MODULE 1

Assessment in Learning: Basic Concepts

PREVIEW QUIZ:
1. At the heart of DepEd’s classroom assessment system is the commitment to ensure learners’
success in moving from guided to independent display of knowledge, understanding, and skills.
What is the theoretical basis of such system?
2. James was given a module by his teacher for him to catch up with the lessons he missed. The
module includes a series of objective type test items after each lesson for James to check and
monitor his progress as he moves to the next lesson. What form of assessment is being applied
by the teacher?
3. A learning outcome in Grade 12 research subject reads, “At the end of the lesson, the students
will be exposed to various research designs”. Is this a good target for assessment?
a. Yes, the action is observable.
b. Yes, the action can be measured.
c. No, the action is not done by the students.
d. No, the action is not attainable.
4. Mr. Francisco administered an achievement test in Mathematics. He is in the process of counting
the scores obtained by his students. This process is called _________________.
a. Assessment c. Evaluation
b. Measurement d. Testing
5. Teacher Vivian is asking her students to identify the equipment in the Chemistry Laboratory.
Under the Bloom’s cognitive domain, in which assessment level is this?
a. Remembering c. Analyzing
b. Understanding d. Creating
6. Among the types of objective tests below, which DOES NOT belong to the group?
a. Multiple choice c. Completion
b. Alternate response d. Matching type
7. In the DepEd’s grading system, what are the components of summative assessment?
8. Based on DepEd’s present grading system, which of the following are recorded and graded?
a. Formative assessment
b. Summative assessment
c. Assessment of learning
a. I and II
b. II and III
c. I and III
d. I, II, and III
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9. Teacher Joanna asked her class to provide feedback on each other’s learning. Which form of
assessment was used?
a. Summative c. Peer
b. Objective d. Self
10. Teacher Noraida conducted an assessment to her Grade 3 pupils as she aims to describe the
standard reached by the learner at the end of instruction. Which form of assessment is being
described?
a. Formative c. Assessment for leaning
b. Assessment as learning d. Assessment of learning

(Answers can be found at the last page of this module.)

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to
o Describe the difference about assessment of, for and as learning.
o Describe some basic concepts used in educational assessment.

A. Theoretical Basis
 Zone of Proximal Development (DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015)
o This is the difference between what a learner can do independently and what he
or she is capable of doing with targeted assistance (scaffolding).
o The idea is that with constant feedback based on sound assessment
practices, students’ learning can continue to develop at an appropriate
pace until the students are able to independently display knowledge,
understanding, and skills.

B. Definition of Basic Terms

Assessment

 A general term that includes the full range of procedures used to gain information about
student learning and the formation of value judgments concerning learning progress (Linn &
Gronlund, 1995). It includes:
o Traditional paper-and-pencil tests
o Extended responses such as essays
o Performance of authentic tasks
 DepEd describes assessment as a process that is used to keep track of learners’ progress in
relation to learning standards and in the development of 21st century skills to:
o Promote self-reflection and personal accountability among students about their own
learning; and
o Provide bases for the profiling of student performance on the learning competencies
and standards of the curriculum.

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Evaluation

 Evaluation is a term that puts emphasis on the process of making judgments based on criteria
and evidence, while assessment puts greater emphasis on realistic and complex types of
performance tasks (Linn & Gronlund, 1995).

Classroom Assessment

 An ongoing process of identifying, gathering, organizing, and interpreting quantitative and

qualitative information about what learners know and can do (DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015)
 Encompasses measurement and non-measurements

Measurement

 Process of obtaining a numerical description of the degree to which an individual possesses a

particular characteristics (Linn & Gronlund, 1995)
 Concerned with quantitative descriptions (answers the question “how much?”)
 Does not imply judgments of the obtained results

Non-Measurement

 Concerned with qualitative information which results from techniques such as informal
observations
 Such information are not intended as replacements for tests and other procedures associated
with measurements but rather as complement and supplement

Test

 It is a form of assessment that refers to a set of tasks or questions intended to elicit particular
types of behaviors when presented under standardized conditions.

Testing

 This is the process of administering a particular set of questions to an individual or group of

individuals to obtain a score. The score will be the end-product of testing.

C. Assessment in the Context of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST)
 PPST is composed of seven (7) domains collectively and comprised of 37 strands that refer
to more specific dimensions of teacher practices.
 Of the 7 domains, Domain 5 is about assessment and reporting, which are further
composed of 5 strands: 1) Design, selection, organization, and utilization of assessment
strategies, 2) Monitoring and evaluation of learner progress and achievement, 3)
Feedback to improve learning, 4) Communication of learner needs, progress, and

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achievement to key stakeholders, and 5) use of assessment data to enhance teaching and
learning practices and programs.

D. Assessment vis-à-vis Outcomes-based Education (OBE)

 OBE is an approach that focuses and organizes the educational system around
what is essential for all learners to know, value, and be able to do to achieve a
desired level of competence (CHED< 2014).
 Assessment should reflect the learning outcomes (demonstrated results).
 Learning outcomes as focus of assessment should be SMART.
o Specific: Expresses exactly what the learner is going to show, perform, or
accomplish; hence, it must state a specific action that is observable (action verb).
o Measurable: Identify the deliverable, and focus on the evidence that learners will
produce.
o Attainable or achievable: Ensure that the outcome can be achieved.
o Realistic: Ensure that there are appropriate resources to successfully attain the
outcomes.
o Time-bound: Set time frame/completion date
 OBE recognizes the interactive nature of assessment between the students and the
teachers.

E. Learning Domains as Focus of Assessment

 In 1956, Bloom, et al. identified three domains of educational activities of learning.
These three domains may be thought of as KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes)
which are the goals of the learning process and are thus the focus of the
assessment process.
o Cognitive: mental skills
o Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas
o Psychomotor: manual or physical skills
 Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain comprised of six major categories of
cognitive processes, starting from the simplest to the most complex: Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
 In 2001, Anderson, et al. revisited the cognitive domain. The following are some
major changes:
o Changing the names in the six categories from noun to verb forms
o Creating (synthesis) becomes the highest level
 DepEd, through DepEd Order No. 8, series of 2015, suggests the use of the
cognitive process dimension of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy as a guide not only
in lesson development but also in the formulation of assessment tasks and
activities.

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F. Types of Assessment Procedures

 The following are some of the basic categories of assessment procedures
according to Linn and Gronlund (1995):

o According to nature of assessment

o Maximum performance
o Assessment procedures that determine what individuals can do
when performing at their best, such as aptitude tests and
achievement tests.
o Typical performance
o Assessment procedures that determine what individuals will do
under natural conditions such as but not limited to attitude,
interest, and personality inventories.

o According to form of assessment

o Fixed-choice test
o Efficient measurement of knowledge and skills, such as
standardized multiple choice test
o Complex-performance assessment
o Measurement of performance in contexts and on problems valued
in their own right, such as hands-on laboratory experiments,
projects, essays, and oral presentation

o According to its use in classroom instruction

o Placement
o Any assessment used to place students according to prior
achievement or personal characteristics, at the most
appropriate point in an instructional sequence or in a
unique instructional strategy
o Sometimes referred to as pre-assessment because it is
conducted prior to instruction or intervention to determine
prerequisite skills, degree of mastery of learning goals,
and/or best mode of learning
o Used to find out where to place the students in the
educational system
o Examples of this include readiness tests, aptitude tests, pre-
tests on course objectives, and self-report inventories.
o Formative
o Generally carried out at any time during the teaching and
learning process. Thus, formative assessment refers to

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ongoing forms of assessment that are closely linked to the

learning process as it is used to aid learning.
o Aims to see if the students understand the instruction
before doing a summative assessment.
o Results are recorded but not included in the computation
of grades (DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015).
o Can be an assessment for learning in which teachers use
assessment results to make adjustments in their
instruction.
o Can be an assessment as learning whereby students use
assessment to reflect on their own progress.
o Summative
o An assessment of learning which is generally carried out at
the end of a particular unit or a period of learning.
o Typically used to assign students a grade: thus, it is
evaluative.
o Made to summarize what the students have learned, to
determine whether learners have met the content and
performance standards.
o Results are reported to the learners themselves and also to
their parents/guardians, principals/school heads, teachers
who will receive the learner in the next grade level and
guidance teachers as well.
o At present, the components of summative assessment in
the public school system are: 1) Written work, 2)
Performance task, and 3) Quarterly assessment
o Diagnostic
o Aims to determine causes (intellectual, physical, emotional,
environmental) of persistent learning difficulties
o Examples of this are published diagnostic tests, teacher-
made diagnostic tests, or even the use of observational
techniques.

o According to method of interpreting results

o Criterion-referenced
o Assessment which describes student performance
according to a specified domain of clearly defined learning
tasks or a fixed standard.

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o Norm-referenced
o Assessment which describes student performance
according to relative position in some known group

o Other contrasting types

o Teacher-made vs Standardized Tests
o Teacher-made tests are those constructed by teachers for
classroom assessment (e.g. periodical tests) whereas those
designed by test specialists and administered, scored, and
interpreted under standard conditions are called
standardized tests (e.g. National Achievement Test).
o Supply vs Selection Tests
o Supply tests require the examinees to supply the answer
(e.g., essay test), whereas selection tests are types of tests
that require examinees to select the correct response from
a given set of alternatives (e.g., true-false, multiple-choice
tests).
o Objective vs Non-objective Tests
o Objective assessment is a form of questioning which has a
single correct answer, such as true-false answers, multiple-
choice, identification and matching questions, such that
equally competent examinees will obtain the same scores.
o Conversely, non-objective assessment is a form of
questioning which may have more than one correct answer
or more than one way of expressing the correct answer
which means that the score can be influenced by the
opinion or judgment of the person doing the scoring, such
as in an essay test.

G. ASSESSMENT OF, FOR and AS LEARNING

In recent years, the phrases assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and
assessment as learning have emerged to supplement terms associated with how
assessment information is used in the classroom.

 Assessment OF Learning
o Seen as summative assessment
o Usually done at the end of a unit, term, grading period, quarter, term or
semester

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o It is the assessment that becomes public and results in statements or

symbols (grading) about how well the students’ achievement against
outcomes and standards are.
o It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other
educators, the students themselves and sometimes to outside groups
(e.g., employers, other educational institutions).

 Assessment FOR Learning

o Seen as formative assessment
o Use of assessment tools to find out what their students know and can do,
their confusions, preconceptions, misconceptions, and gaps that they may
have to serve as basis for determining what needs to be done to move
student learning forward
o Teachers use this assessment to inform their teaching or align instruction,
provide descriptive and immediate feedback and direction to students
o Usually happens during the learning period rather than at the end
o Often done more than once and with varied techniques

 Assessment AS Learning
o Process aimed at making students become aware of how they learn, thus
becoming metacognitive (thinking about your own thinking)
o Involves goal-setting, monitoring, and reflection on their work, usually
through self- and peer assessment
o The teachers’ role is to develop independent learners by modelling and
teaching the skills of self-assessment so that students become self-
assessors.
o Assessment as learning helps students to take more responsibility for their
own learning and monitoring future directions.

ASSIGNMENT 1

Outline the concepts covered in this module and briefly describe each concept.
(100 points.)

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Answers to the Preview Quiz:

1. Zone of Proximal Development. DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 explicitly states the theoretical basis of
classroom assessment as the Zone of Proximal Development by Lev Vygotsky which is focused on
ensuring learners’ success in moving from guided to independent display of knowledge,
understanding, and skills.
2. Assessment as learning. In the situation, James is using the objective test as a form of self-assessment
to check and monitor his progress as he moves to the next lesson. Self-assessment is associated with
the concept of assessment as learning.
3. Option C. The behaviour contained in the learning outcome ‘will be exposed’ is primarily an action
that reflects an input and not an outcome. It is an action that will be done by the teacher.
4. Option B. Measurement is the most specific answer among the choices, as the situation is focused on
the process of obtaining a numerical description of the degree to which an individual possess a
particularly characteristic, which in this case is the achievement in Mathematics.
5. Option A. Identifying laboratory equipment is an activity involving recalling of facts. Thus, it is
considered to be in the knowledge level or the remembering level in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.
6. Option C. Option C is considered as a supply type of objective test. Other options are all considered
selection type of objective test.
7. In the present grading system of DepEd, the components of summative assessment, which are
recorded and used as basis of grades, are written work, performance tasks, and quarterly assessment.
8. Option B. DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 explicitly states that summative assessments serve as basis of
grades. Furthermore, assessment of learning is used to describe summative assessment, which is an
assessment of students’ attainment of standards/outcomes.
9. Option C. Among the choices, the closest to the idea of providing feedback on each other’s learning
is peer assessment.
10. Option D. Assessment of learning is summative assessment. It’s an assessment that results in
statements or symbols about how the students’ achievement against outcomes and standards are.
Assessment for learning and formative assessment, on the other hand, are usually done during
instruction to inform teaching and/or to provide feedback to students. Assessment as learning is a
process where students reflect on their work on a regular basis, usually through self and peer
assessment and decide (often with the help of the teacher, particularly in the early stages) what their
next learning will be.