1. What content do I need to cover?
2. What are the appropriate materials to use for this group of students?
3. What are the learning targets (objectives) for this lesson?
4. Are students learning the material?
5. What type of feedback do I need to give to students?
6. What grade should I give to students?
7. How effective was my teaching?

Some evaluation methods used to answer the above questions:

1. Review of materials used.
2. Informal observation of students.
3. Discussion with others.
4. Tests and results.
5. Review of objectives and activities.
6. Results from homework, in-class activities, and quizzes.
7. Dialogue with students.

There is a distinction between assessment, test, measurement, and evaluation that the general public is not aware of.

assessment - a broad term used to describe the process for obtaining information used in making decisions about students, curricula, programs, and educational policy.

test - a narrower concept than assessment; an instrument or systematic procedure for observing and describing one or more characteristics of a student using either a numerical scale or a classification scheme.

measurement - a procedure for assigning numbers (usually scores) to a specific attribute or characteristics of a person in such a way the numbers describe the degree to which the person possesses the characteristic.

evaluation - the process of making a value judgment about the worth of a student's product or performance.

Guidelines for selecting and using classroom assessments:

1. Be clear about the learning target you want to assess.
2. Be sure the assessment technique matches the learning target (objective).
3. Make sure assessment techniques match the needs of the students.
4. Use multiple indicators of performance for each learning target.
5. consider limitations of assessments when interpreting results.

Types of decisions for which assessments are used include:

1. decisions about policy (local, state, national)
2. decisions about curricula and programs (formative and summative evaluation)
3. decisions about students (managing instruction, placing, classifying, counseling, selecting, credentialing)

Assessment is a broader term that tests or measurement because not all assessments yield measurements (i.e., quantitative scores).

Tests can provide information about individuals and groups (however, assessing the group eliminates the valid assessment of the individual).

Measurements provide numerical scores to place students in the natural order they fall into in the real world.

There is widespread debate concerning the "crudeness" of psychological and educational measurements, but most specialists agree that if scores are backed up by research, they are valid.

Evaluation may or may not use tests/measurements and is much more subjective (based on inconsistency and bias).

formative evaluation - made during the design or development of instructional materials, procedures, curricula, or programs to modify or improve them.

summative evaluation - made after completion of materials, instruction, curricula, or programs to summarize strengths and weaknesses and inform consumers.

 

Educational Decisions About Students

Understanding features of different decisions helps one evaluate the assessment techniques needed to help make the decisions.

Instructional management decisions include:

1. Instructional diagnosis and remediation - assessments that provide information to determine if students need special remedial help or instruction.
2. Feedback to students - assessments which provide feedback to students about their learning by reviewing correct and incorrect performance.
3. Feedback to the teacher - assessments provide information in regards to how well the teacher is teaching and the students are learning.
4. Modeling learning targets - assessments inform students what you want them to learn.
5. Motivating students - assessments motivate students to study.
6. Assigning grades to students - the most obvious reason for assessments is to assign students some type of grade or level of achievement.

Selection decisions are made to determine which persons are acceptable and which are not based partially on the use of assessments. Results on the assessment should show a relationship to success in the program.

Placement decisions assign persons to different levels of the same general type of instruction or education and no one is rejected (vs. selection which includes rejection from a program). Most decisions in schools are of this type.

Classification decisions are similar to placement decisions but persons are placed in unordered programs. Classification is a more general term that subsumes placement (ordered placement with no rejection) and selection (includes rejection).

Counseling and guidance decisions use assessments to assist students in making career choices and preparing to do so. Usually a series of assessments are used for this purpose.

Credentialing decisions require assessment of whether or not students have reached certain criteria or standards of learning. Teacher certification also falls under this category.

Test Interpretation

There are 2 main ways to interpret the results of assessments:

Norm-referenced interpretations - describe performance in terms of a person's position in relation to a group that has been administered the same assessment.

Criterion-referenced interpretations - describe assessed performance in terms of certain criteria or tasks the student can accomplish.

Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced refer to how tests or assessments can be interpreted; they are not necessarily qualities inherent in the assessment. The two types of interpretation can be performed on the same assessment.

Norm-referenced interpretations rely on a norm group that serves as a reference point for a student's score or position (examples include percentile ranks, grade-equivalent scores, and standard scores).

Both types of interpretation are necessary to understand how well a student is learning. Norm-referenced interpretations aid decisions for special attention or resources, while criterion-referenced interpretations aid decisions about what to teach.

Additional Ways to Describe Assessments

items - questions, exercises, or tasks appearing on an assessment procedure.

response-choice - students choose among two or more alternatives.
constructed-response - students construct or supply their own answers.
completion items - students supply a word or phrase to complete a sentence.
short-answer - the student is required to write a short response.

No one type of item is superior over all the others for all purposes as each type has its own strengths and weaknesses.

objectivity - the degree to which every observer of a student's performance on assessment will give exactly the same report or result. There is never perfect objectivity as even machines make errors.

The more objectively an item can be scored, the less subjective (subject to scorer bias) it is.

standardization - the degree to which administration and scoring of an assessment is done uniformly at different times and in different places.

The purpose of standardization is to permit fair comparisons across students and situations. Again, as in objectivity, we are speaking of degree to which we can accomplish either.

Assessments can be administered to a group or to an individual.

Individual assessment procedures allow maximum interaction between assessor and student (but also require special facilities).

Group assessment procedures sacrifice rapport, personalized conditions, and clinical observation for increased efficiency and reduced cost.

verbal assessments - assessors observe the verbal response of students (e.g., defining words, explaining concepts, etc.).

performance assessments - focus on a student's ability to apply and use knowledge from several areas to make something, produce a report, or give a demonstration (they also require verbal language for directions and facilitating learning).

power assessments - time limits on assessments are generous (or nonexistent) to allow students enough time to consider each question and attempt to answer it.

speeded assessments - content is not of primary importance, but the speed with which students perform is.

Speeded assessments usually consist of easy items so as not to confuse rapidity with difficulty. Speed of performance becomes important only after students have mastered a task.

Many assessments are a mixture of speed and power and are called partially speeded assessments.

Assessments can measure a variety of human attributes.

Achievement assessments measure knowledge, abilities, and skills that are the focus of direct instruction.

Personality assessments measure attributes such as emotional adjustment, interpersonal relations, motivations, interests, and attitudes.

interests - preferences for particular activities.

values - concern preferences for "life goals" and "ways of life."

attitudes - concern feelings about particular social objects such as physical objects, types of people, particular persons, social institutions, government policies, and others.

Finally, good decisions require that that teachers learn the knowledge and skills needed to obtain and use high-quality information.

Teachers need competence not only in using and interpreting assessment results, but in selecting, changing, and crafting assessment procedures to suit teaching style, students being taught, and the school environment.

Appendix A contains Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students. These competencies are addressed throughout the remainder of the textbook.

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