Assessment and Learning

2011

Assessment, Teaching, and Learning (ATL) is Chairman Edmund W. Gordon's vehicle for the promotion of conversations concerning possible relationships of educational measurement and assessment to educational policy and practice. This instrument of communication reflects a bias that Gordon brings to the leadership of the Gordon Commission on the Future of Education-i.e., assessment and measurement in education should inform and improve the processes and the outcomes of teaching and learning, primarily, and may serve other purposes, such as accountability. In the title of this bulletin, the publisher assumes that assessment, teaching, and learning are the three legs upon which pedagogy stands, and that these are symbiotic and dialectically related processes that are as interdependent as they are reciprocally essential. Teaching cannot proceed-nor can it be fully understood-without assessment. It is questionable that teaching has occurred if learning does not result. Improved learning should be the primary purpose behind assessment and teaching. Assessment should be informed by the needs, ends, and processes of teaching and learning.

1985

The idea of assessment as learning is discussed, along with the practical history of assessment, and how student assessments should be conducted. Background information covers the use of assessment in'business and government, as well as in education and psychology. It is proposed that assessment include: multidimensional sampling of students' abilities in action; observation and judgment of those samples on the basis of explicit criteria; and structured feedback, administered sequentially in relation to a learner's development. Each of these elements in turn must contribute to the growth of the students' ability to self-assess. Issues relevant to beginning, intermediate, and advanced learners are identified, and research on criteria, feedback, and self-assessment is reviewed. To help faculty design individual classroom assessments, consideration is given to: determining a specific ability or expected outcome, identifying component abilities, selecting or designing a stimulus and context, attending to developmental levels, developing criteria, providing for self-assessment, and judging performance and giving feedback. Included are guidelines for judging whether criteria are effective and an example of extending assessment beyond the classroom to a wider curriculum context. (SW)

Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2020

Professor Gordon argues for a significant reorientation in the focus and impact of assessment in education. For the types of assessment activities that he advocates to prosper and positively impact education, serious attention must be paid to two important topics: (1) the conceptual underpinnings of the assessment practices we develop and use to support learning and instruction, and ( ) the arguments and evidence we establish for their validity given the intended interpretive use. Such a focus highlights fundamental concepts that have long existed in the broader assessment literature -carefully defining and operationalizing our constructs and then validating the assessments of those constructs. What differs now are the conceptual frameworks, briefly outlined here, that can and must be used to guide both aspects of such work.

Unleashing the potential of continuous improvement in teaching/learning requires an appreciation of the difference in spirit between assessment and evaluation. Assessment is frequently confused and confounded with evaluation. The purpose of an evaluation is to judge the quality of a performance or work product against a standard. The fundamental nature of assessment is that a mentor values helping a mentee and is willing to expend the effort to provide quality feedback that will enhance the mentee's future performance. While both processes involve collecting data about a performance or work product, what is done with these data in each process is substantially different and invokes a very different mindset. This paper first looks at what assessment is and the various aspects involving. Then attention will be turn to evaluation and its components. Furthermore, it will look at testing as a tool used by both assessment and evaluation, lastly some differences between assessment and evaluation will be presented.

Assessment Practices in Education "We plan. We develop. We deliver. We assess and evaluate the results of the assessment. We revise, deliver the revised material, and assess and evaluate again. Perfection is always just out of reach; but continually striving for perfection contributes to keeping both our instruction fresh and our interest in teaching piqued."-E.S. Grassian Assessment is a fundamental element in the process of teaching and learning and is instrumental in enhancing its overall quality. Well designed assessment sets clear expectations, establishes a reasonable workload-one that does not drive students into rote reproductive approaches to study, and offers myriad opportunities for students to self-monitor, rehearse, practise and receive feedback. It is an integral component of a coherent and a sound educational experience. The paper attempts to highlight some of the foundational concepts and principles of assessment, assessment strategies and assessment literacy-in other words, what it is, why it is important to a teacher and how it is practised with reference to a good Language test. We have this notion that assessment often hinders the flow of teaching; but it is not so. There are so many assessment techniques that we consciously and unconsciously incorporate in our teaching strategies, however, at times we are unaware of the specific terminologies that go with them. The term raises some questions in my mind: How good or effective an assessor am I? Am I neglecting assessments while I teach? Am I able to draw a line between a smooth flow of instructions and at the same time keep an eye on the effect of instructions on the learners? Are these one to three hour tests actually valid form of assessment? If a learner fails a test does that mean that his assessment is negative? A commendable aspect of assessment is that it focuses on what students know, what they are able to do, and what values they have when they graduate to higher pastures in their academic journey. Let us not judge our students simply on what they know. That is the philosophy of the quiz programme. Rather let them be judged on what they can generate from what they know — how well they can leap the barrier from learning to thinking.-Jerome Bruner (Harvard Educational Review, 1959) Assessment does not stand in isolation from other acts that are a part of the process of learning, unlearning and relearning. Introducing multifaceted learning strategies in class would open up numerous vistas for learners with multiple intelligences and would certainly validate the process of assessments that are employed by the teachers. There is an urgent need to have a more constructive approach towards assessment planning and strategies.

1972

The success of the teaching and learning process depends on the ability of the teacher to use appropriate methods in the teaching process as well as assessment. With a wide range of assessment methods, every teacher must carefully select the right method in order to determine the progress of each learner before the end of the lesson, session, unit or course. Despite the differences or similarities in the assessment methods, it is crucial to remember that the assessment process should have goals that include improving the learning process for the sake of the learner. For this assignment, I will be comparing the Formative and Benchmarking methods of assessment as experienced and witnessed in my career.

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability

Assessment is a daily business in education and exists in different forms, for different purposes and on different levels. Generally, assessment implies observing the outcomes of something and assigning a value to what is observed (Stake 1991). Consequently, assessments do not provide objective data, but through the course of assessment, aspects without value become systematically divided from the aspects considered to have great value (Scriven 1991). In this process, policy makers, educators and other important stakeholders are provided with opportunities to give 'interpretations in an operational way' (cf. Lundgren 1990, p. 35), which means the information can be used for specific purposes to guide and improve certain aspects of education. This can also lead to a situation where other aspects may be concealed, or at least receive less attention.