MODULE

for

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 2 PreEd

First Semester

Academic Year 2020- 2021

TYPES OF ASSESSMENT

Introduction

Assessment is an essential and powerful tool in the teaching and learning process. Moreover, it is a
process of obtaining data with which we could measure student competence and learning outcomes.
The process begins with the identification of the specific target goals before collecting and interpreting
the information. Classifying and synthesizing of the gathered data are possible through the use of the
different assessment techniques.

Engage

In what ways do our students achieve more learning outcomes? What are the ways with which we
could measure students’ achievements? Assessment of student learning requires the use of a variety of
techniques for measuring outcomes which plays a significant role in effective teaching and learning
processes. Assessment shall be used primarily as quality assurance to track student progress to the
attainment of standards, promote self-reflection, and personal accountability for one’s learning, and
provide a basis for the profiling of student program (DepEd No. 73, s. 2012).

1. Traditional and Authentic Assessment

Paper-and-pencil tests or quizzes are best examples of traditional assessment which mainly describe
and measure student learning outcomes. Most of the time, teachers still engage themselves in the
utilization of traditional assessment. Law and Eckes (1995) state that traditional assessments are single-
occasion tests which measure what learners can do at a particular time.

Traditional assessments are indirect and authentic measures of students learning outcomes. This kind
of assessment is standardized and for that reason, they are one-shot, speed-based, and norm-
referenced (Baily, 1998). Traditional assessment often focus on learner’s ability of memorization and
recall, which are lower level of cognition skills (Smaldino, 2000).

With the above findings in the use of traditional assessment, there has been movement from traditional
assessment toward authentic assessment. Authentic assessment focuses on the analytical and creative
thinking skills, students to work cooperatively and that reflect student learning student achievement,
and student

attitudes of relevant activities.

Assessment is authentic when it measures performances or products which have realistic meaning that
can be attributed to the success in school. Activities, questions and problems with “real world” satisfy
the criterion that it needs to be an authentic intellectual work within the given situation or contextual
realism of the tasks.

The commonly reported dimensions of authenticity are grouped into three broad categories (Frey,
2012):

A. The Context of the Assessment

• Realistic activity or context.

• The task is performance-based

• The task is cognitively complex

B. The Role of the Student

• A defense of the answer or product is required.

• The assessment is formative.

• Students collaborate with each other or with the teacher.

C. The Scoring

• The scoring criteria are known or students-developed.

• Multiple indicators or portfolios are used for scoring.

• The performance expectation is mastery.

In the present K to 12 curriculum, the students are expected to produce products or performances
through authentic tasks. This should reflect what teachers want their students to do with their learning
and demonstrate the use in real life situation. Wiggins (1989) argues that teachers should “test those
capacities and habits we think are essential and test them in context. Make them replicate within
reason, the challenges at the heart of each discipline.” Authentic assessment has four basic
characteristics.

1. The task should be representative of performance in the field. 2. Attention should be paid to teaching
and learning the criteria for assessment.

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3. Self-assessment should play a great role.

In general, below are some of the best uses of authentic assessment (Mueller, 2010):

1. Authentic assessments are direct measures.

The main purpose of authentic assessment is to be able to use the acquired knowledge and skills in the
real world. Forms of assessment task must be applied in authentic situations. This could be done also by
teachers by asking the students to use what they have learned in some meaningful way. (e.g.
Conducting a science experiment – hypothesis testing, developing feasibility study, calculating savings).

2. Authentic assessments capture constructive nature of learning.

In a constructivist point of view, learners should create knowledge and meaning based from schemata.
Thus, assessments cannot just ask students to repeat information they have received. Students must
also be asked to demonstrate that they have accurately constructed meaning about what they have
been taught. Moreover, students must be given the opportunity to engage in the construction of
meaning. Authentic tasks not only serve as assessments but also as vehicles for such learning.

3. Authentic assessments integrate teaching, learning, and assessment.

In the authentic assessment model, the same authentic task used to measure the students’ ability to
apply the knowledge or skills is used as vehicle for student learning. Problem solving and decision
making skills are best exemplified by this purpose. Students are learning the process of developing a
solution to a problem by

simply applying the meaningful concepts.

4. Authentic assessments provide multiple paths to demonstration.

Students may have different ways by which they could demonstrate what they have learned. Similarly,
authentic tasks tend to give the students more freedom on how they will demonstrate what they have
learned. By carefully identifying the criteria of good performance on the authentic task ahead of time,
the teacher can

still make comparable judgements of student performance even though student performance might be
expressed quite differently from student to student.

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The table summarizes the attributes of traditional from authentic (performance) assessment.

Attributes of Traditional and Performance Assessments

ATTRIBUTE TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT Assessment Activity Selecting a

Liskin-Gasparo (1997), Mueller (2008) & Wren (2009)

2. Formative Evaluation and Summative Evaluation

Assessment for Learning pertains to the use of formative evaluation to determine and improve
students’ learning outcomes. On the other hand, Assessment of Learning uses summative evaluation
which provides evidence of students’ level of achievement in relation to curricular learning outcomes.

Teaching and learning plans are based on the results of formative assessment which provides feedback
on the effectiveness of teaching and learning process as seen from the students learning. Summative
assessment on the other hand, is used to determine how much students have learned at the end of the
term, unit or academic year. Summative assessment is one basis for determining the final grade as
demonstrated from the achievement of the students.

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Classroom-based “formative assessment has also taken on an increasingly important role in education
policy in recent years. Formative assessment refers to the frequent, interactive assessment of student
progress to identify learning needs and shape teaching (OECD, 2005). It is a planned process in which
the teacher or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust ongoing learning and instruction.
Without any inter- or intra-individual consensus as to what the term formative assessment means, it is
difficult to have well-formed body of research (Popham, 2011).

Formative assessment can be defined more specifically as, “All those activities undertaken by teachers,
and by their students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to
modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged” (Black & William, 1998). The
results of formative assessment leads to identifying its goal in improving and motivating the students to
enhance achievement. The gathered information and interpreted evidence is utilized by the teacher to
give feedback about the progress of students as learning takes place.

Formative assessment occurs at three (3) points of instruction: (1) during instruction; (2) between
lesson; and (3) between units. Most formative assessments occur during instruction (William & Leahy,
2007). This is when teachers are actively engaged in assessing student progress as they instruct.
Teachers are observing and using questions, giving feedback in informal targeted ways. This is typically
based on quizzes, observation, student self-assessment, and other major assessment which are given at
the end of these time frames.

Formative assessment fosters learning with understanding which benefits both teachers and students
by providing the teachers with information on student learning needs. By enabling appropriate
adaptation of course material and teaching strategies, formative assessment promotes a reflective
teaching process that results in better teaching and better evaluations from students (Richlin, 1998).
High-quality feedback to students can model the learning process, although it could also foster “learned
dependence” in which learning goals are subsumed under performance goals (Yorke, 2003).

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Traditionally, summative assessments are conducted at the end of each section or unit to find out
student achievement. Summary of evidences indicate extent of learning achievements which can
classify or for certification or giving of honors/awards. Moreover, summative assessments are typically
traditional paper and-pencil measures such as unit tests, long tests, exams, essays, or projects that form
a portion of a student’s final grade. These serve as evaluative function at the end of the unit or term.

Characteristics of Formative and Summative Assessment

CHARACTERISTICS FORMATIVE SUMMATIVE

Purpose To provide ongoing feedback and adjustment

to instruction

When conducted During instruction and after instruction

To document student learning at the end of an instructional segment. After instruction

Student Involvement Encouraged Discouraged

Student Motivation Intrinsic, mastery-oriented Extrinsic, performance oriented

Teacher Role To provide immediate, specific feedback and

instructional correctives.

Learning Emphasized Deep understanding, application, and reasoning

Level of Specificity Highly specific and individual

To measure student

achievement and give grades.

Knowledge and
Comprehension

General and group oriented

Structure Flexible, adaptable Rigid, highly structured Techniques Informal Formal

Impact on Learning Strong, positive, long-lasting Weak and fleeting McMillan, (2007)

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3. Norm and Criterion-Referenced Assessment

Norm-referenced assessment gives us information on what the student can perform by comparing to
another student. It describes student performance in the class by comparing to another student. It
describes student performance in the class by comparing to others. Teachers can actually rank then
achievement of their students; as a result, there is a limited percentage of competition for those who
are high scorers. Criterion-referenced assessment describes the performance of the students without
reference to the performance of others which uses preset criteria or predefined and absolute standard
or outcomes.

Usually, it describes student’s mastery of the course content, thus, there is no competition for a limited
percentage for a high score.

Both methods are very useful in assessing learning outcomes. The first tells how an individual
performance compares with that of others, the record tells the specific performance in terms of what
an individual can do without reference to performance of others.

Summary Comparison of Two Basic Approaches to Achievement NORM-REFERENCED CRITERION-

Principal Use Survey Testing Mastery Testing

Major Emphasis Measures individual differences in achievement.

Interpretation of Results Compares performance to that of other individual

Content of Courage Typically covers a broad area of achievement

Nature of Test Plan Table of specifications is commonly used

Item Selection Procedures Items are selected that provide maximum

discrimination among
Describes tasks students can perform.

Compares performance to a clearly specified

achievement domain. Typically focuses on a limited set of learning tasks.

Detailed domain

specifications are favored.

Includes all times needed adequately to describe performance. No attempt is

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individuals (to attain a

reliable ranking. Easy items

are typically eliminated

from the test.

Performance Standards Level of performance is determined by relative

position in some known

group (ranks fifth in a group

of 20)

made to alter item difficulty or to eliminate easy items to increase the spread of scores.

Level of performance is commonly determined by absolute standards

(demonstrates mastery by defining 90 percent of

technical terms).

Gronlund, (2013)

4. Contextualized and Decontextualized Assessment

In contextualized assessment, the focus is on the students’ construction of functioning knowledge and
the students’ performance in application of knowledge in the real work context of the discipline area.
Assessment tasks reflect the goal of learning. It uses performance-based tasks which are authentic in
nature.

It describes assessment practices which measure skills and knowledge in dealing with specific situations
or perform specific tasks which the students have identified as important and meaningful to them.
Application of the skills and knowledge must be in the context of the real world as possible.

According to Biggs (2011), decontextualized assessment includes written exams are term papers, which
are suitable for assessing declarative knowledge, and do not necessarily have a direct connection to a
real-life context. It focuses on declarative knowledge and/or procedural knowledge in artificial
situations detached from the real work context.

While both contextualized and decontextualized learning and assessment each has its role in evaluating
learning outcomes, in practice, decontextualized assessment has been overemphasized compared to
the place declarative knowledge has in the curriculum. Both must be assessed appropriately. A common
mistake is to assess only the lead-in declarative knowledge, not the functioning knowledge that
emerges from it (Biggs and Tang, 2011).

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5. Analytic and Holistic Assessment

Analytical assessment refers to specific approach in the assessment of learning outcomes. In this
procedure, students are given feedback on how well they are doing on each important aspect of specific
task expected from them. Assessment then in made specific based on the importance of the
performance. With this, assessment shouldn’t be undertaken in part but must address the whole
performance.

Holistic assessment refers to a global approach in the assessment of a student-learning outcome. Sadler
(2009) pointed out that in holistic assessment, the teacher or the assessor has to develop complex
mental responses to a student’s work and in evaluating the student’s work, the assessor provides a
grade and supports it with a valid justification for assigning the grade.

Holistic assessment could be in the form of reflection papers and journals, peer assessment, self-
assessment, group presentation and portfolio. The application of the various assessment methods need
to be tailored in a way that it will enhance a student’s personal strength. Subsequently, the correct
application of holistic assessment in the various areas of study is expected to improve the student to
improve the student’s learning outcome (Akubuilo, 2012).

One positive application that may result from holistic assessment is that students are competent to
handle assessment tasks accurately (Sadler, 2009). Most students provide the requirements of most
assessment tasks. Through holistic assessment, the students are able to develop decisive and
investigative skills that permit them to handle assessment tasks effectively. Moreover, the students are
capable of knowing how to construct concrete responses to questions.
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Instructions: Do the following activities.

EXPLORE

Concept Mapping

Construct a concept map showing the relationship between the different types of assessment. Module
for Assessment in Learning 2 11

Types of Assessment

Traditional and Authentic Assessment

Formative Evaluation and Summative Evaluation

Norm and Criterion-Referenced Assessment

Contextualized and Decontextualized Assessment

Analytic and Holistic Assessment

APPLY

Name:________________________________________ Date:___________________________

You are a seasoned teacher and some beginning teachers seek for your help in determining the suitable
way to evaluate progress of the students in measuring the following domains. What will you
recommend/suggest?

1. Cognitive

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2. Affective

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3. Psychomotor

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Note: You may add more rows if needed.

Module for Assessment in Learning 2 12

ASSESS

Name:________________________________________ Date:___________________________

A. Interview at least five faculty members of different academic institution. Use the following as your
guide. (Write summary of responses after each question.)

1. What is your definition of assessment?

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2. What common assessment techniques are you utilizing in the classroom setting?

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(Organize the responses of the teachers and formulate your conclusions for class sharing.)

Conclusion/s:

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B. Complete the matrix of the different types of assessment.

Types of Assessment Brief Description Advantages/ Disadvantages

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Classroom Application
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References:

• Assessing 21st century skills by Laura Greenstein.

• http://homepage.usask.ca/~dln136/files/873%20-%20prototype2.pdf • http://education.cu-
portland.edu/blog/teachingstrategies/5-problem-solving- activities-for-theclassroom/

• https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=assessing21stcent uryskills-
131124063219-

phpapp02&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLg_PCwLvrAhWDNaYKHW_CAGAQsAR6BAgG EAE&biw=1536&bih=754

• Cajigal, R.M. and Mantuano, M.L.D. (2014). Assessment of Learning 2. 776 Aurora Blvd., cor. Boston
St. Cubao, Quezon City, Manila Philippines: ADRIANA Publishing Co., Inc.

Module for Assessment in Learning 2 15