Module 2

Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation in

Outcomes-Based Education
Topic # Topic title Time Duration
1 Measurement
2 Assessment
2 weeks
3 Evaluation
4 Assessment FOR, OF, and AS Learning

Learning Outcomes

 Distinguish among measurement, assessment and evaluation

 Explain the meaning of assessment FOR, OF and AS learning

ENGAGE

Say something about the picture. As teachers how will you

authentically assess your students learning?
EXPLORE

With the change of focus in instruction from content to learning outcomes came
the need to redefine and clarify the terms used to determine the progress of students
towards attainment of the desired learning outcomes. These are measurement,
evaluation, and assessment.

2.1. Measurement
Measurement is the process of determining or describing the attributes or
characteristics of physical objects generally in terms of quantity. When we measure, we
use some standard instrument to find out how long, heavy, hot, voluminous, cold, fast or
straight some things are. Such instruments may be rulerr, scale, thermometer or
pressure gaug. When we measure. We are actually collecting quantitative information
relative to some established standards. To measure is to apply a standard measuring
device to an object, group of objects, events or situations according to procedure
determined by one who is skilled in the use of such device.
Sometimes, we can measure physical quantities by combining directly
measurable quantities to form derived quantities. For example, to find the area of a
rectangular piece of paper, we simply multply the lengths of the sides of the paper. In
the field of education, however, the quantities and qualities of interest are abstract,
unseen and cannot be touched and so the measurement process becomes difficult;
hence, the need to specify the learning outcomes to be measured.
For instance, knowledge of the subject matter is often measured through
standardized test results. In this case, the measurement procedures is testing. The
same concept can be measured in another way. We can ask a group of experts to rate
a student’s (or teacher’s) knowledge of the subject matter in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1
being the lowest and 5 is the highest. In this procedure, knowledge of the subject matter
is measured through perceptions.

1. Types of Measurement

Measurements can therefore be objective (as in testing) or subjective (as

in
perceptions). In this example cited, testing produces objective measurements while
expert ratings provide subjective measurements. Objective measurements are more
stable that subjective measurements in the sense that repeated measurements of the
same quantity or quality of interest will produce more or less the same outcome. For this
reason many people prefer objective measurements over subjective measurements
whenever they are available. However, there are certain facets of the quantity or quality
of interest that cannot be successfully captured by objective procedures but which can
be done by subjective methods e.g. aesthetic appeal of a product or project of a
student, student’s performance in a drama, etc. It follows that it may be best to use both
methods od assessment whenever the constraints of time and resources permit.
Whenever one uses an objective or subjective assessment procedure, the
underlying principle in educational measurement is summarized by the following
formula:

Measurement of Quantity of interest = True value plus random error.

Each measurement of the quantity of interest has two components: a true value of the
quantity and a random error component. The objective in educational measurement is
to estimate or approximate, as closely as possible, the true knowledge of the subject
matter. This is a tall order and one which will occupy most of our time on this particular
course.
Objective measurements are measurements that do not depend on the person or
individual taking the measurements. Regardless of who is taking the measurement, the
same measurement values should be obtained when using an objective assessment
procedure. In contrast, subjective measurements often differ from one assessor to the
next even if the quantity or quality is being measured.

2. Measuring Indicators, Variables, and Factors

An educational variable (denoted by an English Alphabet, like X) is a
measurable
Characteristic of a student. Variables may be directly measurable as in X = age or X =
height of a student. However, many times, a variable cannot be directly measured like
when we want to measure “class participation” of a student. For those variables where
direct measurements are no feasible, we introduce the concept of indicators.
An indicator, I, denotes the presence or absence of a measured characteristics.
Thus:
I = 1, if the characteristic is present
= 0, if the characteristic is absent
For the variable X = class participation, we can let I1, I2.... In denote the
participation of a stuudent in n class recitations and let X = sum of the I’s divided by n
recitations. Thus, if there were n = 10 recitations and the student participated in 5 of
these 10, then X = 5/10 or 50%.
Indicators are the buidling blocks of educational measurement upon which all the
other forms of measurement are built. A group of indicators constitute a variable. A
group variables from a construct or a factor. These variables which form a factor
correlate highly with each other but have low correlations with variables in another
group.
Example: The following variables were measured in a battery of tests:
 X1 = computational skills
X2 = reading skills
X3 = vocabulary
X4 = logic and reasoning
X5 = sequence and series
X6 = manual dexterity
These variables can be grouped as follows:
Group 1 : (X1,X4,X5) = mathematical ability factor
Group 2 : (X2, x3) = language ability factor
Group 3 : (x6) = psychomotor ability factor
The first group is called a “mathematical ability” factor, the second group is called
a “language ability” factor, while the third group (with only one variable) is called a
“psychomotor ability” factor.
In educational measurement, we shall be concerned with indicators, variables
and factors of interest in the field of education.

2.2. Assessment

The term assessment is derived from the Latin “assidere” which means “to sit
beside” (Wiggins, 1993)
Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of students’ performance
over a period of timeto determine learning and mastery of skills. Such evidences of
learning can take the forms of dialogue record, journals, written works, portfolios, tests,
and other learning tasks. Assessment requires review of journal entries, written work,
presentation, research papers, essays, story written, test results, etc.
The overall goal of assessment is to improve student learning and provide
students, parents and teachers with reliable information regarding student progress and
extent of attaining of the expected learning outcomes. Assessments use, as basis, the
levels of achievement and standards required for the curricular goals appropriate for the
grade or year level. Assessment results show the more permanent learning and the
clearer picture of the student’s ability.
Assessment of skill attainment is relatively easier than assessment of
understanding and other mental ability. Skills can be practised and are readily
demonstrable. Either the skill exists at a certain level or it doesn’t. Assessment of
understanding is much more complex. We can assess a person’s knowledge in a
number of ways but we need to infer from certain indicators of understanding through
written descriptions. Assessment of learning outcomes will be treated in a separate
chapter.
 2.3. Evaluation

Evaluation originates from the root word “value” and so when we evaluate, we
expect our process to give information regarding the worth, appropriateness, goodness,
validity or legality of something for which a reliable measurement has been made.
Evaluation is a process designed to provide information that will help us to make a
judgement about a particular situation. The end result of evaluation is to adopt, reject or
revise what has been evaluated.
Objects of evaluation include instructional programs, school, projects, teachers,
students and educational goals. Examples include evaluating the “education for all”
project of a school district, the comparative effectiveness of two remedial reading
programs, correlation between achievement test results and diagnostic test results and
attributes of an effective teacher. Evaluation involves data collection and analysis and
quantitative and qualitative methods. Evaluation can help educators determine the
success of their academic programs and signal efforts to improve student
achienvement. It can also help identify the success factors of programs and projects.
Evaluation are often divided into two broad categories:
Formative and Summative.
Formative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program while the
program activities are in the progress. This type of evaluation focuses on the process.
The results of formative evaluation give opportunities to the proponents, learners and
teachers how well the objectives of the program are being attained. Its main objective is
to determine deficiencies so that the appropriate interventions can be done. Formative
evaluation may also be used in analyzing learning materials, student learning and
achievements and teacher effectiveness.
Summative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program at the end
of the program activities. The focus is on the result. The instruments used to collect date
for summative evaluation are questionnaire, survey forms, interview/observation guide
and tests. Summative evalution is designed to is to determine the effectiveness of a
program or activity based on its avowed purposes. Scriven gave us techniques for
summative evaluation: pretest-post test with one group; pretest-post test with
experimental and control groups; one group descriptive analysis. The subject of
evaluation is wider than assessment which focuses specifically of student learning
outcomes.
To summarize, we measure height, distance and weight; we assess learning
outcome; we evaluate results in terms of some criteria or objectives.

2.4. Assessment FOR, OR, AS Learning

 The preposition “for” in assessment FOR learning implies the assessment is
done to improve and ensure learning. This is referred to as FORmative
assessment, assessment that is given while the teacher is in the process of
student information (learning). It ensures that learning is going on while teachers
is in the process of teaching.
Teacher does not lose anything if as he/she teaches he/she checks for
understanding now and then. This is to ensure that before he/she proceeds further or
comes near the end of the chapter, unit or course or grading period, the students
understood the lesson.
It will be tragic and a waste of time if teacher just proceeds with his/her teaching
presuming that students understood the lesson only to discover at the end of the unit or
grading period that students after all did not understand the lesson. So much time has
already been wasted.
Besides, lack of understanding of the lesson must have been compounded
because the “ABC’s” of the lesson weren’t mastered and teacher already proceeded to
“XYZ’. Too late to discover that at the end of a unit or grading period the students did
not learn what was expected of them.
Formative assessment also includes the pretest and the post test that a teacher
gives to ensure learning. This is also termed pre-assessment.
Why the pretest? It is find out where the students are or determine their entry
knowledge or skills so teacher knows how to adjust instruction.
Why post test? It is find out if the intended learning outcome has been attained
after the teaching-learning process. If not all students have attained it, then teacher has
to apply an intervention or a remediation. Why do these have to take place? To ensure
learning, thus the term assessment FOR learning.
In assessment FOR learning, teachers use assessment results to inform or
adjust their teaching.
Assessment OF learning is usually given at the end of a unit, grading period or a
term like a semester. It is meant to assess learning for grading purposes, thus the term
Assessment OF learning.
Assessment AS learning is associated with self-assessment. As the term implies,
assessment by itself is already a form of the learning for students.

Figure 1. Various Approaches to Assessment

Assesment AS
Learning

Assessment FOR Assessment OF

Learning Learning
 As students assess their own work (e.g. a paragraph) and/or with their peers with
the use of scoring rubrics, they learn on their own what a good paragraph is. At the
same time, as they are engaged in self-assessment, they learn about themselves as
learners (e.g. a paragraph writers) and become aware of how they learn. In short, in
assessment AS learning, students set their targets, actively monitor and evaluate their
own learning in relation to their set target. As a consequence, they become self-directed
or independent learners. By assessing their own learning, they are learning at the same
time.

EXPLAIN
Here are how authors distinguish measurement, assessment and evaluation:

 Evaluation is the process of making judgements based on criteria and

evidence.
 Assessment is the process of documenting knowledge, skills, attitudes
and beliefs usually in measurable terms. The goal of assessment is to
make improvements as opposed to simply being judged.
 In an educational context, assessment is the process of decribing,
collecting, recording, scoring and interpreting information about learning.
 Measurement refers to the process by which the attributes or dimensions
of some physical objects are determined with the exception of IQ or
attitudes,
 Assessment is a process by which information is obtained relative to some
known objwctive or goal. A test is a special form of assessment.
 Evaluation is a process designed to provide infromation to help one make
a judgement about given situation.

Based on the notes given above, distinguish among measurement,

assessment and evaluation.