1. Assessments-Purpose and Principles
Module 2
Khalid Khan
Modifications Al Strangeawys

2. Assessment-Purpose Three Classic Views Norman Gronlund (1968, 1993)
W James Popham (1995)
Derek Rowntree (1987)

3. Assessment-Purpose
Close relationship between Teaching-Learning and Assessment:
Instruction Assessment
Most Effective when :
Directed towards clearly
Designed to assess defined outcomes
defined outcomes
Congruent with the
Congruent with the outcomes to be assessed
outcomes needed
Designed to fit needs
Items are designed to fit student characteristics (e.g. reading level)
Based on meaningful
and relevant information
Provide meaningful and relevant info.
Informs regularly about progress
Remediation is provided
Early feed back is given
Periodically reviewed and adjusted if needed
Addresses Specific learning weaknesses –individual assessment
Provide useful information to teacher about instruction
N.E.Gronlund(1993)

4. Assessment Purpose: Norman Gronlund
Effective Teaching = good decision making
Assessments provide information needed to make sound decisions
Three critical stages:
Decisions at the beginning
Decisions during teaching-learning
Decisions at the end

5. Assessment Purpose: Norman Gronlund
Decisions at the Beginning
To what extent do students possess the skills and background knowledge required to begin
To what extent they have already achieved expected outcomes

6. Assessment Purpose: Norman Gronlund
Decisions during the teaching–learning sequence
On what tasks progress is satisfactory, where and on what tasks help is needed
Which students are having difficulties that require intervention?

7. Assessment Purpose: Norman Gronlund
Decisions at the End
Which students have achieved the expected learning outcomes and proceed to next ?
What grade/level needs to be given to each student ?

8. Assessment Purpose: W. James Popham
Criticises Gronlund – saying his approach provide ‘yesterday’s answers’
He proposes the following:
To influence public perceptions and effectiveness of education
To help evaluate teachers
To improve instructional intentions

9. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Singles out six purposes:
Selection through assessment
Maintenance of standards
Motivation of students
Feedback to the students
Feedback to the teacher
Preparation for life

10. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Selection by Assessment
To provide different educational
opportunities- e.g. entry to university, promotion
Warns about the ‘rejection tests’
Asks :
“ is this the case that a person’s job experience and achievements since gaining his qualification generally assume far more relevance and significance in selection for later career opportunities? ”

11. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Maintenance of standards
Criticises this purpose
Questions the meaning – maintenance and standards
is it the content /skills / new
knowledge generated /attitudes
displayed ? Is it some, none or all
of these?
Asks -how is it possible to keep standards when content and curriculum is constantly changing ?

12. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Motivation for students
Criticises
“ Assessments can be used as an instrument of coercion, as a means of getting students to do something they might not otherwise inclined to do, especially if unfavourable assessments can have unpleasant consequences”
(Rowntree 1987, pp22-23)
Asks shouldn’t we be encouraging students to become autonomous learners who take responsibility for monitoring their own learning

13. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Feedback for students
Argues that feedback to students is only useful if it includes verbal comments that are intended to be diagnostic, supportive and encouraging

14. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Feedback for teachers
Rowntree argues the case for formative assessments for feedback to teachers, to wait until all assessment are done is too late

15. Assessment Purpose: Derek Rowntree
Preparation for life
Strongly held view by many but Rowntree is wary of this purpose.
How much does the life out of schools/educational institutions reflect what happens inside schools/educational institutions
Adverse consequences of the very idea of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’

16. Assessment as social control: Patricia Broadfoot
Demonstrates that assessment is not value free but reflects (and gives shape to) social order that imposes particular assessment practices.
( think about socio-economic and cultural differences in our society and the kind of assessment practices we have)

17. Assessments: side effects
Rowntree identifies some of them as follows:
-- Prejudicial aspects
-- Student’s knowledge of the assessment
-- extrinsic rewards
-- competitive aspects
-- bureaucratic aspects
Others are
-- nature of specific techniques
-- giving of grades
-- reporting results

18. Assessment : Principles
Reliability and Consistency
Validity
Transferability and Relevance
Criterion/Norm referenced
Assessment criteria and rubrics

19. Assessment : Principles Reliability and Consistency
Reliability: if a student took the same assessment at a different time they’d get the same result
Consistency: It means different assessors would reach the same judgement when assessing a given task
Assessment criteria needs to be perfectly clear to markers and to students

20. Assessment : Principles Validity
Just as or perhaps more important than Reliability
Assess what actually needs be assessed
E.g: driving test: written test, reliable but not so valid; practical test, valid but not so reliable
SO Teachers need to make choices about validity and reliability when increasing one may reduce the other . . .

21. Assessment : Principles Transferability and Relevance
Transferability: skills demonstrated in the task can be transferred and shown in a different context
e.g. a student’s ability at e.g. ‘narrative writing’ demonstrated in one task should be the same when given a different task with the same assessment criteria
Knowing vs specific doing
As yourself, ‘what does this demonstrate about what the student ‘knows’ and ‘can do’, rather than ‘what does is show me about how well they can do this task’
Relevance: task has aspects of a recognisable context to provide a real sense of the real reasons of the assessment

22. Assessment : Principles Fair
Doesn’t discriminate or disadvantage people based on their background, assumed common knowledge, biased ‘marking’ etc.

23. Assessment : Principles Criterion vs Norm referenced
Criterion-referenced: particular abilities, knowledge, skills or behaviours are each specified as a criterion which must be reached
Norm-referenced assessment makes judgments on how well the individual did in relation to others.

24. Assessment : Principles Assessment Criteria and Rubrics
Criteria/outcomes: List of statements that describe the specific skills that need to be demonstrated
Rubric: a grid that described what achievement of a particular criterion LOOKS LIKE at a particular level
e.g. A, B, C;
Excellent, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory;
Above level, At level, Near level, Working towards level