Assessment and evaluation can be defined as functions performed by teachers to make wise decisions about their instruction and about their students. A fairly large portion of a teacher's time is consumed with assessment and evaluation processes.
The consequences of testing and grading students are immense. They can determine the colleges students attend, the careers open to them, and the lifestyles they ultimately maintain.
Evaluation specialists make key distinctions between formative and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation information is collected before or during instruction and is used to inform teachers about their students' prior knowledge and to make judgements about lesson effectiveness. Summative evaluation information is collected after instruction and is used to summarize how students have performed and to determine grades.
Because the decisions made are so important, it is essential that the information used by teachers to make judgements be of high quality. Measurement specialists use two technical terms to describe the quality of assessments and evaluation information: reliability and validity.
Reliability refers to the ability of a test or measurement device to produce consistent scores or information for persons who take the test more than once over a period of time.
Validity refers to the ability of a test or other device to measure what it claims to measure.
Theoretical and Empirical Support
There is an extensive knowledge base about the technical aspects of assessment and evaluation.
Studies show that external rewards, such as grades, can provide a strong incentive for students to perform work and can affect student learning.
Studies also show that external rewards can sometimes have negative effects, particularly with tasks students find intrinsically interesting anyway.
Most states today have testing programs that measure student achievement in grades 4, 6, 8, and 10. Information from statewide tests is often used to compare how well schools are doing. In some instances, scores on statewide tests determine a student's promotion to the next grade or graduation from high school.
Statewide and Schoolwide Assessment Programs
Most states today have testing programs that measure student achievement in every grade. Information from statewide tests is often used to compare how well schools are doing. In some instances, scores on statewide tests determine a student's promotion to the next grade or graduation from high school.
Standards-based education and frequent testing are believed by many to have positive effects on student learning. Some leading educators and teachers, however, believe that frequent testing may also impede learning.
Schoolwide assessment programs include the use of norm-and criterion-referenced tests usually chosen and administered by school district specialists.
Norm-referenced tests evaluate a particular student's performance by comparing it to the performance of some other well-defined group of students.
Criterion-referenced tests measure student performance against some agreed-on criterion.
It is important that teachers understand the advantages and disadvantages of various types of schoolwide assessment procedures and be able to communicate these to students and their parents.
A Teacher's Assessment Program
The teacher's own classroom assessment program includes features for collecting information that can be used to diagnose students' prior knowledge and skills, to provide students with corrective feedback, and to make accurate judgements about student achievement.
Formal tests to diagnose students' prior knowledge are more fully developed in fields such as mathematics and language arts. Asking questions, interviewing, and listening to students' responses as well as using portfolios are informal means of ascertaining what students know about a subject.
Corrective feedback is most useful if it is immediate, frequent, and communicated in nonjudgmental ways.
Testing students' progress and determining grades is an important aspect of teacher's work, and society expects it to be done well.
Specifics of Testing and Grading
A variety of guidelines exist for teachers to follow as they construct tests to measure student learning and make judgments and assign grades for student work.
General principles for test construction consist of making tests in harmony with instructional objectives, covering all learning tasks, making tests valid and reliable, interpreting test results with care, and using the appropriate testing items.
A table of specifications is a device invented by evaluation specialists to help teachers determine how much space to allocate to various topics covered and to measure various levels of student cognitive processes.
Teacher-made tests can consist of true-false matching, fill-in-the-blanks, multiple-choice and essay items. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Teacher bias in judging student work from essay questions is an important issue. To reduce bias, teachers should make their expectations for essay answers ahead of time, and use techniques to reduce expectancy effects.
When giving tests, effective teachers find ways to reduce students' test anxiety, organize their learning environments to be conducive to test taking, make instructions clear, and avoid undue competition.
Grading on a curve and grading to criterion or mastery are the two approaches used by classroom teachers. Each grading approach has its advantages and its shortcomings.
Testing guidelines--making sure there is congruence between test items and what is being taught, testing frequently, testing at all levels, being fair and impartial, and communicating clearly about testing and grading procedures--help teachers devise effective assessment and evaluation programs in their classrooms.
A Look to the Future of Testing and Grading
Currently, there appears to be a nationwide call for more accountability by schools and better and fairer ways to test and evaluate students.
Performance and authentic assessments, as well as the use of portfolios, are likely to replace the more traditional paper-and-pencils tests in the near future.
Performance and authentic assessments asked students to demonstrate that they can perform particular real-life tasks, such as writing an essay, doing an experiment, or playing a song.
Developing performance and authentic assessment devices is a difficult and complex task, as is making sure these newer forms of tests are valid and reliable.
New interest in accountability and testing has also led to the development of an "assessment bill of rights" to make sure that students are not harmed by educational testing procedures.
