ASSESSMENT OF

LEARNING
UNIT III
CHAPTER 7
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

1. ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF

TEACHING – LEARNING PROCESS
• We teach with a certain objective to attain. After we have taught, then it
is logical that we find out how well we have attained our lesson
objective, thus we engage ourselves in the process of assessment.
• Assessment obviously is a sine qua non of teaching.
• Shall we proceed to teach the next competency? Shall we do corrective
measures like remedial instruction? The answer to these questions
depend on the assessment results.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

2. ASSESSMENT TOOL SHOULD MATCH WITH PERFORMANCE

OBJECTIVE.
• Which assessment tool to use, which test to formulate must be based on
our performance objective. If our assessment tool is aligned with our
performance objective, we can claim our assessment tool to be valid.
• Other than written and performance tests as assessment methodologies
is “product assessment” classified into written and physical
(Danielson,2002) Danielson gives examples of written products – term
papers, short play, laboratory report, newspaper articles, and letters to
public officials. Physical products are dioramas, sculptures, or
photographs.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

3. THE RESULTS OF ASSESSMENT MUST BE FED BACK TO THE

LEARNERS.
• If the main purpose of assessment is to find out how well the learner has
attained a particular learning objective, it goes without saying that the
assessment process serves its purpose only when we return corrected
quizzes, tests, seatworks, assignments, and evaluated projects at the
soonest time possible.
• How does feedback contribute to the assessment process?
• Reflect and think critically
• See their learning and gain satisfaction
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

4. IN ASSESSING LEARNING, TEACHERS MUST CONSIDER

LEARNERS LEARNING STYLES AND MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCES AND SO MUST COME UP WITH A VARIETY OF
WAYS OF ASSESSING LEARNING
. It is unfortunate that, except for some performance tests conducted in the
physical education and science laboratory classes most tests are written.
With our written tests, our “language smart” students are always at an
advantage. However, that would be at the disadvantage of the
kinesthetically intelligent, the musically intelligent the spatially intelligent.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

5. TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE BUILDING OF THE CULTURE OF

SUCCESS IN THE SCHOOL, IT IS PEDAGOGICALLY SOUND
THAT IN OUR ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES WEE GIVE SOME
POSITIVE FEEDBACK ALONG WITH NOT SO GOOD ONES.
• Comments like “nicely put” “well done”, “fine idea”, “good point” on
students papers boost their ego and add to their level of confidence.
Starting our critical evaluation of a performance or project by
accentuating on positive points and giving in the form of suggestions
those not so good points that definitely need improvement will cushion
the impact of our critical evaluation.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

6. EMPHASIZE ON SELF-ASSESSMENT.
• If our pupils/students make learning objectives their own, it is but fitting
and proper that in the assessment stage they do their self-assessment
against the standard or criterion of success established at the beginning
of the class in the performance objective.
• If ever assessment results are used for comparison it is a comparison
against one’s past performance and against one’s standard and never
against another’s performance or standard. Danielson asserts:
“Assessments should not force students to compete against one
another; any competition should be between students and their own
prior performance. (Danielson, 2002)
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

7. IF WE BELIEVE THAT OUR TASK AS TEACHERS IS TO TEACH

ALL STUDENTS/PUPILS, AND THAT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT ALL
STUDENTS, EVEN THOSE FROM LIMITED BACKGROUNDS, WILL
HAVE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES AND THEREFORE CAN
ACHIEVE, THEN THE BELL CURVE MENTALITY MUST BE
ABANDONED. ( DANIELSON, 2002)
• (Danielson, 2002) If we insist on the bell curve mentality we will be made
to think that it is normal and is expected is some fail. This thinking may
make us complacent. If some pupils/students fail, we have a ready excuse.
“It is normal anyway. Some are really expected to fail. “remember, we
wish to build the culture of success in the classroom because success
breeds success. Concentrate on the thought that all can learn.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

8. ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING SHOULD NEVER BE USED AS

PUNISHMENT OR AS A DISCIPLINARY MEASURE.
• We hear of teachers who give an unscheduled quiz because the class is
noisy or teachers who give a very difficult test in order to punish
students who do not study. When we resort to this sort of practice, we
veer away from the true purpose of assessment, i.e. to validate learning.
We also contribute in a sense to the development of students who frown
on any form of learning assessment for this gets identified with
punishment.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

9. RESULTS OF LEARNING ASSESSMENT MUST BE

COMMUNICATED REGULARLY AND CLEARLY TO PARENTS.
• Parents are keenly interested in the progress of their children in school.
They like to know how their children are doing in school and how they
can help their children learn. Besides, parents are also our customers
and more than that our partners in the education of the young.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

10. EMPHASIZE ON REAL WORLD APPLICATION THAT

FAVORS REALISTIC PERFORMANCES OVER OUT-OF-
CONTEXT DRILL ITEMS.
• “Such assessments require students to generate rather than choose a
response, and to actively accomplish complex tasks while bringing to
bear prior knowledge new learning and relevant skills”
• The evaluation or assessment of learning is an integral part of a lesson
plan and tat this can be done while we are still in the process of teaching
or at the end of our teaching. There are many ways of assessing
learning. The choice is ours in consideration of our instructional
objective, nature of our topic and intelligences and learning styles of our
pupils/students.
 ASSESSMENT IN THE DIFFERENT PHASE OF INSTRUCTION

PRIOR TO INSTRUCTION
• You may give pre-teaching assessment to determine where your students
are in relation to your lesson. You can make use of a written pre-test, the
KWL technique, or by simply asking them some questions to diagnose
your students entry knowledge and skills.
• Research found that “teachers in schools with high achievement rates
use pre-assessments to support targeted teaching of skills important to
learn for standardized tests, as well as to group students for re-teaching.
 ASSESSMENT IN THE DIFFERENT PHASE OF INSTRUCTION

DURING INSTRUCTION
• There are many ways by which learning can be assessed in the process
of teaching. We can immediately find out if our pupils/students can
follow the lesson by poising oral questions or by observing them as they
perform classroom activities or exercises. Giving a quiz is the most
popular then with their answers, with their quiz scores, and with the way
they conduct themselves in class activities, we already sense whether we
are already near or far from the attainment of our objectives. When we
engage ourselves in this evaluation activity in the process of our
teaching, we are engaged in what we call formative evaluation.
 ASSESSMENT IN THE DIFFERENT PHASE OF INSTRUCTION

AFTER INSTRUCTION
• After you spent an hour or less teaching, you would like to find out
proof of learning. You will do formative evaluation. If you gave a pre-
test prior to instruction, then you give a post-test after instruction. If you
used the KWL technique, then go back to it and ask your students to
share what they learned. If you discover that your lesson objectives were
not achieved, find out why and employ remedial measures like re-
teaching, peer tutoring, and the like.
 APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT TOOLS
• What assessment tools will be most appropriate? That depends on the lesson
objectives the attainment of which is what you are assessing.
• The teacher-made test or the paper-and-pencil test in many forms is the most common
tool used to assess learning. However, it has been abused and misused. Many a time
the paper-and-pencil test is not appropriate as an evaluation tool and yet because it is
the tool with which we are most familiar, it is used. It is worthy to note, however, that
more and more teachers are beginning to use more authentic tools of assessment.
Performance tests are said to be more authentic than mere paper-and-pencil tests. The
so-called practical tests in skill subjects like Physical Education, laboratory subjects.
Computer and the like are examples of performance tests. If indeed "the proof of the
pudding is in the eating", the most reliable way to test if our students learned the skill
we intended to teach is by way of hands on exercise, by way of actual performance. In
no way will a paper-and-pencil test be able to authentically test skill in dancing, play-
hands-on, focusing the microscope, using computer program.
 APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT TOOLS

• Another example of an authentic evaluation tool is the portfolio

assessment. better way of showing the development in the child's writing
skill if not through a display of a collection of the child's written work for
the past three months or four?

• If performance test is for the assessment of skills learned, what about the
assessment of values learned? For the assessment of learning in the
affective domain, teacher's observation of the students' behavior,
interviews with the students, reading of journal entries or students'
personal narratives, rating scale are most appropriate. With Gardner's
multiple intelligence (MI) theory are creative assessment techniques. Refer
to Figure 15 for assessment techniques for the multiple intelligences.