Assessment in Learning 2 College of Teacher Education

Module 1 – Authentic Assessment in the Classroom

Lesson 1: High Quality Assessment in Retrospect
In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use
to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition,
or educational needs of students.
High-quality assessments are balanced to provide instructors with ongoing feedback about student
progress. In particular, data gathered from assessments given throughout the learning process give
educators the information they need to adjust their instruction. Assessment, then, isn't the final
word; rather, it should be part of an ongoing conversation that helps all students get exactly what
they need to meet learning standards.
High Quality Assessment = it provides a result that demonstrates and improve targeted students
learning

A. PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment for learning occurs when teachers use inferences

about student progress to inform their teaching. (formative)

Assessment as learning occurs when students reflect on and

monitor their progress to inform their future learning goals.
(formative/self-assessment)

Assessment of learning occurs when teachers use evidence of

student learning to make judgements on student achievement
against goals and standards. (summative)

Protect academic standard

Grades from cumulative assessment are used to certify that a person has a necessary knowledge
and skills (and can apply them appropriately) to be awarded a qualification. Consequently, the
quality and integrity of assessment is essential to guarantee the credibility of qualification and the
academic reputation of the issuing institution. There is considerable local, national and
international concern to ensure that the ways we protect academic standards stand up to scrutiny.
Feedback for teaching
The result from formative and summative assessment can help you track how your students are
going throughout your success. Closely looking at the result can help you identify any pattern of
difficulties or misunderstanding the students might have. This in turn allow you alter your
approach to teaching and adjust your curriculum accordingly. For example, you may identify that
you need to offer more detailed explanation or provide additional resources in a particular area.
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We use assessment as a tool to provide feedback to students about their learning (formative
assessment) as well as certifying their level of assessment (summative assessment). It is a means
by which we protect our academic standards and institutional reputation; and a method of
evaluating and adjusting teaching.
B. TARGETS OF HIGH-QUALITY ASSESSMENT
a. Learning Target
- a clear description of what students know and able to do
- it is an outcome that the teacher wants her students to attain or acquire from her
teaching.
- This involves knowledge, reasoning, skills, product and effect.
- It needs to be stated in behavioral terms or term which denotes something which
can be observed through the behavior of the students
Five categories of Learning target according to Stiggins and Conklin (1992)
1. Knowledge learning target. It is the facts and concept we want students to know,
either rote learned or retrieved using reference materials.
2. Reasoning learning target. The ability of students to use their knowledge to reason
and solve problems
3. Skill learning target. The ability of the students to create achievement-related skills
likes conducting experiments, playing basketball, and operating computers
4. Product learning target. The ability of the students to demonstrate achievement-
related products such as written report, oral presentation and art product.
5. Affective learning target. The attainment of affective traits such as attitudes, values,
interests, and self-efficacy. Student attitude about school and learning.

b. Cognitive Targets
As early as 1950 Bloom’s (1954) proposed a Hierarchy of educational objectives at the
cognitive level:
1. Knowledge
• refers to the acquisition of facts, concept and theories. Example: knowledge of
historical facts
• Recall or recognize information, describing, defining, labeling, memorizing etc.
• Knowledge forms the foundation of all other cognitive objectives for without
knowledge, it is not possible to move out to the next higher level thinking skills in
the hierarchy of the educational objectives.

2. Comprehension
• refers to the same concept as understanding.
• Re-state data or information in one’s own words, interpret, and translate.
• Explaining or interpreting the meaning of the given scenario or statement
• A step higher than mere acquisition of facts and involves a cognition or awareness
of interrelationships of the facts and concepts.
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3. Application
• refers to the transfer of knowledge from one field of study to another or from one
concept to another concept on the same discipline.
• Using or applying knowledge, putting theory into practice
• Demonstrating, solving problems

4. Analysis
• refers to the breaking down of the concept or idea into each component and
explaining the concept as the composition of these concept.
• Interpreting elements, organizing, structuring

5. Synthesis
• refers to the opposite of analysis and entails putting together the components in
order to summarize the concept.
• Developing new unique structures, model, system, approaches or ideas
• Build, create, design, establish, assemble, formulate.

6. Evaluating and reasoning

• refers to valuing and judgment or putting the “worth” of a concept or principle.
• Judgment relating to external criteria
• Assess effectiveness of whole concept, in relation to values, outputs, efficacy, and
others.

Types of Reasoning
➢Inductive reasoning uses specific facts or evidence to infer general conclusions
➢Deductive reasoning begins with general rule or principle to infer specific
conclusion or solutions
➢Analytical reasoning requires examining components or structure of something
➢Comparative reasoning describes similarities

C. METHODS OF HIGH-QUALITY ASSESSMENT

a. Appropriateness of assessment method

General Categories:
1. Written response instrument
Written response instrument includes objective test (multiple choice, true or false,
matching or short answer) test, essay, examination and checklist.
➢ Objective test is appropriate for assessing the various level of hierarchy
of educational objectives

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➢ Multiple choice test in particular can be constructed in such a way as to

test higher order thinking skills
➢Essay can test the student grasp of the higher-level cognitive skills
particularly in the areas of application analysis, synthesis and judgment.
Example:
(POOR) Write an essay about the First EDSA Revolution
(BETTER) Write an essay about the First EDSA Revolution and their
respective roles.
➢ Checklist list of several characteristics or activities presented to the
subjects of a study, where they will analyze and place a mark opposite to the
characteristics

2. Product rating scales – used to rate products. Examples of product that are
frequently rated in Education
✓ Book reports
✓ Maps
✓ Charts
✓ Diagram
✓ Notebooks
✓ Essays
✓ The classic “handwriting” scale used in the California Achievement Test,
Form W (1957)

3. Performance test – performance checklist

▪ It is used to determine whether or not an individual behaves in a certain
way when asked to complete a particular task.
▪ Consist of a list of behaviors that make up a certain type of performance

4. Oral questioning – appropriate assessment method when the objectives are to:
▪ Assess the students’ stock knowledge and/or
▪ Determine the students’ ability to communicate ideas in coherent verbal
sentences.

5. Observation and self-reports

▪ Useful supplementary methods when used in conjunction with oral
questioning and performance test.

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b. Properties of Assessment Method

1. Validity
▪ Something valid is something fair
▪ A valid test is one that measures what it is supposed to measure
Types of validity
Face validity – outward appearance of test, the lowest form of test validity
• What do students thing of the test?
Construct validity – the test is loaded on a “construct” or factor
• Am I testing in the way I taught?
Content validity – content and format of the instrument
• Am I testing what I taught?
i. Students adequate experience
ii. Coverage of sufficient material
iii. Reflect the degree of emphasis
Criterion-related validity – the test is judge against a specific criterion
• How does this compare with the existing valid test?
Test can be made more valid by making them more subjective (open
items)
▪ Validity- appropriateness, correctness, meaningfulness and
usefulness of the specific conclusions that a teacher reaches regarding the
teaching-learning situation.
2. Reliability
▪ Something reliable is something that works well and that you can trust.
▪ A reliable test is consistent measure of what it is supposed to measure
Questions:
✓ Can we trust the result of the test?
✓ Would we get the same results if the test were taken again and
scored by a different person?

Test can be made more reliable by making them more objective (controlled items)
▪ Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test or any measuring procedure
yields the same result on repeated trials
▪ Equivalency reliability is the extent to which two item measure identical concepts
at an identical level of difficulty. Equivalency reliability is determined by relating two
sets of test scores to one another to highlight the degree of relationship or association.

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▪ Stability reliability (sometimes called test, re-test reliability) is the agreement of

measuring instrument over time. To determine stability, a measure of test is repeated
on the same subjects at a future date.
▪ Internal consistency is the extent to which test or procedure assess the same
characteristic, skill or quality. It is a measure of the precision between the observers or
of the measuring instruments used in a study.
▪ Interrater reliability is the extent to which two or more individual (coders or raters)
agree. Interrater reliability addresses the consistency of the implementation of a rating
system,

3. Fairness
The concept that assessment should be “fair” covers a number of aspects
▪ Student knowledge and learning targets of assessment
▪ Opportunity to learn
▪ Prerequisite knowledge and skills
▪ Avoiding teacher stereotype
▪ Avoiding bias in assessment tasks and procedures

4. Positive consequences
▪ Learning assessments provide students with effective feedback and
potentially improve their motivation and/or self-esteem. Moreover, assessments of
learning gives students the tools to assess themselves and understand how to
improve.

Positive consequence on students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders

5. Practicality and efficiency

▪ Something practical is something effective in real situations
▪ A practical test is one which can be practically administered.
Questions:
❖ Will the test take longer to design than apply?
❖ Will the test be easy to mark?
Test can be made more practical by making it more objective (more controlled items)
▪ Teacher familiarity with the method -teacher should be familiar with the
test
▪ Time required
▪ Complexity of administration - does not require too much time
▪ Ease of scoring - implementable
▪ Ease of interpretation

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▪ Cost

6. Ethics in assessment – “Right and Wrong”

▪ Conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group
▪ Ethical issues that may be raised
i. Possible harm to the participants
ii. Confidentiality iii. Presence of concealment or deception
iii. Temptation to assist students

Calmorin, Laurentina (2015). Assessment in Learning 1. Rex Bookstore, Inc. Quezon City

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