The impact of assessment on learning achievement

2007

All over the world, educators as well as parents are becoming increasingly aware that the problem of what to teach, how to teach it and examine it has very much to do with the educational systems of the world. Similarly, educators are becoming increasingly aware that the children they teach do not learn the things we want them to learn as much. Research findings revealed that a good number of the children we teach who fail to learn what they are expected to earn, abandon their learning halfway to escape from the ordeal which the classroom subjects them to. Factors both from within and without the child influence the quantity and quality of the child's learning. Those from within the child include the child's intelligence and his personality traits, while those from outside the child include the environmental setting to which the child has been exposed. The learning process passes through three stages viz (i) acquisition (ii) retention and (iii) recall stage. In the final analysis, it is what we can recall that can form the basis for assessing the instructional outcomes of the pupils we have exposed to our instructional procedures. It is from the foregoing that this paper is set to examine the current trends of assessment style that is significantly different from the conventional ones with a view to providing solutions to the educational wastages. The findings revealed that assessment is a very vital part of instruction for it provides feedback information for the learner and the teacher. Apart, it revealed that assessment of learners will endeavour the teacher to know the standing point of individual students. The study therefore recommends that assessment should be carried out before the course, during the course of instruction and as well as at the end of the instruction.

Trust has commissioned a series of reviews of international literature. These reviews cover a range of topics related to school improvement including assessment for learning; the inclusion of students with special educational needs; effective teaching practice; school self-evaluation; and successful school leadership. 3 Assessment for learning: effects and impact 1 Black et al. (2004: 2-3). The Assessment Reform Group originated in 1989 as a voluntary group of researchers concerned with providing a research basis for decisions on assessment policy-making and practice in the UK. Their work has been closely related to teachers and educational practice in order to complement assessment theory with the needs and the wisdom of practice. Most of the texts selected for this review consider the ARG's conceptualisation of assessment for learning, either as their unique definition of the concept or intertwined and contrasted with the ones proposed by other authors.

Medical Teacher, 2011

Medical education research in general is a young scientific discipline which is still finding its own position in the scientific range. It is rooted in both the biomedical sciences and the social sciences, each with their own scientific language. A more unique feature of medical education (and assessment) research is that it has to be both locally and internationally relevant. This is not always easy and sometimes leads to purely ideographic descriptions of an assessment procedure with insufficient general lessons or generalised scientific knowledge being generated or vice versa. For medical educational research, a plethora of methodologies is available to cater to many different research questions. This article contains consensus positions and suggestions on various elements of medical education (assessment) research. Overarching is the position that without a good theoretical underpinning and good knowledge of the existing literature, good research and sound conclusions are impossible to produce, and that there is no inherently superior methodology, but that the best methodology is the one most suited to answer the research question unambiguously. Although the positions should not be perceived as dogmas, they should be taken as very serious recommendations. Topics covered are: types of research, theoretical frameworks, designs and methodologies, instrument properties or psychometrics, costs/acceptability, ethics, infrastructure and support. Preliminary statements Not so long ago, the main focus of assessment was on measuring the outcomes of the learning process, i.e. to determine whether the students had acquired sufficient knowledge, skills, competencies, etc. This approach is often referred to as assessment of learning. Currently, a second notion has gained ground, namely assessment for learning (Shepard 2009). In this view, assessment is seen as an essential and integral part of the learning process. The purpose of this article is not to elaborate further on these developments, nor to take a stance on it. The sole reason for highlighting it is that it makes the distinction between educational research and assessment research less clear. Therefore, it is inevitable that this article contains descriptions, positions and consensus that do not pertain exclusively to assessment research but may have bearing on more general educational research as well. So, although the remit for the theme group has been to focus on assessment, it cannot be avoided that some of its content is of more general pertinence. The terms assessment and evaluation are used interchangeably in the literature, yet can refer to different inquiries. Some languages have one word for both terms making translation difficult. The theme group on Research in Assessment has agreed that for purposes of clarification and consistency, the term assessment will be used to refer to the systematic determination of student/learner achievement and performance. The term evaluation will be used with reference to issues and questions related to programmes, projects and curriculum within which questions and issues of assessment of learners are nested and co-embedded with educational issues and questions related to resources, faculty, general institutional and programmatic outcomes as well as explanations of educational intervention.

The Repercussions of Assessment on the Teaching and the learning Process, 2017

Abstract. This paper explores profoundly the pivotal role that assessment plays in the educational process from different perspectives. Firstly, it defines the concept of assessment and points out the differences between assessment and evaluation. Moreover, explicates the impacts of assessment on the educational process and investigates the different levels of assessment and the role of each level in enriching the educational process. Furthermore, states the characteristics of an effective and efficient assessment tool and the practical ways of designing and implementing exams in a constructive and engaging educational environment. Additionally, this article differentiates between assessments in order to make use of them effectively.

Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research & Perspective, 2003

2001). The committee issuing this report was charged with synthesizing advances in the cognitive sciences and measurement, and exploring their implications for improving educational assessment. The article opens with a vision for the future of educational assessment that represents a significant departure from the types of assessments typically available today, and from the ways in which such assessments are most commonly used. This vision is driven by an interpretation of what is both necessary and possible for educational assessment to positively impact student achievement. The argument is made that realizing this vision requires a fundamental rethinking of the foundations and principles guiding assessment design and use. These foundations and principles and their implications are then summarized in the remainder of the article. The argument is made that every assessment, regardless of its purpose, rests on three pillars: (1) a model of how students represent knowledge and develop competence in the subject domain, (2) tasks or situations that allow one to observe students' performance, and (3) interpretation methods for drawing inferences from the performance evidence collected. These three elements-cognition, observation, and interpretation-must be explicitly connected and designed as a coordinated whole. Section II summarizes research and theory on thinking and learning which should serve as the source of the cognition element of the assessment triangle. This large body of research suggests aspects of student achievement that one would want to make inferences about, and the types of observations, or tasks, that will provide evidence to support those inferences. Also described are significant advances in methods of educational measurement that make new approaches to assessment feasible. The argument is presented that measurement models, which are statistical exam-ples of the interpretation element of the assessment triangle, are cuuently available to support the kinds of inferences about student achievement that cognitive science suggests are important to pursue. Section III describes how the contemporary understanding of cognition and methods of measurement jointly provide a set of principles and methods for guiding the processes of assessment design and use. This section explores how the scientific foundations presented in Section II play out in the design of real assessment situations ranging from classroom to large-scale testing contexts. It also considers the role of technology in enhancing assessment design and use. Section IV presents a discussion of the research, development, policy, and practice issues that must be addressed for the field of assessment to move forward and achieve the vision described in Section I.

2000

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 2004

The completion of the first ten years of this journal is an occasion for review and reflection. The main issues that have been addressed over the ten years are summarized in four main sections: Purposes, International Trends, Quality Concerns and Assessment for Learning. Each of these illustrates the underlying significance of the themes of principles, policy and practice, which the journal highlights in its subtitle. The many contributions to these themes that the journal has published illustrate the diversity and complex interactions of the issues. They also illustrate that, across the world, political and public pressures have had the effect of enhancing the dominance of assessment so that the decade has seen a hardening, rather than any resolution, of its many negative effects on society. A closing section looks ahead, arguing that there is a move to rethink more radically the practices and priorities of assessment if it is to respond to human needs rather than to frustrate them.

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.

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice,, 2008

Critical Quarterly, 2000