MATH 69:

ASSESSMENT AND
EVALUATION IN
MATHEMATICS
BASIC CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES IN
ASSESSING LEARNING
What is assessment in learning?

■ The word “assessment” is rooted in the Latin word assidere,

which means “to sit beside another”.
■ ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING can be defined as the
systematic and purpose-oriented collection, analysis, and
interpretation of evidence of student learning in order to make
informed decisions relevant to the learners.
■ In essence, the aim of assessment is to use on student learning
to further promote and manage learning.
■ Assessment in learning can be characterized as:
a. a process;
b. based on specific objectives; and
c. from multiple resources
■ Measurement can be defined as the process of quantifying the
attributes of an object.
■ Evaluation may refer to the process of making value judgement
on the information collected from measurement based on
specified criteria.
■ Assessment can be considered as an umbrella term consisting
of measurement and evaluation. However, there are some
authors who considered assessment as distinct and separate
from evaluation (e.g. Huba and Freed 2000, Popham 1998)
Assessment and Testing

■ The most common form of assessment is testing.

■ Tests can be classified as selected response (matching-type of
test) or constructed response (essay test, short-answer test).
■ A test can make use objective format or subjective format.
Objective Format Subjective Format
• Multiple choice and • Essay
Enumeration • Allows for a less
• Provides for more bias- objective means of
free scoring as the test scoring especially if no
items have correct rubric is used.
answers.

■ A Table of Specification (TOS) – a table that maps out the

essential aspects of a test – is used in the design and
development of a test.
TABLE OF SPECIFICATION (TOS)
■ A test is said to be good and effective if it has acceptable
psychometric properties. This means that a test should be valid,
reliable has acceptable level of difficulty, and can discriminate
between learners with higher and lower ability. Teachers are
expected to be competent in the design and development of
classroom tests.
Assessment and Grading

■ Grading can be defined as the process of assigning value to the

performance or achievement of a learner based on specified
criteria or standards.
■ These may include a learner’s performance in recitation,
seatwork, homework, and project.
■ Grading is a form of evaluation which provides information on
whether a learner passed or failed a subject or particular
assessment task.
What are the different measurement
frameworks used in assessment?
■ Classical Test Theory (CTT)

■ Item Response Theory (IRT)

Classical Test Theory (CTT)
■ Also known as TRUE SCORE THEORY.
■ Explains that variations in the performance of examinees on a
given measure is due to variations in their abilities. The CTT
assumes that an examinee’s observed score in a given measure
is the sum of the examinee’s true score and some degree of
error in the measurement caused by some internal and external
conditions. Hence, the CTT also assumes that all measures are
imperfect, and the scores obtained from a measure could differ
from the true score (i.e., true ability) of an examinee.
■ The CTT provides an estimation of the item difficulty based on
the frequency or number of examinees who correctly answer a
particular item; items with fewer number of examinees with
correct answers are considered more difficult. The CTT also
provides an estimation of item discrimination based on the
number of examinees with higher or lower ability to answer a
particular item.

■ Test reliability can also be estimated using approaches from

CTT. Item analysis based on CTT has been dominant approach
because of the simplicity of calculating the statistics (e.g., item
difficulty index, item discrimination index, item-total
correlation.
Item Response Theory (IRT)

■ Analyzes test items by estimating the probability that an

examinee answers an item correctly or incorrectly.
■ It is assumed that the characteristic of an item can be estimated
independently of the characteristic or ability of the examinee
and vice-versa. Aside from item difficulty and item
discrimination indices, IRT analysis can provide significantly
more information on items and tests, such as fit statistics, item
characteristic curve (ICC), and test characteristic curve (TCC).
■ There are also different IRT models (e.g., one-parameter
model, three-parameter model) which can provide different
item and test information that cannot be estimated using the
CTT.

■ In previous years, there have been an increase in the use of IRT

analysis as measurement framework despite the complexity of
the analysis involved due to the availability of IRT software.
What are the Different Types of
Assessment in Learning?

■ Formative Assessment refers to assessment activities that

provide information to both teachers and learners on how they
can improve the teaching-learning process. This type of
assessment is formative because it is used at the beginning and
during instruction for teachers to assess learner’s
understanding.
■ The information collected on student learning allows teachers
to make adjustments to their instructional process and
strategies to facilitate learning. Through performance reports
and teacher feedback, formative assessment can also inform
learners about their strengths and weaknesses to enable them to
take these steps to learn better and improve their performance
as the class progresses.
■ Summative Assessments are assessment activities that aim to
determine learner’s mastery of content or attainment of
learning outcomes. They are summative, as they are supposed
to provide information on the quantity or quality of what
students have learned or achieved at the end of instruction.
While data from the summative assessment are typically used
for evaluating learners’ performance in class, these data also
provide teachers with information about the effectiveness of
their teaching strategies and how they can improve their
instruction in the future. Through performance reports and
teacher feedback, summative assessment can also inform
learners about what they have done well and what they need to
improve on in their future classes or subjects.
■ Diagnostic Assessment aims to detect the learning problems or
difficulties of the learners so that corrective measures or
interventions are done to ensure learning. Diagnostic
assessment is usually done right after seeing signs of learning
problems in the course of teaching. It can also be done at the
beginning of the school year for spirally-designed curriculum
so that corrective actions are applied if pre-requisite
knowledge and skills for the targets of instruction have not
been mastered yet.
■ Placement Assessment is usually done at the beginning of the
school year to determine what the learners already know or
what are their needs that could inform design of instruction.
Grouping of learners based on the results of the placement
assessment is usually done before instruction to make it
relevant to address the needs or accommodate the entry
performance of the learners. The entrance examination given in
schools is an example of a placement assessment.
■ Traditional Assessment refers to use of conventional strategies
or tools to provide information about the learning of students.
Typically, objective and subjective paper-and-pencil tests are
used. They are often used as basis for evaluating and grading
learners. They are more commonly used in classrooms because
they are easier to design and quicker to be scored. In general,
traditional assessments are viewed as an inauthentic type of
assessment.
■ Authentic Assessment refers to the use of assessment strategies
or tools that allow learners to perform or create a product that
are meaningful to the learners, as they are based on the real-
world contexts. The authenticity of assessment tasks is best
described in terms of degree rather than the presence or
absence of authenticity. Hence, an assessment can be more
authentic or less authentic compared with other assessments.
The most authentic assessments are those that allow
performances that most closely resemble real-world tasks or
applications in real-world settings or environments.
What are the different principles in
assessing learning?
1. Assessing should have a clear purpose.
- Assessment starts with a clear purpose. The methods used in
collecting information should be based on this purpose. The
interpretation of data collected should be aligned with the purpose
that has been set.
2. Assessment is not an end in itself.
- Assessment serves as a means to enhance student learning. It
is not a simple recording or documentation of what learners know
and do not know. Collecting information about student learning,
whether formative or summative, should lead to decisions that
will allow improvement of the learners.
3. Assessment is an ongoing, continuous, and a formative
process.
- Assessment consists of a series of tasks and activities
conducted over time. It is not a one-shot activity and should be
cumulative. Continuous feedback is an important element of
assessment.
4. Assessment is learner-centered.
- Assessment is not about what the teacher does but what the
learner can do. Assessment of learners provides teachers with an
understanding on how they can improve their teaching, which
corresponds to the goal of improving student learning.
5. Assessment is both process- and product-oriented.
- Assessment gives equal importance to the learner
performance or product and the process they engage in to perform
or produce a product.

6. Assessment must be comprehensive and holistic.

- Assessment should be performed using a variety of strategies
and tools designed to assess student learning in holistic way.
Assessment should be conducted in multiple periods to assess
learning over time.
7. Assessment requires the use of appropriate measures.
- For assessment to be valid, the assessment tools ore
measures used must have sound psychometric properties,
including, but not limited to, validity and reliability. Appropriate
measures also mean that learners must be provided with
challenging but age- and context- appropriate assessment tasks.
8. Assessment should be as authentic as possible.
- Assessment tasks or activities should closely, if not fully,
approximate real-life situations or experiences. Authenticity of
assessment can be thought of as a continuum from least authentic
to most authentic , with more authentic tasks expected to be more
meaningful for learners.