Chapter 2:

Determining Progress Towards the

Attainment of Learning Outcomes
Introduction
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

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this chapter, you are expected to:

• Distinguish among measurement, evaluation, and assessment.

• Differentiate norm – referenced evaluation from criterion – referenced
evaluation.
• Explain the various approaches to assessment: assessment FOR,
OF and AS learning.

LESSON 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, how heavy,
hot, voluminous, cold, fast or straight some things are. Such instruments may
be ruler, scale, thermometer or pressure gauge. When we measure, we are
actually collecting quantitative information relative to some established
standards. To measure is to apply a 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 square piece of paper, we simply multiply the length of one side of the
paper by 4. In the field of education, however, the quantities and qualities of
interest are abstract, unseen and cannot be touched and so the measurement

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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 procedure is testing.
The same concept can be measured in another way. We can ask a group of
experts to rate a student’s (or a teacher’s) knowledge of the subject matter in a
scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. In this procedure,
knowledge of the subject matter is measured through perceptions.

Types of Measurement

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

(as in perceptions). In the example cited, testing produces objective
measurements while expert’s ratings provide subjective measurements.
Objective measurements are more stable than subjective measurements in the
sense that repeated measurements if 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 of assessment whenever the constraints of time and
resources permit.

Whether one uses and objective or subjective assessment procedure,

the underlying principle in educational measurement is summarized by the
following formula:

Measurement of Quantity or Quality 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 value of the quantity of interest, e.g. true knowledge of the subject
matter. This is a tall order and one which will occupy most of our time in this
particular course.

Objective measurement 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

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often differ from one assessor to the next even if the same quantity or quality is
being measured.

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, may 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 not feasible, we
introduce the concept of indicators.

An indicator, I, denotes the presence or absence of a measured

characteristic. 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 student in n class recitations and let X = sum of the I’s divided
by n recitations. Thus, if there were 10 recitations and the student participated
in 5 of these 10, then X = 5/10 or 50%.

Indicators are the building blocks of educational measurement upon

which all other forms of measurement are built. A group of indicators constitutes
a variable. A group of variables form a construct or a factor. The 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 test:

X1 = computational skills
X2 = reading skills
X3 = vocabulary
X4 = logic and reasoning
X5 = sequences 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

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 The first group is called a “mathematical ability” factor, the second group
is called “language ability factor” while the third group (with only one variable)
is called “psychomotor ability”.

In educational measurement, we shall be concerned with indicators,

variables and factors of interest in the field of education.

LESSON 2:
ASSESSMENT

The term assessment is derived from the Latin “assidere” which means
“to sit aside” (Wiggins, 1993).

Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of students’

performance over a period of time to determine learning and mastery skills.
Such evidence of learning can take the forms of dialogue record, journals,
written work, portfolios, test 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 attainment of the expected learning outcomes.
Assessment uses, 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 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 practices 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.

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 LESSON 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, correlations between achievement test results
and diagnostic test results, and attributed 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 achievement. It can also help
identify the success factors of programs and projects.

Evaluation are often divided into three broad categories: Diagnostic,

Formative and Summative.

Diagnostic Evaluation is normally undertaken before instruction, in

order to assess students’ prior knowledge of a particular topic or lesson. Its
purpose is to anticipate potential learning problems and group/place students
in the proper course or unit of study. Placement of some elementary school
children in special reading programs based on a reading comprehension testis
an example of this type of evaluation. Requiring entering college freshmen to
enroll in Math Plus based on the results of their entrance test in Mathematics is
another example.

Diagnostic evaluation can also be called pre – assessment, since it is

designed to check the ability levels of students in some areas so that
instructional starting points can be established. Through this type of evaluation,
teachers can be provided with valuable information concerning students’
knowledge, attitudes, and skills when they begin studying a subject and can be
employed as basis for remediations or special instruction.

Formative Evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program

while the program activities are in progress. This type of evaluation focuses on
the process. The results of formative evaluation give information to the
proponents, learners, and teachers on how well the objectives of the program

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are being attained while the program is in progress. Its main objective is to
determine deficiencies so that the appropriate interventions can be done.

Summative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program at

the end of the program of activities. The focus is on the result. The instrument
used to collect data for summative evaluation are questionnaire, survey forms,
interview/observation guide and tests. Summative evaluation is designed to
determine the effectiveness of a program or activity based on its avowed
purposes. Scriven gave as techniques for summative evaluations: pretest –
posttest with one group, pretest – posttest with experimental and control
groups; one group descriptive analysis.

The subject of evaluation is wider than assessment which focuses

specifically on student learning outcomes.

To summarize, we measure height, distance, weight knowledge of

subject matter trough testing; we assess learning outcome; we evaluate
results in terms of some criteria or objectives.

Measurement refers to the process by which the attributes or dimension

of some objects or subjects of study are determined.

Assessment is a process of selecting, receiving and using data for the

purpose of improvement in the current performance.

Evaluation is an act of passing judgement on the basis of a set of

standards.

Another way of saying it is “assessment is the process of objectively

understanding the state or condition of a thing by observation and
measurement. Evaluation is the process of observing and measuring a thing
for the purpose of judging it and of determining its value by comparison to a
similar thing or a standard.

Very often you measure what is intended to be measured by means of

a tool, review measurement data to improve further current performance, then
pass judgement (evaluation) based on a set of standards.

Approaches to Evaluation

There are two approaches to evaluation, namely: norm – referenced and

criterion – referenced.

Norm – referenced evaluation is one wherein the performance of a

student in a test is compared with the performance of the other students who
took the same examination. The following are examples of norm – referenced
evaluation:

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 1. Karl’s score in the periodical examination is below the mean.
2. Cynthia ranked fifth in the unit test in Physics.
3. Rey’s percentile rank in the Math achievement test is 88.

Criterion – referenced evaluation, on the hand, is an approach to

evaluate wherein a student’s performance is compared against a
predetermined or agreed standard. Examples of this approach are as follows:

1. Sid can construct a pie graph with 75% accuracy.

2. Yves scored 7 out of 10 in the spelling test.
3. Lito can encode an article with no more than 5 errors in spelling.

LESSON 4:
ASSESSMENT FOR, OF, AND AS LEARNING:
APPROACHES TO ASSESSMENT

The proposition “for” in assessment FOR learning implies that

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 teacher 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 is 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 “ABCs” of lesson weren’t mastered and teacher
already proceeded to “XYZ”. Too late to discover that at the end of a unit or a
grading period the students did not learn what was expected of them.

Formative assessment also includes the pretest and the posttest that a
teacher gives to ensure learning. This is also termed pre-assessment.

Why the pretest? It is to find out where the students are or determined
their entry knowledge or skills so teacher knows how to adjust instruction.

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 Why the posttest? It is to find out if he 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.

Assessment AS
learning

Assessment

Assessment Assessment OF
FOR Learning Learning

Figure 1. Approaches to Assessment

In Assessment FOR Learning, teachers use assessment results to

inform or adjust their teaching. When in the process of teaching, teacher
discovers that the students did not understand what was taught, teacher adjusts
her/his instructional strategy. One did not work and because it did not work and
expects better results he/she has not to repeat the use of the same strategy.

In summary, assessment FOR learning means teachers using student’s

knowledge, understanding and skills to inform their teaching. It occurs
throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify and ensure student
learning and understanding.

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. It is referred to as
summative assessment. The effectiveness of summative assessment depends
on the validity and reliability of the assessment activity and tools.

Assessment AS Learning is associated with self – assessment. As the

term implies, assessment by itself is already a form of learning for the students.

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. paragraph writers) and become aware

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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.

Chapter Exercises
Answer the following questions:

A. Each of the following statements refers to either measurement,

assessment, or evaluation. On the blank before each number, write the
correct answer.

___1. Over-all goal is to provide information regarding the extent of

attainment of student learning outcomes.
___2. Can help educators determine the success factors of academic
program and projects.
___3. Uses such instruments as ruler, scale or thermometer.
___4. Used to determine the distance of a location.
___5. Process designed to aid educators make judgement and indicate
solutions to academic situations.
___6. Can determine skill attainment easier than attainment of
understanding.
___7. Process of gathering evidence of student competencies/skills over
a period of time.
___8. Results show the more permanent learning and clear picture of
student’s ability.
___9. Objects of study may be instructional programs, school projects,
teachers, students, or test results.
___10. Usually expresses in quantities.

B. List down three (3) activities or processes involved in each of the

following:

1. Measurement
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________

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 2. Assessment
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________

3. Evaluation
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________

C. Differentiate the following concepts; examples may be cited to further

clarify the meaning.

1. Assessment FOR Learning, Assessment OF Learning, and

Assessment AS Learning
2. Formative Evaluation and Summative Evaluation
3. Norm – referenced Evaluation and Criterion – referenced Evaluation
4. Mental Skill and Manual Skill

D. 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
describing, collecting, recording, scoring and interpreting
information about learning.
• Measurement refers to the process by which the attributed 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 objective or goal. A test is a special form of
assessment.
• Evaluation is a process designed to provide information to help
one make a judgement about a given situation.

Based on the noted given above, distinguish among

measurement, assessment, and evaluation through a diagram.

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