assessment - pbworks
Post on 17-Oct-2021
11 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and
beliefs. This article covers educational assessment including the work of institutional researchers, but the
term applies to other fields as well including health and finance.
Types of assessment
Assessments can be classified in many different ways. The most important distinctions are: (1) formative
and summative; (2) objective and subjective; (3) criterion-referenced and norm-referenced; and (4)
informal and formal.
Formative and summative assessments
There are two main types of assessment:
Summative Assessment - Summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course or
project. ln an educational setting, summative assessments are typically used to assign students a course
grade.
Formative Assessment - Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project.
Formative assessment is used to aid learning. ln an educational setting, formative assessment might be a
teacher (or peer) or the learner, providing feedback on a student's work, and would not necessarily be
used for grading purposes.
Summative and formative assessment are refered to in a learning context as "assessment of learning"
and "assessment for learning" respectively.
A common form of formative assessment is diagnostic assessment. Diagnostic assessment measures a
student's current knowledge and skills for the purpose of identifying a suitable program of learning. Self-
assessment is a form of diagnostic assessment which involves students assessing themselves.
Objective and subjective assessment
Assessment (either summative or formative) can be objective or subjective. Objective assessment is a
form of questioning which has a single correct answer. Subjective assessment is a form of questioning
which may have more than one current answer (or more than one way of expressing the correct answer).
There are various types of objective and subjective questions. Objective question types include true/false,
multiple choice, multiple-response and matching questions. Subjective questions include extended-
response questions and essays. Objective assessment is becoming more popular due to the increased
use of online assessment (e-assessment) since this form of questioning is well-suited to computerisation.
G riterion-referenced and norm -referenced assessments
Missing image
Compares the various grading methods in a normal distribution. lncludes: Standard deviations,
cummulative precentages, percentile equivalents, Z-scores, T-scores, standard nine, percent in stanine.
Criterion-referenced assessment, typically using a criterion-referenced test, as the name implies,
occurs when candidates are measured against defined (and objective) criteria. Criterion-referenced
assessment is often, but not always, used to establish a person's competence (whether s/he can do
something). The best known example of criterion-referenced assessment is the driving test, when learner
drivers are measured against a range of explicit criteria (such as "Not endangering other road users").
Norm-referenced assessment (colloquially known as "grading on the curve"), typically using a norm-
referenced test, is not measured against defined criteria. This type of assessment is relative to the student
body undertaking the assessment. lt is effectively a way of comparing students. The lQ test is the best
known example of norm-referenced assessment. Many entrance tests (to prestigious schools or
universities) are norm-referenced, permitting a fixed proportion of students to pass ("passing" in this
context means being accepted into the school or university rather than an explicit level of ability). This
means that standards may vary from year to year, depending on the quality of the cohort; criterion-
referenced assessment does not vary from year to year (unless the criteria change).
lnformal and formal assessment
Assessment can be either formal or informal. Formal assessment usually a written document, such as a
test, quiz, or paper. Formal assessment is given a numerical score or grade based on student
performance. Whereas, informal assessment does not contribute to a student's final grade. lt usually
occurs in an more casual manner, including observation, inventories, participation, peer and self
evaluation, and discussion.
Characteristics of assessments
Assessment should be valid and reliable. A valid assessment is one which measures what it is intended
to measure. For example, it would not be valid to assess driving skills through a written test (alone); the
most valid way of assessing driving skills would be through a combination of practical assessment and
written test. Teachers frequently complain that some examinations do not properly assess the syllabus
upon which the examination is based; they are, effectively, questioning the validity of the exam.
Reliability relates to the consistency of an assessment. A reliable assessment is one which consistently
achieves the same results with the same (or similar) cohort of students. Various factors affect reliability --
including ambiguous questions, too many options within a question paper, vague marking instructions and
poorly trained markers.
A good assessment is valid and reliable. Note that an assessment may be reliable but invalid or unreliable
and invalid, but an assessment can not be unreliable and valid. ln practice, an assessment is rarely
completely valid or entirely reliable.
Although validity and reliability are the main measures of an assessment, there are other considerations
such as practicality (which relates to the feasibility of the assessment), fairness (which relates to its
application across various cohorts - such as males and females) and authenticity (which relates to its
realism).
How to Write Good Test Questions
When preparing a test on any given subject matter, you are flooded with available test formats and test questions
to select from. So, how do you write the best test questions for your students? The first step in creating a strong
test for students is to choose the best test format for the cognitive ability or comprehension that you are seeking
to evaluate. Then, you must create good test questions for the chosen test format for your students. By practicing
the tips outlined below, you will be well positioned to create strong test questions for your classroom.
Choosing a Test Format
Before you begin to write test questions/ you need to determine which type of test format you are going to utilize.
The most common test formats include multiple choice questions, true or false questions, fill in the blank questions
and open-ended questions. Choose the format that best measures the student's cognitive ability in the given
subject matter,
For example, if you want the student to compare and contrast an issue taught during a history lesson, open ended
questions may be the best option to evaluate the student's understanding of the subject matter. If you are seeking
to measure the student's reasoning skills, analysis skills or general comprehension of a subject matter, consider
selecting primarily multiple choice test questions. Or, for a varied approach, utilize a combination of all available
test question types so thatyou can appeal to the learning strengths of any student on an exam.
Another factor to consider when selecting a test format is how much time the students will have available to take
the test and then also how long you will have to score them. For larger classrooms, essay format or open ended
question format test questions will be more difficult to manage both the student's time and your own as you grade
them. So, take into consideration both the objectives of the test and the overall time available for taking and
scoring your tests when selecting the best format. Once you have selected the test format, you will need to write
good test questions to utilize within the test structure.
Multiple Choice Questions
Multiple choice questions offer the most flexibility to the teacher as they can formulate a variety of test question
structures, Multiple choice questions are a great way to test a student's comprehension level of a particular
subject matter. But, they can often be the most difficult and time consuming for the teacher to construct. They
comprise of a test question stem and several available options for the student to select from as their answer.
Here are some ideas to utilize when constructing multiple choice test questions:
Don't use excessive wording when creating the test question stem. Be clear and concise in your word and phrase
choices.
Make sure that there is only one clearly correct answer from the options given to the student.
Provide between 3-5 plausible choices for the student to select from as their answer
Minimize the use of 'all of the above' or 'none of the above' question answers.
Randomly distribute the correct answer options i.e. A, B, C, D etc so that there is not a clear pattern that
becomes obvious to the student
Be sure to use test questions that test knowledge, application, comprehension, analysis and evaluation
throughout your test to get the best overall sense of the student's understanding and mastery of a subject matter
True or False Questions
-
True and false questions are best used when you are looking to test a student's recall ability of specific facts or
knowledge. Keep the following tips in mind when creating true orfalse test questions:
o Make sure that the answer is clear and that it could not be either or
. Try not to use negative questions such as'this novel was not written by...." but instead use'this novel was
written by...."
r Use a random order of true and false responses with your test questions to avoid creating a pattern
r Use more false questions than true questions as they have been proven to cater towards higher cognitive level
students
Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
Fill in the blank questions require the student to know the correct answer rather than having the ability to guess
from a list of possible answers. Here are some tips to consider when writing good fill in the blank test questions:
o Ensure that there is only one possible correct answer to avoid confusion and difficulty grading
o Blanks should come at the end or as close to the end of the question or statement as possible
o Questions should recall important information taught within the lesson plans
Open-Ended Questions
Open ended or essay format questions are excellent for measuring higher level cognitive learning and overall
comprehension of a subject. They allow the student to select content for their response, to organize their thoughts
in a logical manner and to present their ideas on a given subject matter. Overall, these types of test questions
allow the teacher to test the student's broader understanding of a subject matter. And, these types of questions
are often more applicable to real life situations that the student may be presented with in the future.
When writing good open-ended questions, keep the following tips in mind:
r Be sure that the test question clearly states the answer that you are seeking from the student. For example,
'discuss the recent election outcome' is a poor test question. But, worded as 'describe the potential positive and
negative impacts that Barack Obama's recent election win for president could have on the US's economy' is a
better test question as it clearly gives the student something to compare and contrast within a focused area, the
US economy.
o If you are requiring the student to prepare a longer essay (2-3 pages), include several questions that are
intended to be in addition to the primary question for the student to respond to rather than only a single question
to answer.
. If you are looking to test comprehension, a good opening line forthe test question is, 'Explain the following,.,"
o If you are seeking to test the student's ability to analyze a concept, a good opening phrase for your test question
is,'compare and contrast....."
r Don't give students the option to pick 2 or 3 questions from among 5. This can add confusion for the students
and complexity for the teacher when gradlng for a classroom. How can you accurately compare students to each
other when they have answered different test questions?
When creating good test questions, first be sure that you have selected the best format for what skills or concepts
you are seeking to test for. Then, take your time to construct the best possible test questions using the tips
mentioned above.
top related