ASSESSMENT IN STUDENT LEARNING 1

A Modular Approach

The course focuses on the development and utilization of assessment tools to improve the teaching-learning
process especially in education courses. It emphasis on the use of testing for measuring knowledge, comprehension
and other thinking skills. It allows the students to go through the standard steps in test construction for quality
competency assessment.

Lecturer: LOVELYN B. LASAC - CHEN

Email: lovelynchen7@gmail.com
Course Description: Assessment of Student Learning 1
Schedule/Room:

Chapter 2 – Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation in Outcome-Based Education

Course Outcomes
At the end of the topic, the students must have:
1. Distinguished among measurement, assessment and evaluation
2. Explained various approaches to assessment: assessment FOR, OF and AS learning
3. Explained various types of assessment procedure and modes of assessment.
Time Allotted: __ hrs

PRETEST

A. Each of the following statements refers to either (a) measurement, (b) assessment and (c) evaluation. On the
blank before each number, write the letter corresponding to your answer.

_______________ 1. Over-all goal is to provide information regarding the extent of attainment of student learning
outcome.
_______________ 2. Can help educators determine the success factors of academic programs and projects.
_______________ 3. Uses such instruments as ruler, scale, or thermometer.
_______________ 4. Used to determine the distance of a location.
_______________ 5. Process designed to aid educators make judgment and indicate solutions to academic
situations.
_______________ 6. Can determine skill attainment easier than attainment of understanding.
_______________ 7. Process of gathering evidence of student competencies/skills over a period of time.
_______________ 8. Results show the more permanent learning and clear picture of student’s ability.
_______________ 9. Objects of study may be instructional programs, school projects, teachers, students or test
results.
_______________ 10. Usually expressed in quantities.

MODULE CONTENT

With the change of focus in instruction from content to learning outcomes came the need to redefine and
clarify the terms used to determine the progress of students towards attainment of the desired learning outcomes.
These are measurement, assessment and evaluation.

Measurement, assessment and evaluation are essential to student success in education. The purpose of
assessment is manifold: Assessment yields rich data to evaluate student learning, the effectiveness of teaching, and
the achievement of the prescribed curriculum outcomes. However, assessment without evaluation is insufficient, as
the collection and reporting of data alone are not entirely useful unless the quality of the data is evaluated in relation
to the outcomes. To this end, teachers use rubrics, criteria, marking keys, and other objective guides to evaluate the
work of their students.
Measurement is a process of quantifying or assigning number to the individual’s intelligence, personality,
attitudes and values, and achievement of the students. In other words, express the assessment data in terms of
numerical values and answer the question, “how much?”.
Assessment is the process of collecting information about student learning (for example, through
observation, portfolios, pencil-and-paper tests, performance). Assessment is the gathering of pertinent information.

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 Evaluation follows assessment by using the information gathered to determine a student’s strengths, needs,
and progress in meeting the learning outcomes. Evaluation is the process of making judgments or decisions based
on the information collected in assessment.

2.1 Functions of Assessment

Assessments for Learning

Assessments are designed with a purpose. Some assessments are designed by teachers as assessments
“for” learning. The purpose of these assessments is, in part, to assist students in their progress towards the
achievement of prescribed curriculum outcomes. In such assessments, the tasks used by teachers should inform
students about what kinds of mathematical knowledge and performances are important.
As well, assessments for learning, help teachers to know where their students are on the learning
continuum, track each student’s progress, and plan what “next steps” are required for student success. Following
assessments for learning, teachers help students toward the achievement of a learning outcome by providing them
with further opportunities to learn. In this way, such assessments take a developmental perspective and track
students’ growth through the year.

Assessment as Learning
Some assessments for learning are designed specifically to encourage student involvement and provide
students with a continuous flow of information concerning their achievement. When students become involved in the
process of assessment, it becomes assessment “as” learning. Assessment techniques such as conversation,
interviews, interactive journals, and self-assessment help students to articulate their ideas and understandings and to
identify where they might need more assistance. Such techniques also provide students with insight into their thinking
processes and their understandings.

This kind of assessment is used not only to allow students to check on their progress, but to advance their
understandings, to encourage them to take risks, to allow them to make mistakes, and to enhance their learnings.
This kind of assessment also helps students to monitor and evaluate their own learning, to take responsibility for their
own record keeping, and to reflect on how they learn.

Teachers should keep in mind that such assessment practices may be unfamiliar to students at first, and
that the emphasis on their being actively involved and thinking for themselves will be a challenge for some students.
Such practices, however, enable teachers and students, together, to form a plan that ensures students are clear
about what they have to do to achieve particular learning outcomes.

Assessments of Learning
Assessments “of” learning provide an overview of a student’s achievement in relation to the outcomes
documented in the curriculum that form the basis for the student’s learning requirements. When an assessment of
learning achieves its purpose, it provides information to the teacher for the grading of student work in relation to the
outcomes.

Final assessments of learning should be administered after the student has had the fullest opportunity to
learn the intended outcomes in the program. Assessments of learning check for a student’s achievement against the
outcomes. It should be noted that any assessment for learning that reveals whether a student has met the intended
outcome can also be considered assessment of learning, and the evaluation of that assessment may be used to
report on the student’s achievement of the outcome. Assessments “as,” “for,” and “of” learning are what teachers do
in a balanced classroom assessment process.

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Figure 1: Assessment of/as/for Learning

2.2 Types of Assessment Procedures

There are ways of describing classroom tests and other assessment procedures. This table is a summary of the
different types of assessment procedures that was adapted and modified from Gronlund, Linn and Miller (2009)

Types of
Classification Function of Assessment Examples of Instrument
Assessment
Maximum It is used to determine what individual
Aptitude tests, Achievement test
Nature of Performance can do when performing at their best
assessment It is used to determine what individuals Attitude, interest and personality
Typical
will do under natural conditions. inventories; observational
Performance
techniques; peer appraisal
An assessment used to measure
Fixed- Choice
knowledge and skills effectively and Standard multiple-choice
Test
efficiently
Form of An assessment procedure used to Hand-on laboratory experiment,
Assessment Complex –
measure the performance of learner in experiment project, essay, oral
performance
context and on problem valued in their presentation.
Assessment
own right
An assessment procedure used to Readiness tests, aptitude tests,
determine the learner’s prerequisite pretests on course objective self-
Placement
skills, degree of mastery of the course report inventories observational
goal; and/or best modes of learning techniques
An assessment procedure used to Teacher-made tests , custom
determine the learner’s learning progress made test from textbook
Formative
,provides feedback to reinforce publishers, observational
learning ,and corrects learning error techniques
An assessment procedure used to
Use/Role in determine the causes of learners Published diagnostic test, teacher
classroom Diagnostic persistent learning difficulties such as –made diagnostic tests,
instruction intellectual physical , emotional and observational techniques
environmental difficulties
An assessment procedure used
Teacher-made survey,
determine the en-of- course achievement
Summative performance rating scale, product
for assigning grades or certifying mastery
scale
of objectives
Method of Criterion It is used to describe student Teacher-made tests, custom-
interpreting result referenced performance according to a specified made tests from textbook
domain of clearly defined learning task. publishers, observational
Example: multiplies three-digit to whole techniques
numbers correctly and accurately. -Cognitive
-Affective

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 -Psychomotor
It is used to describe student’s Standardized aptitude and
performance according to relative achievement tests, teacher made
Norm-referenced
position in some known group. survey test interest inventories,
Example: rank 5th in a classroom group of 40 adjustment inventories

2.3 Mode of Assessment

There are different types or modes of assessment used by a classroom teacher to assess the learning
progress of the student. These are traditional assessment alternative assessment, performance –based assessment,
and portfolio assessment.

(a) Traditional Assessment

It is a type of Assessment in which the student choose their answer from a given list of choices. Example of
this type of assessment are multiple –choice test, standard true/false test, matching type test, and fill-in- the blank
test. In the traditional assessment students are expected to recognize that there is only one correct or best answer
for the question asked.
(b) Alternative Assessment
An assessment in which students create an original response to answer a certain question. Students
respond to a question using their own ideas; in their own ideas, in their own word. Example of alternative assessment
are short answer question, essay oral presentation exhibition, demonstration, performance assessment and
portfolios. Other activities included in this type are teacher observation and student self –assessment.

Component of Alternative Assessment

a. Assessment is based on authentic task that demonstrate student’s ability to accomplish communication goals.
b. The teacher and student focus on communications, not on right and wrong answer
c. Students help the teacher to set the criteria for successful completion of communication tasks.
d. Students have opportunities to assess themselves and their peers.

(c) Performance-based Assessment

Performance assessment (Mueller, 2010) is an assessment in which student are asked to perform real-
world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills.

It is a direct measure of student performance because the tasks are designed to incorporate context,
problems and solution strategies that students would use in real life. It focus on processes and rationales. There is no
single correct answer, instead student are led to craft polished, thorough and justifiable responses, performances and
product. It also involved long-range, exhibit, and performance that are linked to the curriculum. In this kind of
assessment, the teacher is an important collaborator in creating tasks, as well as in developing guidelines for scoring
and interpretation.

(d) Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment is the systematic longitudinal collection of student work created in response to specific
known instructional objectives and evaluated in relation to the same criteria ( Ferenz, K, 2001).

Portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibit the student’s efforts, progress and achievements in
one or more areas over period of time. It measures the growth and development of student.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Task 1. Develop

Direction: Differentiate each of the following pairs by explaining the meaning of each and giving examples for further
clarification. Answer must be based on your understanding.

1. Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Assessment of/as/for Learning

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Maximum and Typical Performance
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Fixed- Choice Test and Complex –performance Assessment
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. Placement, Formative, Diagnostic and Summative Assessment
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
6. Criterion referenced Interpretation and Norm-referenced Interpretation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
7. Traditional Assessment and Alternative Assessment
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Task 2. Apply

A. List down three (3) activities or processes involved in each of the following:
(a) Measurement
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
(b) Assessment
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
(c) Evaluation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

B. Discuss the functions of assessment by completing the table below.

Assessment of Learning Assessment as Learning Assessment for Learning

Why assess?

Assess what?

What methods to
used?

Who benefits the

most?

Task 3. Reflect

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 A. In terms of the different types of assessment procedures, cite one (1) issue that can be observe inside the
classroom related to the assessment of students’ learning?
Types of Issues related to the assessment of
Classification Possible Solution on the Issue
Assessment students’ learning

Maximum
Nature of Performance
assessment
Typical
Performance

Fixed- Choice
Test
Form of
Assessment Complex –
performance
Assessment

Placement

Formative

Use/Role in
classroom Diagnostic
instruction

Summative

Criterion
referenced
Method of
interpreting result
Norm-referenced

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