ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION

OF LEARNING
UNIT 1 PART 2
 Assessment & Evaluation of Learning
CFE 3701/CFP 3721/CFU 3721

ELO 1
Define basic concepts of assessment
and evaluation, and analyze the
relationship between them
 Assessment related concepts
• Assessment • Verbs and assessment (these
• Criterion and norm- should be covered under Bloom’s
referenced assessment (types of taxonomy)??
assessment) • Evaluation
• Formative assessment • Descriptive statistics
(Informal and formal assessment) • Validity
• Summative assessment • Reliability
• Evaluation • Self-assessment
• Continuous assessment • Peer assessment
• Assessment for learning • Fair
• Assessment of learning • Sufficient
• Assessment as learning Grading
• Research
 Assessment related concepts
• Purpose
• To provide summative feedback for an individual student
• Provide data to improve to student learning
• Primary focus is on formative assessment (improvement)
• Provide data to make a judgment or decision.
• Primary focus is on summative (judgment).
• Add knowledge in a field, development of theory.
• ( Assessment, research, grading, evaluation)
 Assessment concepts
• Objectives
• By the end of the unit students should be able to:
• Define assessment & evaluation related concepts
• Discuss the underlying philosophies and approaches
to assessment
• Distinguish between different types of assessments
 Assessment defined
• Assessment is the systematic process of
documenting and using empirical data to
measure knowledge, skills, attitudes and
beliefs.
• What is evaluation?
• Evaluation focuses on grades and might reflect
classroom components other than course
content and mastery level.
 Defined (Cont.)
• In education, the term assessment refers to
the wide variety of methods or tools that
educators use to evaluate, measure, and
document the academic readiness, learning
progress, skill acquisition, or educational
needs of students
• Note: Any assessment plan or activity should
begin with an objective.
 What is assessment?
• In an educational context, it is the process of
observing learning; describing, collecting,
recording, scoring, and interpreting
information about a student's or one's own
learning.
The Role of Assessment in Teaching
• Assessment that enhances learning is as
important as assessment that document
learning.
• Hence teachers need to think about:
– Purpose
– Methods and
– Approaches to student assessment.
 Assessment should be seen as a process that
supports and enhances students learning,
not something that document what
students:
– know
– Understand and
– Can do.
• Assessment and teaching coexist in dynamic
interaction, each feeding and influencing the
other.
Definition of assessment concepts
• What does assessment mean?
• Assessment is the means we use to
gather information about how much our
learners have learnt (or how they are
learning).
• What instruments do we use to gather
assessment information?
• Assessment strategies such as tests,
exams, oral presentation, portfolio and
projects are the instruments we use to
gather this information.
• Reflect upon your own experience both as
an assessor and as someone who has been
assessed. Write it in your notebook.
 Assessment terminology
• Achievement Test
– A standardized test designed to efficiently measure
the amount of knowledge and/or skill a person has
acquired, usually as a result of classroom instruction
• Alternative Assessment
– An assessment might require students to answer
an open-ended question, work out a solution to a
problem, perform a demonstration of a skill, or in
some way produce work rather than select an
answer from choices on a sheet of paper
 Assessment terminology
• Aptitude Test
– A test intended to measure the test-taker's innate
ability to learn, given before receiving instruction.
• Assessment Literacy
– The possession of knowledge about the basic
principals of sound assessment practice, including
terminology, the development and use of
assessment methodologies and techniques,
familiarity with standards of quality in assessment
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Assessment Task
– An illustrative task or performance opportunity that
closely targets defined instructional aims, allowing
students to demonstrate their progress and
capabilities.
• Authentic Assessment
– Evaluating by asking for the behavior the learning is
intended to produce. The concept of model, practice,
feedback in which students know what excellent
performance is and are guided to practice an entire
concept rather than bits and pieces in preparation for
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Benchmark
– Student performance standards (the level(s) of
student competence in a content area.)
• Competency Test
– A test intended to establish that a student has met
established minimum standards of skills and
knowledge and is thus eligible for promotion,
graduation, certification, or other official
acknowledgement of achievement.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Criterion Referenced Tests
– A test in which the results can be used to determine a
student's progress toward mastery of a content area
• Criterion-referenced assessment
– an assessment designed to measure performance
against a set of clearly defined criteria.
• Cut Score
– Score used to determine the minimum performance
level needed to pass a competency test.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Descriptor
– A set of signs used as a scale against which a
performance or product is placed in an evaluation.
• Dimension
– Aspects or categories in which performance in a
domain or subject area will be judged.
• Essay Test
– A test that requires students to answer questions
in writing. Responses can be brief or extensive
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Evaluation
– Both qualitative and quantitative descriptions of
pupil behavior plus value judgments concerning
the desirability of that behavior
• Formative Assessment
– Observations which allow one to determine the
degree to which students know or are able to do a
given learning task, and which identifies the part
of the task that the student does not know or is
unable to do
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Grade Equivalent
– A score that describes student performance in terms of
the statistical performance of an average student at a
given grade level.
• Grading
– a rating system for evaluating student work; grades are
usually letters or numbers and their meaning varies
widely across teachers, subjects, and systems
• High Stakes Testing
– Any testing program whose results have important
consequences for students, teachers, schools, and/or
districts.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Item Analysis
– Analyzing each item on a test to determine the
proportions of students selecting each answer.
Can be used to evaluate student strengths and
weaknesses; may point to problems with the test's
validity and to possible bias
• Journals
– Students' personal records and reactions to
various aspects of learning and developing ideas.
A reflective process often found to consolidate
and enhance learning.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Mean
– One of several ways of representing a group with a
single, typical score.
• Measurement
– Quantitative description of student learning and
qualitative description of student attitude.
• Median
– The point on a scale that divides a group into two equal
subgroups. Another way to represent a group's scores
with a single, typical score. The median is not affected
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Metacognition
– The knowledge of one's own thinking processes
and strategies, and the ability to consciously
reflect and act on the knowledge of cognition to
modify those processes and strategies.
• Multidimensional Assessment
– Assessment that gathers information about a
broad spectrum of abilities and skills (as in
Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple
Intelligences).
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Multiple Choice Tests
– A test in which students are presented with a
question or an incomplete sentence or idea.
• Objective Test
– A test for which the scoring procedure is
completely specified enabling agreement among
different scorers. A correct-answer test.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Performance-Based Assessment
– Direct, systematic observation and rating of student
performance of an educational objective, often an
ongoing observation over a period of time, and
typically involving the creation of products
• Performance Criteria
– The standards by which student performance is
evaluated. Performance criteria help assessors
maintain objectivity and provide students with
important information about expectations, giving
them a target or goal to strive for.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Portfolio
– A systematic and organized collection of a
student's work that exhibits to others the direct
evidence of a student's efforts, achievements, and
progress over a period of time.
• Product
– The tangible and stable result of a performance or
task. An assessment is made of student
performance based on evaluation of the product
of a demonstration of learning.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Profile
– A graphic compilation of the performance of an
individual on a series of assessments.
• Project
– A complex assignment involving more than one
type of activity and production. Projects can take
a variety of forms, some examples are a mural
construction, a shared service project, or other
collaborative or individual effort.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Rating Scale
– A scale based on descriptive words or phrases that
indicate performance levels. Qualities of a performance
are described (e.g., advanced, intermediate, novice) in
order to designate a level of achievement.
• Reliability
– The measure of consistency for an assessment
instrument. The instrument should yield similar results
over time with similar populations in similar
circumstances.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Self-Assessment
– A process in which a student engages in a systematic
review of a performance, usually for the purpose of
improving future performance. Reflection, self-
evaluation, metacognition, are related terms.
• Standardized Test
– An objective test that is given and scored in a uniform
manner.
– Standardized tests are carefully constructed and items
are selected after trials for appropriateness and
difficulty.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Subjective Test
– A test in which the impression or opinion of the assessor
determines the score or evaluation of performance. A
test in which the answers cannot be known or
prescribed in advance.
• Summative Assessment
– Evaluation at the conclusion of a unit or units of
instruction or an activity or plan to determine or judge
student skills and knowledge or effectiveness of a plan
or activity.
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Validity
– The test measures the desired performance and
appropriate inferences can be drawn from the
results.
– The assessment accurately reflects the learning it
was designed to measure
 Assessment terminology(Cont.)
• Holistic Method
– In assessment, assigning a single score based on
an overall assessment of performance rather than
by scoring or analyzing dimensions individually .
–
• The term assessment refers to the full
range of information gathered and
synthesized by teachers about their
students and classrooms.
• Gathered through informal (observation
and verbal exchange) or
• Formal (homework, tests, and written
reports).
• Assessment is a continuous process tied
to instructions – improve students
learning.
• Assessment is the gathering,
interpretation, and use of information to
aid teacher decision making.
• Classroom assessment can be defined as
the collection, evaluation, and use of
information to help teachers make
decisions that improve student learning.
• Assessment is more than testing or
measurement.
• What is testing?
• Testing is a formal, organized procedure
for gathering information.
• Testing methods:
• include tests, portfolios, projects,
presentations, observations etc.
Measurement
• The process of quantifying or assigning a
number to a performance or trait.
• or a systematic process of assigning
numbers to behaviour or performance.
• It is used to determine how much of a
trait, attribute, or characteristics an
individual possesses.
 Evaluation definition
• Whereas assessment focused of
gathering and synthesising information,
evaluation refers to the process of
making judgements, assigning value, or
deciding on worth.
• For example, after assessment a grade is
assigned, which is an evaluative act.
• The process of judging the quality or
value of a performance or a course of
action, such as the quality of a student’s
essay as a result of assessment.
• It is the process of making judgements or
deciding on the worth of a particular
approach or student’s work.
 Evaluation def. ...
 The making of judgement about
quality-how good the behaviour or
performance is.
 Evaluation involves an interpretation
of what has been gathered through
measurement, in which value
judgement is made about
performance.
 Evaluation def. ...
• Evaluation is a judgement about what
each percentage correct score means.
–78% correct good, average or poor?
–Does 75 percent indicate
“proficiency”?
• Teachers’ professional judgement play a
role in evaluation.
• Evaluation process can be very formal or
quantitative, such as using a thermometer to
measure temperature, or can consist of less
formal process such as observation (“It is very
hot today”.
• A numerical score on a test such as, Tangeni
got 18 out of 25 items correct on the test.”
 Assessment vs Evaluation
• Evaluation occurs when students have
finished a task, whereas assessment goes
beyond evaluation (?) to include
gathering information about student
performance as they work and also when
they are finished.
Evaluation Assessment

• A value judgement • A judgement of

performance
measured against
criteria

• How good? How • Has it been

well? achieved?
 Classroom Examples of Assessment,
Evaluation and Action
• Assessment: During a grade 1 lesson, in which a
teacher is teaching the learners identify square
shapes, the teacher gathers information on whether
learners can identify square shapes. Suppose the
learners cannot identify square shapes.

• Evaluation: The teacher judges that it is not good

that the learners cannot identify square shapes in
order to move on to the next objectives which are
to name the different shapes and to identify objects
of the same shape.
• Action: The teacher decides that re-teaching is
necessary. Therefore, the teacher groups the
learners in pairs and they practice drawing big
and little squares, circles and triangles. The
teacher then helps them to learn how to
identify squares from among the other
shapes.

• Note: Without assessments it will be

impossible to tell whether any learning has
taken place.
• Baseline assessment – takes place before
learning commences and is used to
determine what learners know and can
do.
• It informs one where to begin the
teaching and learning process.
• Diagnostic assessment – takes place at
any time during the learning process.
• It determines the barriers to learning,
learning difficulties and/or learning gaps
that must be attended to.
• Recognition of prior learning (RPL) – in
practice, takes place in different ways.
• It recognises learning that takes place
either in work place or formal learning.
• The learner has to demonstrate that the
required learning outcomes have been
achieved.
 Basic competency (Grades 1-9)
Specific Objectives (10-11)
• What a learner should know, understand
and be able to do as the outcome of
teaching and learning.
 Assessment Approach
• A generic term used to describe various
groups of assessment methods (types).
Examples of assessment approaches are:
selected response items, constructed
responses, products, performances and
etc.
• Fairness
• It refers to an assessment that provides an
equal opportunity to all students.
• All students have the same chance of doing
well.
• That means interpretation of the information
is not influenced by race, gender, ethnic
background, handicapping condition or other
factors unrelated to what is being assessed.
• Assessment should remain unbiased.
• Example:
• How dumb is Mrs Netumbo when it comes to
foreign policy?
• Please describe your politician’s position on
foreign policy.
• Bias definition: prejudice in favour of or
against one thing, person, or group
compared with another, usually in a way
considered to be unfair.
• Bias is not only prejudicial (damaging), it
is often unfair.
• Biased people, because of their
prejudgments, often make bad decisions
about persons, groups or things.
• Assessment bias is present whenever one
or more items on a test offered or
unfairly penalize students because of
those students’ personal characteristics
such as race, gender, socioeconomic
status, or religion (and other attributes).
• Examination
• A formal assessment given at the end of
the term, semester or year which is
comprehensive relative to the
competencies covered in that year.
• Remember examinations are not
continuous assessments. (explain?)
 Types of examinations
• External Examination
• Internal Examination
• Regional Examination
• Circuit Examination
• Cluster examination
• After taking those exams one would be
assigned a mark: Promotion Mark
• The end – of – year letter grade in a given
subject.
Purposes of assessment
• To evaluate student learning (strengths
and weaknesses).
• To establish entry behaviour
• To evaluate teaching effectiveness – for
reinforcement.
• To motivate students
• To provide feedback to students, parents,
policy makers, sponsors, community.
• To maintain standards.
• To help with certification.
• To predict future performance/selection
• To be used qualify as ‘safe-to-practice’ e.g.
driving, nursing,
• To be used quality assurance system
• To diagnose student’s prior knowledge,
misconceptions, and interests.
• Monitor learning and provide feedback.
• Guide teacher planning.
• To facilitate learning together.
• For self-monitoring and self-direction.
• To measure students growth and to make
judgements.
• ! The overall purpose of assessment is to
facilitate in making a good decision.
• For diagnostic purposes: to use
information about learners' strengths
and weaknesses to provide information
which can feed in to planning.
• To let learners know what standards
they need to reach.
• To see whether learning objectives are
being achieved.
• To provide records for schools.
• To provide information to parents.
• To provide feedback to learners on their
progress (e.g. what they have done well
and what they need to improve)
• To provide feedback to learners on their
achievement (i.e. how much they have
learned at a particular point in time)
• To get information about learners' ability
to understand or use target language
structures or vocabulary.
• To help teachers know how to help their
learners.
• How would you define these concepts:
• Formative / Assessment for learning
• Summative/Assessment of learning
• Assessment as learning
• Which type of assessment engage
students more in the teaching and
learning process?
• Assessment for learning is the “process of seeking
and interpreting evidence for use by learners and
their teachers to decide where the learners are in
their learning, where they need to go and how best
to get there.”
• Assessment of learning is any assessment which
summarizes where learners are at a given point in
time – basically it is a snapshot of what has been
learned.
• Assessment as learning is an assessment that
begins as students become aware of the goals of
instructions and the criteria for performance. It
engages students in learning.
• Formative assessment – are collected before or
during instruction and are intended to inform
teachers about students’ prior and current
knowledge and skills to assist with planning , and
to help students guide their own learning.
• Not judgemental but providing feedback to
students on how they are doing. (what does this
mean?)
• It takes place during learning process and informs
planning of future learning activities.
• It goes hand with feedback and “feed forward” to
assist learners in improving their learning.
• It is on-going assessments designed to
improve teaching and provide students with
feedback throughout the teaching and
learning process (e.g. Quizzes, lab reports,
presentations).
• Informal formative assessment: oral
questions, the teacher marking exercise
books, observing learners, casual
conversation with a learner, recalling
previous work, discussing a new concept etc.
• Formal formative assessment: worksheets,
oral presentations, posters and assessment
of research.
• Summative assessment – are efforts to
use information about students or
programs after a set of instructional
segments has occurred.
• Their purpose is to summarise how well a
particular student, groups of students or
teacher performed on a set of learning
standards or objectives.
• Information is used to by teachers to
determine grades, and to explain reports
sent to students and their parents.
• Thus, it is usually given at the end of the
academic year or at a pre-determined time
in order to make a judgement of student
competency or evaluate the effectiveness
of instructional programs (e.g. Final exams,
entrance exams, regional and national tests)
•
• In contrast, summative assessment
documents what students have learned
at the end of an instructional unit.
• Summative is more formal and occurs
after instruction is completed.
• However, effective teaching requires the
use of both formative and summative
assessments. Why?
• We use information from assessment to
improve our teaching (formative) or
make decisions about whether learners
should pass or fail a grade (summative).
• Hence, as teachers we must always ask
whether our assessment achieves a
purpose that is educationally useful.
• The setting of appropriate, acceptable
and measurable criteria is one way in
which we can make assessment more
useful educationally.
• In short: Students engagement is closely
related to “formative” assessment.
• Formative assessment is what teachers
do when they obtain information about
student understanding during instruction
and provide feedback that includes
correctives to help students learn.
• It involves both formal and informal
methods of gathering information with
the purpose of improving student
motivation and learning.
• Comparing assessment of learning
and assessment for learning
 Assessment of Assessment for
learning learning
• Summative • Formative
• Certify learning • Describe needs for
• Conducted at the end future learning.
of a unit; sporadic • Conducted during a
• Often use normative unit of instruction;
scoring guidelines, ongoing
ranks students • Tasks allow teachers to
• Questions drawn from modify instructions.
material studied. • Suggest corrective
• General instruction
• Specific
• Used to report to • Used to give
parents feedback to students
• Can decrease • Enhances students
student motivation motivation
• Highly efficient,
superficial testing. • In-depth testing
• Focus reliability.
• Focus on validity
• Delayed feedback.
• Immediate feedback
• Summary • Diagnostic
judgements.
• Teachers (as assessors) should use the evidence
presented to them in both ways:
• Summatively: Like a judge, teachers assess evidence
and make judgements about whether candidates
can be released into the next grade or whether
they should be back. The judgement is presented
formally and publicly. The evidence must be strong
enough to defend if it is challenged.
• Formatively: Like an engineering assessor, teacher
must also suggest what more needs to be done to
repair the damage. A teacher-as-assessor operates
diagnostically by suggesting where the problems in
learning lie and what should be done to remedy
3. Criterion referenced assessment (grading to
criterion or mastery): Type of assessment
measuring the degree to which students
individually have achieved certain level of
competencies/proficiency/standards.
• Learners performance is compare to well-defined
standard (criterion).
• Criteria are used in assessment instruments such
as rubrics (a scoring guide).
• Learners are informed of the criteria before the
assessment takes place to ensure that they know
which levels of performance are required.
• Criterion reference refers to grading that is
determined by what level of performance is
obtained.
• There is no comparison with other students,
it is possible for all students to get the same
grade (SBS).
• The most common method of using absolute
levels of performance is called percentage-
based grading – mostly used in objective tests
following a scale.
• E.g. A 80-100; B 79-70; C 69-60; D 59-50, etc.
4. Norm referenced assessment: Type of
assessment whereby results of all learners
are compared.
• Norm referenced refers to as grading by
comparison to the achievement of other
students or level of performance.
• In the classroom, this means that the function
of each student’s grade is to indicate how the
student performed in comparison with the
other students in the class.
• It is done by ranking student performances
from highest to lowest and then assigned a
grades based on predetermined curve (e.g.
top ten percent will receive As, next Bs, etc).
• The problem of norm reference is that:
• Teachers uses other learners as standard for
assessment.
• Learners are ranked in relation to this
standard until the least proficiency gets the
bottom grade.
• It suggest that we should never have too many
really high marks or too many failures.
• The majority of the learners should have
marks close to the centre, the average.
• Name: Indila Kamseb
• Grade: 9D
• Position in class: 29/44
• Pass or fail: Pass
» Class average Student mark

• Oshindonga 45 60
• English 62 48
• Mathematics 53 55
• Natural Science 49 43
• Social Studies 61 66
• Design and Tech. 43 41
• Arts and Culture 56 73
• What does this report tell you about Indila
learning strengths and weaknesses?
• Which subject is most difficult?
• Is Indila among the stronger or weaker
learners in his class?
• Where in the report does Indila get compared
to others learners (to the norm)?
• Does Indila has any good teacher?
• Do you think that the class, as a whole is doing
well?
5. Continuous assessment:
• The term “continuous assessment” is used to
describe the constant process of assessment that
spans the entire learning process.
• Assessment starts when the learning starts and is
ongoing throughout the learning process.
Type of assessment (formal and informal) that is done
on a regular and continuous basis.
Formal assessment: Summative
Informal: Formative – quiz – recorded - it becomes –
formal – summative.
• CA spans the whole learning experience (it includes
all types of assessment) and is directly aligned with
the learning aims.
• Takes place at any time during the learning process,
whenever it is necessary or appropriate and is used
to inform the learning process.
• It can also be used to provide continuous feedback
to learners.
• CA
• Makes more use of criterion referencing than norm
referencing
• Makes use of a variety of assessment strategies
• Includes self-assessment and peer assessment
• Is an integral part of education experience
• Includes formal and informal assessment
• Is transparent and fair
• Values all learning activities
• CASS may be described as continuous
updating of learners’ performance.
• This does not mean more tests, but rather
different assessment methods to monitor
learners' progress throughout the year.
• It provides learners an opportunity to
demonstrate the ability to attain a skill.
• Continuous assessment is meant to be
integrated with teaching in order to improve
learning and to help shape and direct the
teaching and learning process.
• CA allows teachers to assess, in a classroom
environment, performance-based activities
that cannot or are difficult to assess in an
examination. E.g. there is not enough time for
a learner to create a sculpture during an
examination, but a sculpture can be
completed and assessed over one or more
terms.
Why called it continuous assessment
(CA)
1. It occurs at various times as a part of
instruction.
2. May occur following a lesson.
3. Usually occurs following a topic.
4. Frequently occurs following a theme.
Informal or formal??
 What is the relationship between
continuous assessment and
examinations?
Are meant to compliment one another.
Both assess objectives and competencies
specified in subject syllabuses.
CA predicts performance on the end of year
examinations.
There is an overlap between objectives and
competencies assessed during CA and further
assessed in an examination at the end of the
year.
CA provide information to improve teaching
and learning while end of year examinations
assess the achievement of the learning
objectives of the grade or school phase at its
completion.
Both CA and examination grades contribute to
the final promotion grade.
Informal assessment
• Procedures for gathering information
about learning that a teacher frequently
use on the spur-of-the-moment
(something done without planning) or
casually during classroom activities.
• These are not carefully planned.
• May include: questioning a student,
observing a student work, reviewing a
student’s homework, talking with a
student and listening to a learner during
a presentation.
What is a formal assessment?
 Procedures for gathering information about
the learners that are created with special
thoughtfulness and care and should be
closely matched to the basic competencies in
the syllabus.
 It may include short tests, quizzes, oral
examinations, performance assessment
tasks, examinations, projects and portfolios
 Alternative/authentic assessment
• Type of assessment that focuses on
performance processes and products that
often relate to real life situations/experiences
• e.g. portfolio, project, performance tasks, .
• It provides learners with a variety of opportunities
to demonstrate their competence in different ways
and in different contexts.
• It is realistic and relevant and involves learner
performance in real-world situation or simulation.
• Alternative assessment includes authentic
assessment, performance assessment,
portfolios, exhibitions, demonstrations,
journals, and other forms of assessment that
require active constructions of meaning
rather than the passive regurgitation of
isolated facts.
Course Work and Practical Assessment

• Work done by learners during the learning

process to demonstrate their understanding
and what they can do.
• It is usually evaluated as part of the student’s
grade in the course.
 Self assessment and peer assessment

• Self assessment: The ability of a learner

to observe, analyze and judge his/her
performance on the basis of criteria and
determine how she can improve it.
• It helps students with an opportunity to
identify and clarify own learning goals,
monitoring own progress and making
adjustment in achieving those goals.
• Peer assessment:
• Peer assessment is the assessment of
student work by other students.
• Take Note: peer assessment is not use to
save teachers’ time, but as self-
assessment strategy for helping students
obtain information about their learning.
• These types of assessment involve students in
all aspects of assessment, from designing
tasks and questions to evaluating their own
and others work.
• Developing assessment exercises, creating
scoring criteria, applying criteria to student
products, and self assessment all help student
understand how their own performances is
evaluated.
• Student learn confidently to evaluate own
work and that of others.
• Peer assessment enables learners to give
each other valuable feedback so they learn
from and support each other.
• It also provides an opportunity to talk, discuss,
explain and challenge each other.
• Both these assessments promotes
independent learning, helping children to
take increasing responsibility for their own
progress.
• It also improves inter and intra-personal skills.
 Reliability of an assessment
• The degree to which assessment results are
consistent.
• The marks from an assessment are consistent
when a learner receives nearly the same mark
if marked by another teacher.
• Example
• Suppose Ms Simataa is assessing her
students’ addition and subtraction skills.
She decides to give the students a
twenty-point quiz to determine their
skills.
• Ms Simataa examines the results but
wants to be sure about the level of
performance before designing
appropriate instruction, so she gave
another quiz two days later on the same
addition and subtraction skills.
 Addition Subtraction

Quiz 1 Quiz 2 Quiz 1 Quiz 2

Nia 18 16 13 20
Ma 10 12 18 10
Sii 9 8 8 14
Bob 16 15 17 12

Which scores are consistent and

why?
What is that Ms Simataa wanted
to assess?
• Reliability is concerned with the
consistency, stability and dependability
of the scores.
 Validity of an assessment
• The degree to which an assessment
actually assess what students have
learned in the course of their learning
processes.
• The extent to which a test measures
what it is supposed to measure.
 Learning objectives
• Definitions
• Learning/lesson objectives are statements
that identify what the students should know
(cognitive), feel (affective) or be able to do
(psychomotor) by the end of a module or
lesson.
• Competencies are the skills, knowledge or
abilities critical for producing key outputs.
 Setting objectives
• Teachers create specific classroom
objectives that are based on syllabus
competencies. Good written objectives
are made up of three building blocks --
conditions, behavior, and criterion (see
below).
• Setting clear and achievable targets (goal,
objective, competency, outcome,
expectation or standard) is the starting point
for creating assessments.
• In other words, you need to determine what
exactly your students should know or be able
to do.
• If clear targets are not set, you will never
know if the instructions and experiences in
the classroom resulted in a “bull’s eyes” or if
they missed the mark completely.
• There are many areas and types of
achievement that are targeted in schools,
including knowledge, reasoning,
performance, product development and
attitudes.
–Target area: Knowledge
–Example of behaviour: Spell words
correctly
–Possible assessments: quizzes, essays,
questioning
 Explanations and examples
• The Conditions define the materials that
will be available (or unavailable) when the
objective is assessed. What student will be
given or not given.

Examples

Without the use of a calculator...

Given a map of Namibia...
Given twelve double-digit numbers...
The Behaviour is a verb that describes an
observable activity--what the student will
do.

The behavior is usually stated as an action

verb, for example: solve, compare, list,
explain, evaluate, identify, define,
mention, describe (read page 26-27 in
the study guide).
• The Criterion (also referred to as Degree)
is the way of measuring whether or not
the objective has been achieved. The
criteria might be stated as a percentage
(80% correct), a time limit (within 20
minutes). For example, an objective
might be "Given a list of thirteen
political regions of Namibia (condition),
the student will locate (behavior) at
least seven of the regions correctly
(criteria)."
• Do it with a partner.
• By the end of the lesson students will be able
to identify the five most frequently occurring
parasitic infections in Namibia using a
microscope.
 Multiple intelligence
• Assessment is about what has been learned,
in what manner and how much of it.
• Understanding of type of intelligences guides
our teaching objectives and assessment.
• Howard Gardner identifies 7 different ways to
demonstrate intellectual ability.
• Helps to plan assessment?!
• Visual/Spartial
• Verbal/Linguistic
• Logical/Mathematical
• Bodily/Kinesthetic
• Musical/Rhythmic
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Visual intelligence
– Ability to perceive the visual
– Learners tend to think in pictures and create vivid
mental images to retain information (maps,
charts, pictures, videos and movies).
• Verbal/linguisitic
– Ability to use words and language
– Eloquent speaker and have good listening skills.
• Logical/Mathematical
– Ability to use reason, logic and numbers
• Bodily/kinesthetic
– Ability to control body movements and handle
objects.
• Musical/rhythmic
– Ability to produce and appreciate music
• Interpersonal (emotional intelligence)
– Ability to relate to and understand others.
• Intrapersonal (emotional intelligence)
– Ability to self reflect and be aware of one’s inner
state of being.
• Example:
• In a mathematics lesson, the teacher may use the
following forms of assessment:
• Cooperative learning (interpersonal intelligence);
hands-on activity (bodily/kinaesthetic intelligence);
reflection sheets (intrapersonal intelligence) and a
written test (logical mathematical intelligence).
• Learning domains
• All educational objectives could be classified into
three learning domains:
• Cognitive (intellectual processes) (knowledge +
values): Bloom has six cognitive performances.
• Affective (emotions and appreciations) (attitudes +
values)
• Psychomotor (skilled way of doing and moving
things). (skills + values)

• Each domain has level of difficulty (see table 1.1, p.

10 for possible verbs to test the level and pages 26-
 Principles of Good Assessment and
Feedback
• Must start with educational values.
• Encourage “time and effort” on challenging
learning tasks.
• Deliver high quality feedback information that
helps learners self correct.
• Encourage positive motivational beliefs and
self-esteem.
• Encourage interaction and dialogue around
learning (Peer and teacher- learner)
• Facilitate the development of self-assessment
and reflection in learning.
• Give learners choice in assessment – content
and processes.
• Involve students in decision making about
assessment policy and practice.
• Support the development of learning
communities.
• Help teachers adapt teaching to student
needs.
Read other principles in your Study Guide pages
29-32!!
 Principles of assessment
continue...
• Assessment must:
• Valid: be relevant to the standard as set in the
syllabus
• Fair: not present any barriers to learners
achievement.
• Current: be recent and related to what the learners
knows or can do at the time of assessment
• Reliable: produce the same results when judged by
more than one teacher or when evidence is judged
over a number of occasions.
• Show consistent of assessment results.
• The input processes are well organised and are
based on sound theoretical and educational
measurement principles.
• Sufficient: mean that the types of questions asked
and the spread of content definition cover aspects
of the work done during the term or year as
stipulated in the syllabus. taxonomy
 Lesson planning and assessment
• Assessment is critical and integrated part of the
teaching and learning process and cannot be
separated from what is being taught and learned.
• Assessment information must be used in a way that
inform teaching.
• When designing a lesson plan, plan assessment as
part of the activities being developed.
• What is important with assessment is quality and
not quantity.
• When developing assessment ensure that every
learner is given a fair and just chance to achieve
desired results according to their ability.
• Bloom taxonomy (classification) is one theory that
address different cognitive abilities of a learner.
• It classify thinking according to six levels of
complexity.
• They allow the educators to prepare better
objectives and, from there, derive appropriate
measures of learned capability and attainment of
knowledge and skills.
• Bloom’s revised taxonomy
• Remembering: remember previously learned
materials
• Understanding: Grasp the meaning of materials
• Applying: Use learning in new and concrete
situations
• Analysing: Understand both content and structure
of material
• Evaluating: Formulate new structure from existing
knowledge and skills
• Creating: Judge the value of material
• How do these assessment concepts linked up
together?
• Assessment
• Continuous assessment (CASS)
• Summative Fair
• Formative Criterion referenced
• Reliability Norm referenced
• Validity Tests, exams,
• Evaluation measurement