DETERMINING PROGRESS TOWARDS THE ATTAINMENT OF LEARNING OUTCOMESINTRODUCTION 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 desires learning outcomes. These are measurement, evaluation and assessment.2.1 MEASUREMENT Measurement is the process of determining or describe the attributes or charabteristics of physical objects generally terms of quantity. When we measure, we use some standard instrument to. find out how long, heavy, hot, voluminous, co fast or straight some things are. Such instruments may. ruler, scale, thermometer or pressure gauge. When we mean we are actually collecting quantitative information relative some established standards. To measure is to apply a standard measuring device to an object, group of objects, and events situations according to procedure determined by one who skilled in the use of such device. Sometimes we can measure physical quantities combining directly measurable quantities to form derive quantities. For example, to find the area of a square piece paper, we simply multiply the length of one the side of paper by 4. In the field of education, however, the quantities qualities of interest are abstract, unseen and cannot be touch and so the measurement process becomes difficult; hence, need to specify the learning outcomes to be measured.For instance, knowledge of the subject matter 1 of measured through standar In this case, measurement procedure iS testing. The same concept can be measured in. another way. We— can ask a group of experts to rate a student's (or a teacher's) knowledge of the subject matter-in-a scale of 1to 5 with 1 being the 1 lowest and 5 the highest. In this procedure, knowledge of the subject matter. is measured through perceptions. o-. TYPES OF MEASUREMENTS Measurements can therefore be objective (as in testing) or subjective (as in perceptions). In the example cited, testing produces objective measurements while expert's ratings provide subjective measurements. Objective measurements are more stable than that repeated measurements of the same subjective measurements in the sense same outcome. For this reason many people prefer objective measurements over subjective measurements whenever they are available. However, there are certain facets of the quantity or quality of interest that cannot be successfully captured by objective procedures but which can be done by subjective methods e.g. aesthetic appeal of a product roject of a student, student's performance in a drama, etc. It follows that it may be best to use both methods of assessment whenever the constraints of time and resources permit.Whether one uses an objective or subjective assessment procedure, the underlying principle in educational measurement is summarized by the following formula: Measurement of Quantity or Quality of Interest = True value plus random error. Each measurement of the quantity of interest has two components: a true value of the quantity and a random error component.The objective in educational measurement is to estimate or approximate, as closely as possible, the true value of the quantity of interest, e.g. true knowledge of the subject matter. This is a tall order ind one which will occupy most of our time in this particular course.2.1.2. Measuring Indicators, Variables and Factors An educational variable (denoted by an English alphabet, X) is a measurable characteristic of 1 student. Variables may directly measurable as in X = age or X age or X = height of a stud However, many times, a variable cannot be directly measured when we want to measure "class student. F participation" of a those variables where direct measurements are not feasible. Introduce the indicators. An indicator, |, denotes the presence or absence o: measured characteristic. Thus: 1=1, if the characteristic is present , if the characteristic is absent For the variable X= class participation, we can let 11, la. In. denote the participation of a student in n class recitations and let X = sum of the I's divided by n recitations. Thus, if were n = 10 recitations and the student participated in 5 of these 10, then X = 5/10 = or 50%.Indicators are the building blocks of educational measurement upon which all other forms of measurement built. A group of indicators constitute a variable. A group variables form a construct or a factor. The variables which fa factor correlate highly with each other but have low correlations with variables in mother group. Example: The following variables were measured in battery of tests: X1 = computational skills X2 = reading skills X3 = vocabulary X4 = logic and reasoning X5 = sequences and series X6 = manual dexterity These variables can be grouped as follows: Group 1: (X1, X4, X5) = mathematical ability face Group 2: (X2, x3) = language ability factor Group 3: (x6) psychomotor ability factorThe first group is called "mathematical ability" factor second group is called a "language ability” factor while the group (with only one variable) is called a "psychomotor ability" factor: In educational measurement, we shall be concerned with indicators, variables and factors of interest in the field of education.2.2. ASSESSMENT The term assessment is derived from the Latin assidere which means "to sit beside" (Wiggins,1993). Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of students’ performance over a period of time to determine learning and mastery of skills. Such evidence of learning can take the forms of dialogue COR SCC a OS SEU CLE SSC CCC of journal entries, written work, presentation, research papers, essays, story written, test results, etc. UEC OUST UO Oa Sa Se WO Con Neo OU e LO CoSe L CU MECLUUoe CRC e OCU CSCS SSS UO SCE UUS CUOR c Ce C G Par aCe Roar en rt Oe CAUCUSES OU EWU UO CS SUC USL Uae eS aL DO EURO WCU eae Se eee Ua SUC understanding is much more complex. We can assess a person's knowledge in a number of ways but we need to infer from certain indicators of understanding through written descriptions. Assessment of learning outcomes will be treatedin a Ps2.3. Evaluatioun DTCC CURR OCMC CRTC MG ae process to give information regarding the worth, appropriateness, goodness, validity or legality of something for which a reliable measurement has been made. Evaluation is a process designed to provide Pe PO Ce Ce er Cr COM ere ee rey is to adopt, reject or revise what has heen evaluated. DC SCC Ue CORSO LU Oe ee COLL OM TD CTE SSCS MLC ee ae SRS oc amd PO ness of two remedial reading programs, correlation between achievement test results and diagnostic test results, and attributes of an effective teacher. Evaluation involves data collection and analysis and quantitative and qualitative methods. Evaluation can help educators PCT ER UG CSR Uae CCU eS UDR UC SR CRU CLC RL OU Cae aL a UE SU CU UC CCS CLS LOS UD ce TTS OO ee CUE WLSUT ES UC Ce UC Oc Oo Pe se OME RU Se CEL PM ki rhe CCR ta ct program are being attained while the program is in progress. Its main objective is to determine deficiencies so that the appropriate interventions can be done. SUES OG ee Ue ee OE CORO SCROLLS RCC CCR ES UE LCE LL We co questionnaire, survey forms, interview/observation guide and tests. Summative evaluation is designed to Torin EO Ch ein OE Ee ca OS CSCIC. Ae Ce SCC UC ae EC cc PO Se Ce UC US ES ESS CO Cg Ce SOREL CR GUS US CUR CR Le EC PCS ASS UU SCS en Cc eoMeasurement refers to the process by which the attributes or dimension of some objects or subjects of study are determined. Assessment is a process of selecting, receiving and using data for the purpose of improvement in the current performance. Evaluation is an act of passing judgment on the basis of a set of standards. Another way of saying it is "assessment is the process of objectively understanding the state of condition of a thing by observation and measurement. Evaluation is the process of observing and measuring a thing for the purpose of judging it and of determining its value either by comparison to a similar thing or a standard. Very often you measure what IS intended to be measured by means of a tool, review Measurement data to improve further current performance, then pass judgement (evaluation) based on a set of standards.2A Assessment FOR, OF and AS Learnings Approaches to Assessment The preposition "for" in assessment FOR learning implies that assessment is done to improve and ensure learning. This is referred to as FORmative assessment, assessment that jen while the teacher is in the process of student formation (learning). It ensures that learning is going on while teacher is in the process of teaching. Teacher does not lose anything if as he/she teaches he/she checks for understanding now and then. This is to ensure that before he/she proceeds further or comes near the end of the chapter, unit or course or grading period, the students understood the lesson. Iti tragic and waste of time if teacher just proceeds with his/her teaching presuming that students understood the lesson only to discover at the end of the unit or grading period that students after all did not understand the lesson. So much time has already been wasted.Besides, lack of understanding of the lesson must have been compounded because the "ABCs" of the lesson weren't mastered and teacher already proceeded to "XYZ". Too late to discover that at the end of a unit or a grading period the students did not learn what was expected of them. Formative assessment also includes the pretest and the posttest that a teacher gives to ensure learning. This is also termed pre-assessment. Why the pretest?It is to find out where the students are or determined their entry knowledge or skills so teacher knows how to adjust instruction. Why the posttest? It is to find out if the intended learning outcome has been attained after the teaching-learning process. If not all students have attained it,then teacher has to apply an intervention or a remediation. Why do these have to take place? To ensure learning, thus the term assessment FOR learning.Assessment Assessment FOR Assossms Assessment OF ‘Learning Learning Learning, YZ SL aa Figure 1. Approaches to Assessment In Assessment FOR Learning, teachers use assessment results to inform or adjust their teaching. When in the process of teaching, teacher discovers that the students did not understand what was taught, teacher adjusts her/his instructional strategy. One did not work and because it did not work and expects better results he/she has not to repeat the use of the same strategy.In summary, assessment FOR learning means teachers using student's knowledge, understanding and skills to inform their teaching. It occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify and ensure student learning and understanding. Assessment OF Learning is usually given at the end of a unit, grading period or a term like a semester. It is meant to assess learning for grading purposes, thus the term Assessment OF Learning. It is referred to as summative assessment. The effectiveness of summative assessment depends on the validity and reliability of the assessment activity and tools. Assessment AS learning is associated with self-assessment. As the term implies, assessment by itself is already a form of learning for the students. As students assess their own work (e.g. a paragraph) and/ or with their peers with the use of scoring rubrics, they learn on their own what a good paragraph is. At the same time, as they are engaged in self-assessment, they learn about themselves as learners (e.g. paragraph writers) and become aware of how they learn. In short, in assessment AS learning, students set their targets, actively monitor and evaluate their own learning in relation to their set target. As a consequence, they become self-directed or independent learners.By assessing their own learning, they are learning at the same time.