 Provides evidence that teacher/school goals
are being met
 Shows growth of students and teachers
 Provides data from various sources
Disadvantages of Portfolio

 Require more time for faculty to evaluate than test or

simple-sample assessment.
 Require students to compile their own work, usually
outside of class.
 Do not easily demonstrate lower-level thinking, such
as recall of knowledge.
 May threaten students who limit their learning to
cramming for doing it at the last minute.