Assessment and Assessment and

Evaluation UNIT 13 TYPES OF ASSESSMENT AND

Evaluation
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EVALUATION

Structure
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Objectives
13.3 Types of Assessment
13.3.1 Based on Purpose
13.3.2 Based on Nature of Data
13.3.3 Based on Domain
13.3.4 Based on Measuring Standard
13.4 Authentic Assessment
13.5 Performance-Based Assessment
13.6 Outcome-Based Assessment
13.7 Alternative Assessment
13.8 Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)
13.9 Competency Based Assessment
13.10 Peer Assessment
13.11 Assessing Individuals in Groups
13.12 Tools for Assessment
13.12.1 Portfolios
13.12.2 Rubrics
13.12.3 Learning Logs and Journal
13.13 Grading
13.14 Let Us Sum Up
13.15 Unit End Activities
13.16 References and Suggested Readings
13.17 Answers to Check Your Progress

13.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit, we tried to brief you the concepts of measurement and
evaluation. Teachers conduct different types of assessment activities to assess
their students. But most of the assessment is done only on the basis of pen-
paper test. Even there are different techniques of assessment, teachers are
using same type of assessment for all the subjects at all levels. Through this
unit, we are trying to familiarize you with some assessment techniques based
on nature of data, purpose, domain, and measuring standard, etc. The unit
also focuses on assessment techniques to assess different abilities and tools
for assessment.

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Dr. P.D. Subhash & Dr. Sulekha Ram 115
Types of Assessment Types of Assessment
13.2 OBJECTIVES
and Evaluation and Evaluation

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

• explain the types of assessment based on different criteria;

• identify different assessment techniques to assess different abilities;
• define continuous and comprehensive evaluation;
• discuss different assessment tools to assess various areas of learning; and
• describe the concept of grading.

13.3 TYPES OF ASSESSMENT

During school life, many decisions are made by teachers, principals and other
concerned people about the students. The decisions are made on the basis of
valid information collected on each student that helps the personnel to group
the students on the basis of their excellence in different areas. Decisions can
be drawn based on most relevant data which will increase the accuracy and
unbiased decision.

In general, we can say that assessment is a process of gaining information

about learning of a student and making value judgments on their learning
progress. In order to collect details about the performances of students, we
use different methods like observation, pen-paper test, projects, assignments,
etc. Assessment includes qualitative and quantitative description about the
learning process of students. The process of assessment determines nature
and extent of student learning and development.

13.3.1 Based on Purpose

Periodic assessment of child’s progress is an integral part of the teaching-
learning process. Outcomes of learning should be assessed holistically. In
order to maintain an honest, motivating, unique and distinct profile of a child,
both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects should be given equal weightage.
The assessment process can be classified according to the variety of procedures
included in it. Depending on the purpose, the assessment is classified as
follows:

i) Formative Assessment
ii) Summative Assessment
iii) Diagnostic Assessment

i) Formative Assessment

The purpose of Formative Assessment is to know the progress of

students and teachers during the instructional process. It helps teachers
and students monitor their progress in teaching- learning process. Any
type of strategies and techniques like asking questions, unit test, class
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Assessment and Assessment and
test, observations, filling work-sheet, etc. can be used for formative
Evaluation Evaluation
assessment by a teacher. Continuous feedback on students’ performance
will help them encourage or strengthen their learning process and
remove or correct their misconceptions. It is equally important in their
success and failure. Based on the assessment a teacher can modify or
change their instructional strategy that enhances the performance of the
students. Since formative assessments are for improving the teaching-
learning process, the results usually are not included in the final grade.

From the above discussion, it is clear that formative assessment is

helpful to:

• diagnose and give appropriate remedy;

• provide scope for effective feedback;
• assure the active involvement of students in their learning;
• improve their teaching on the basis of the assessment results; and
• experiment various teaching-learning styles to determine what and
how to teach.

ii) Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is used for assigning grade or certifying student’s

achievement at the end of the course or a unit. It is designed on the basis of
pre-determined learning outcomes and used to check whether the students
have achieved the instructional objectives or not. Teachers use different
techniques for this purpose. It includes teacher made tests, standardized tests,
project reports, oral tests, pen-paper test, performance of students in
laboratory and various activities related to a particular subject. A teacher can
record all the information from these different sources in a portfolio or some
other way to summarize the performance of each student. Summative
assessment aims at grade or certifying students’ achievement. It also helps to
review or improve suitability of instructional objectives and appropriateness
of instructional strategies.

Table 13:1: Difference between Formative Assessment and Summative

Assessment

Formative Assessment Summative Assessment

Use throughout learning process to Use at the end of a learning process
provide feedback to assess learning against a
benchmark or standard
It is an assessment for learning It is an assessment of learning
Identifies gaps and misunderstandings Provides a numeric grade that
in the learning process summarizes how much a student has
learned

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Types of Assessment Types of Assessment
Demonstrates
and Evaluation
evolving understanding Gives overall results of classroom and Evaluation
of a topic instruction
Diagnostic in nature Evaluative in nature
Monitor student’s learning Evaluate student’s learning

Aims at enhancing learning Aims at measuring student’s

competency

Can assess more clearly what students No feedback on the learning process
have and haven’t learned

Check Your Progress 1

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Differentiate between formative and summative assessments.
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iii) Diagnostic Assessment

Before starting any topic/ class, a teacher should know how much the
students know about that particular topic. Ralph (1935) says “A
satisfactory diagnosis should be as specific as the desired outcomes
permit and as the possibility of localization of symptoms allow, so long
as the diagnosis is practicable.” If a student continuously faces learning
difficulties, a detailed diagnosis is recommended. Diagnostic assessment
is concerned with persistent learning difficulties. These difficulties can
be in reading, writing, arithmetic or in any other subjects. If a student
experience continuous failure, then teacher should understand that the
student is facing learning difficulties. These problems should be
analyzed and treated at the right time. A detailed and comprehensive
diagnostic test can be conducted to locate the area where the student has
problems. Various observation techniques also can be used for the
support of diagnostic test. Services of educational, psychologists and
counselors will be required for identifying serious learning disabilities.
Thus, the primary function of diagnostic assessment is to locate the areas
and causes of weaknesses of the students and formulate appropriate
remedial actions.

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Assessment and Assessment and
Evaluation Check Your Progress 2 Evaluation
Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) What are the different points to be considered by a teacher to prepare a
diagnostic test?
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13.3.2 Based on Nature of Data

Over the years, researchers use multiple methods to collect and assess data.
Data can be either quantitative or qualitative depending on what kind of
information is required. Evaluation methods can be classified as qualitative
and quantitative based on the nature of data obtained. One is more
appropriate than the other in different situation. Both can be used in a variety
of fields. Now let us reflect separately on quantitative and qualitative
evaluation in detail.

Quantitative Evaluation

In quantitative evaluation, the results will be presented in numbers. Since

different persons evaluate the same situation in the same way, human bias
will be minimum in the process of evaluation. Using of different statistical
techniques makes the results more reliable. It gives answer to the question
like who, what, where, and when, etc. It effectively deals with learning
outcomes related to knowledge and understanding objectives. Replication of
results is easily possible in quantitative evaluation.

Qualitative Evaluation

Sometimes it becomes difficult to measure anything in number form.

Evaluation based on collection and analysis of data not in number form is
called qualitative evaluation. This type of evaluation gives answer to the
questions ‘why’ and ‘how’. The evaluation methods depend on the nature of
the data obtained. Suppose a teacher has to give information about behavior,
attitude and characteristics, s/he may use qualitative methods like observation
(participant/non-participant), interviews, discussion, case studies, etc.
Qualitative evaluation is more subjective as people perceive things in their
own way and interpret in different ways. There are many subject areas where
qualitative evaluation can be used. Therefore, it is very difficult to assure the
accuracy of the results. It effectively deals with learning outcomes related to
application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
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Types of Assessment
Quantitative
and qualitative evaluations are used in variety of fields. When Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
quantitative evaluation is suited for some areas then qualitative evaluation
would be better for some other areas. Sometimes both of these become
equally important. Thus, according to the situation one will be more suitable
than the other.

Check Your Progress 3

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Why is both qualitative and quantitative evaluation important?
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13.3.3 Based on Domain

Scholastic and Co-Scholastic Assessment

Education aims at all round development of a child. All round development

means development in all dimensions, i.e., cognitive, affective and
psychomotor. Cognitive abilities include knowledge, understanding,
application, analysis, synthesis, creativity, and evaluation. These abilities are
assessed under scholastic areas. Affective and psychomotor abilities
comprise of life skills, co-curricular activities, attitudes and values assessed
under co-scholastic areas.

Scholastic area, purely related to academic activities, is associated with

different curricular subjects. Students are expected to achieve objectives of
cognitive domain. It can be assessed by giving assignments, projects,
observation, rating scale, written examinations, oral tests, debates, elocution,
group discussion, etc.

The progress of achieving affective and psychomotor objectives is related to

learner’s life skills, attitude, interest, values, physical and health is termed as
co-scholastic assessment. Observation, school interview, club activity and
portfolio analysis are some of the techniques used for this purpose.
Assessment of scholastic and co-scholastic areas help in developing the
ability of each child and enable them to apply these abilities in real life
situations.

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Assessment and Assessment and
Evaluation Check Your Progress 4 Evaluation
Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) What are the different aspects of assessment in scholastic and co-
scholastic areas?
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13.3.4 Based on Measuring Standard

Based on measuring standard, assessment can be classified as norm-
referenced assessment and criterion-referenced assessment.
Norm- Referenced Assessment
The results obtained from different measurement are interpreted based on
some standard already set. Norm-referenced assessment is designed to assess
relative performance of each individual learner on the basis of the group in
which the learner belongs. From this, we will get an idea of where the
particular student stands. Each learner is compared with the members of the
group. It does not give any idea of how far instructional objectives are
attained by the individual learner. (e.g. Krishna did geometrical construction
80% better than that of his class students). This type of assessment is done
for the purpose of ranking or ordering students in a class.
Criterion - Referenced Assessment
“Criterion-referenced assessment is deliberately constructed to yield
measurements that are directly interpretable in terms of specified
performance standards” (Robert Glaser).
In the case of criterion-referenced assessment, the performance of the learner
is done without comparing others. Each student is assessed on the basis of
pre-assigned criteria regardless to the relative performance of their group. It
is carried out to determine the ability of the learner to perform a specific task
or activity as per the prescribed situation or context. On the basis of ability, a
minimum standard is set and there is no numerical marking. This type of
assessment is used in competence-based courses and in the vocational
assessment (e.g., Krishna did 80% of geometrical construction).
Self -Referenced (Ipsative) Assessment
In many cases, it is important to know whether the learners have made any
improvement in their performance. The current behavior pattern compared
with the earlier behavior of a learner is called self-referenced (ipsative)
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Types of Assessment
assessment. The learners are compared with their own earlier performance. Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
It can be done in different ways such as to engage the learner in the same test
before and after undertaking a course or observe the progress in the overall
(average) grade scores throughout the entire course. Improvement could be
assessed for a particular subject as well as the whole course.

Check Your Progress 5

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Differentiate between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced
assessments.
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2) As a teacher, which kind of assessment do you prefer? Why?
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13.4 AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

Authentic assessment is a form of performance-based assessment which
measures meaningful, important and valuable cognitive achievements.
Learner must be given opportunity to construct knowledge, manipulate
different objects, experience and experiment beyond the classroom or school.
It stresses contextualized tasks in real world settings. That means it involves
methods or techniques for assessing achievement of students through
activities requiring application of acquired knowledge and skills.

If a teacher desired to assess communication skill in a foreign language, it

should involve the interaction of the student with foreigners of that country
(Chinese, German, etc.), but as it is not possible in a typical classroom
situation a simulated spoken interaction with teachers or between students
can be observed to assess their communication skill. Since authenticity is a
matter of degree, it is advised to give realistic contents to students which
helps teacher assess whether the learner can solve problems in different
situations.
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Assessment and Assessment and
Evaluation 13.5 PERFORMANCE - BASED ASSESSMENT
Evaluation

The meaning of this particular concept is revealed in the name itself, i.e. the
assessment is being made based on performance. The performance is
assessed by measuring to what extent or how the learner applies their
knowledge and skills that they learned from a unit or units during the
classroom instruction. Measurement of the useful and necessary learning
outcomes are assessed on the basis of performance only. For example, if you
want to assess student’s speaking skill you cannot do it through pen-paper
test.

Performance based assessment helps a teacher check the effectiveness of both

process and product of a task. Some of the chief attributes of the performance
like originality, problem formulation, manipulation of ideas, etc. cannot be
assessed by using only pen-paper test.

13.6 OUTCOME-BASED ASSESSMENT

Many of us ask a number of questions regarding teaching-learning process.
As everybody knows assessment is a process which gives answer to the
questions like “How effective was the method used? To what extent was a
program successful? “Does the new strategy make any changes?” etc. These
questions are related to the outcomes of a method/strategy and a programme.

Outcome-based assessment is a procedural way of assessment. It assesses to

what degree the education system has achieved the pre-designed (intended)
result. Outcomes can be in many forms. It depends on how the teachers/
stakeholders formulate the desirable changes in the learners at the end of a
programme. It can be in the form of changes in skills, knowledge, attitude,
behavior, etc.

For teachers OBA means:

• Concentrate on the key factors of curriculum;

• Making sure that all the activities inside and outside the classroom match
with pre-determined aims;
• Creating situations for demonstration;
• Balancing the gap between the upper and lower grade levels; and

Let us see what it means for a student:

• Know what are the expectations of teachers;

• Be ready to demonstrate what they know; and
• Try to achieve the minimum.

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Types of Assessment Types of Assessment
13.7 ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
and Evaluation and Evaluation

All the existing assessment techniques that we use normally will give an idea
of what students learned so far. It focuses on continuous progress of an
individual student. Alternative assessment goes beyond the knowledge
acquired by learners and gives information about to what extent they are able
to apply their knowledge. Alternative forms of assessment allow seeing what
the learner can and cannot do rather than what they do or do not know. It
focuses on applied proficiency, problem solving, and reflection. Instead of
giving factual knowledge to a specific question, it demands the learner to
make judgment regarding what knowledge and skills they need to solve a
specific problem.

Alternate assessment includes written and performance-based tests which

enable to measure how the knowledge they have attained rather than ‘what’
they acquired. Examples of alternate assessments are debate, case analysis,
reflective diary, portfolio, and multimedia presentation. Alternate assessment
is identified as a formative assessment tool since it gives feedback to the
students’ ongoing progress.

Check Your Progress 6

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
1) Cite some examples for alternative assessment.
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13.8 CONTINUOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE

EVALUATION (CCE)
The scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was introduced by
CBSE in 2010 with an aim of making children productive, responsible and
useful citizens of a society. It was formulated to reduce the burden of board
exams and make students learn stress free. CCE is exclusively a school-based
evaluation targeting holistic development of students. Holistic development
ensures not only the development of child’s cognitive abilities, but also gives
equal importance to co-cognitive abilities.

In Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation, the word ‘continuous’ means

the regularity, periodicity in the evaluation process. Students development is
a continuous
122 process and progress on various aspects should be assured from 121
Assessment and the beginning and continue through the entire span of academicAssessment
session. and
Evaluation Evaluation
Number of unit tests, formal and informal way of assessment during
classroom instruction, regularity of assessment, identification of strengths
and weaknesses, diagnosis of learning problems, suggestions of preventive
measures and testing and retesting will help teachers and students for self-
evaluation.

The word “comprehensive” means evaluation of student consists of both

scholastic and co-scholastic areas. Scholastic area includes subject specific
area in the cognitive domain like remember, understand, apply, analyze,
evaluate, and create. Co-scholastic area comprises affective and psychomotor
abilities like life-skills, attitudes, habits, interest, values and co-curricular
activities, etc. Thus, the scheme emphasizes on holistic learning rather than
testing. Evaluation is done for learning enhancement. It made a
transformation to produce citizens with good health, appropriate attitude,
different practical skills, and with desirable qualities along with academic
excellence.

What we learned about CCE can be summarized as:

• CCE comprised of two aspects ‘continuous’ and ‘comprehensive’.

• ‘Continuous’ aspect has two components ‘continual’ and ‘periodicity’. It
means evaluation takes place during classroom instruction to diagnose
learning gaps and weaknesses. It is mainly for improvement in learning.
Teachers can use different techniques like short time written test, oral
tests, quizzes, observation, discussions, assignment, projects, peer group
discussions, etc.
• This informal assessment is called formative assessment.
• The term ‘comprehensive’ refers to evaluation based on the performance
of learners in both scholastic and co-scholastic areas.
• Performance in curricular subjects (cognitive abilities) is evaluated under
scholastic area and affective, psychomotor abilities are evaluated under
co-scholastic area.
• One academic year is divided into two terms. Two formative evaluations
and one summative evaluation are carried out in one term. Formative
evaluations are conducted during classroom instruction with remedial
measures. At the end of each term, there will be one summative
evaluation.
• Marks will be converted into grades and each formative and summative
assessments are given appropriate weightage.

Check Your Progress 7

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
1) ‘Evaluation should be continuous’. Comment.
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Types of Assessment
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and Evaluation and Evaluation
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2) What does the word ‘comprehensive’ mean in CCE?
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13.9 COMPETENCY BASED ASSESSMENT

Assessing learner’s performance based on some predetermined competency
framework is called competency-based assessment. Well-defined competencies
and its behavioural indicators are the preliminary condition for this type of
assessment. Competency framework is bounded with long- term educational
goals and its vision and mission. These competencies should be interpreted
and contextualized according to the level of the learners. Let us consider an
example of a reality show. In a reality show a minimum group of participants
are competing for a period of time to become the winner. All the competitors
are selected as per some basic skills. At each level of competition, one or two
will be eliminated on the basis of their performance. This will be continued
till one becomes winner.

The main advantage of CBA is that it gives opportunity to each learner to

learn new things from experts. CBA is trying to find out whether a person is
able to do a task or group of tasks and how effectively they can do. Thus, it is
an ongoing & learning process which includes continuous construction of
knowledge and skills, assessment, learning and re-assessment.

13.10 PEER ASSESSMENT

A student judging their peers’ performance is termed as peer assessment. It
can be used as a collaborative learning technique because students not only
give feedback but also give suggestions for further improvement in their
work. It helps students improve the quality of their performance. Before
applying the peer assessment, some criteria should be framed on the basis of
object of assessment, product, form of assessment (formation/ summative),
scheme of assessment (marking/grading) and training of assessors. Effective
use of peer assessment helps teachers save time and it can be used for
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Assessment and classroom instruction. Students get quick feedback and it helpsAssessment
learners and
Evaluation Evaluation
increase their performance level. Everybody gets a chance to correct his or
her mistakes that helps in getting higher grade in teacher assessment. The
following are some of the statements which can be considered as the
assessment criteria.

• You consider you are delighted with the presence of a particular

individual.
• Neutral reaction.
• S/he is not your first choice.
• Last choice.
• Never have you liked to work with that individual.

13.11 ASSESSING INDIVIDUALS IN GROUP

Group work has become an inevitable part of our educational programme. It
can be in the form of an assignment, project work or group discussion,
presentation, collage, poster, etc. Assessment is done on the basis of how the
groups are performed. In group work the final product is assessed, not the
process. It is a debatable issue that how we judge an individual’s performance in
a group work. Final grade/marks we gave to the group actually reflect the
result of teamwork. This is the time to think whether this assessment does
justice to the development of an individual who participated in the group
work. The grade obtained by the group indicated that each individual’s grade
is identical. By getting identical scores it cannot be assured that each member
of the team contributed equally towards the work. This will benefit the free
riders from an excessive worker in the group. Therefore, even if it is a group
work, each individual should be assessed in a group and contributions of each
individual should be identified.
Peer assessment combined with teacher assessment is found to be effective
technique to assess individuals in a group work. For this, the participants
should be cleared about well-defined criteria/rubrics. It will help in
minimizing bias in evaluation.
Following are some of the points to be kept in mind by the teachers while
doing group work assessment:
• Frame a task according to the capacity of the group;
• Size of the group (Minimum number and minimum free riders);
• Specific learning objectives with assessment criteria;
• Proper guidance by the teacher (Opinion and advice of skilled and
experienced experts can also be provided if it is necessary);
• Periodical/formative assessment for improvement;
• Differentiate / highlight individual performance to discourage free rider
student;
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 • Consider
Types of Assessment student feedback; and Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
• Behaviour/attitude, attendance and creativity of individual participants.

Table 13.2: A blank format for peer assessment

Overall impression about the individual:

Bears Makes no
Indicators Outstanding Good Average Some Difference
(4) (3) Importance in the
(2) Group (1)
(5)
1. Quantity of
work done
2. Quality of
work
3. Attitude
4. Creativity
5. Technical
control

Deep and vast knowledge about the criteria for assessment make each learner
prepare their task accordingly.

Check Your Progress 8

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space given below.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
1) Explain how peer assessment helps to assess individuals in a group work.
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13.12 TOOLS FOR ASSESSMENT

Well-planned and systematic collections of students’ works into portfolios,
learning journals and learning logs serve as various assessment tools which
can be used on any level of teaching- learning process. The value of each
assessment tool depends on the purpose and nature of the task to be assessed.
A clear and well-defined criteria or guidelines make the assessment more
transparent and unbiased. Teachers can use these in their daily classroom
instruction as well as to assess the day-to-day progress of their learners.

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Assessment and
Evaluation
13.12.1 Portfolios Assessment and
Evaluation
Portfolios were used as an assessment tool since 1990. In earlier days, it was
used by visual and performing artists to show their skill abilities in the field.
Nowadays portfolio has become a prominent tool to assess students’ work.
Many teachers use portfolios in their respective curriculum areas. Portfolio is
a systemic and well-planned collection of student works which serve for
various instructional and assessment purpose. It can provide information
about student’s performance during a particular academic period related to
any subject. Care should be taken to include best pieces of work according to
the purpose, guidelines and criteria of assessment to get maximum value. It
can be a basis to provide information about a student’s short span of
academic year or more than that. Selected significant samples of work can
serve as a three-way communication among teachers, students and parents. It
gives clear-cut evidence of their child’s effort and progress of achievement.
A portfolio includes:
a) Well stated objectives
b) Criteria to be used
c) Guideline for inclusion of materials
d) Wisely selected pieces of work
e) Evidence of students’ role in selection of content and self assessment
Based on useability, portfolios are distinguished mainly as
1) Working Portfolio
It contains works in progress as well as finished work. Working portfolio
works as a ‘holding tank’ because it is a project and it is ‘in the works’.
This is the primary stage before display or assessment. It is prepared over
a structured content area with a major purpose of diagnosis. It intended
to demonstrate current accomplishments and progress that is useful for
formative assessment.
2) Best works (Display Showcase) Portfolio
This is the documentation of the best pieces of works of students.
Students experience the highest-level achievement by exhibiting their
significant creations. Contents in this portfolio usually include completed
products that are useful for summative evaluation.
3) Assessment portfolio
Assessment portfolio focuses on what a student has learned. It is used to
elicit mastery in any subject/ curriculum area. Contents of the portfolio
collection may range any period of time.

13.12.2 Rubrics
Rubric is a scoring tool which includes set of criteria to assess students’
work. It contains performance expectations for a piece of work. The whole
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Types of Assessment
work will be divided into different components and each component is Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
clearly described according to the characteristics of the work. It is an
assessment process based on performance which reflects process skills,
contents skills, working habit and learning outcomes. It can be used for
assessing any kind of performance because rubrics are very comprehensive in
nature.

Different components in the rubrics enable teachers to recognize the strength

and weaknesses of learners formatively. It makes the expectations of the
assessor clear to the students and also helps the students meet these
expectations successfully. It is very easy for the students to channelize their
efforts accordingly after the feedback from the instructors.

Rubrics are comprised of four components:

1) A description of the assignment/assessment;
2) Criteria that will be assessed;
3) Descriptions of what is expected for each assignment component; and
4) Performance levels indicating mastering of various components.

On the basis of purpose of assessment, mainly two types of rubrics are used.

i) Holistic rubrics

Holistic rubric is used when there is only one attribute to be assessed. It

gives a single rating score on overall performance of the learner. Quick
scoring will be done without any detailed feedback. When there is not a
single right answer or opinion, overall performance or quality and
proficiency of the work is assessed by using holistic rubrics.

ii) Analytic rubrics

Analytic rubric is used when different attributes are to be assessed.

Scores will be given for each criterion with detailed feedback. A
carefully designed rubric can offer a number of benefits to instructors
and students.

A sample of holistic, analytic and blank rubrics are given in table 13.3, 13.4 and 13.5.

Table 13.3: A Sample of Holistic Rubric

(Group Project Work)
Criteria Exemplary Advanced Proficient Developing Limited
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
Overall
participation
of the
individual

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Assessment and Table 13.4: A Sample of Analytic Rubric Assessment and
Evaluation Evaluation
(Assessing Prose Reading Skill in English)
Performance level
Criteria Attempted Acceptable Admirable Awesome
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Decoding
Fluency
Vocabulary
Sentence
Construction
and Cohesion
Pronunciation

Table 13.5: A Sample of Blank Rubric

Performance level
Criteria Level-1 Level-2 Level-3 Level-4
(1) (2) (3) (4)
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5

13.12.3 Learning Logs and Journals

Learning logs are a personalized learning resource for children. In the
learning logs, the children record their response to learning challenges set by
their teacher. Each log is a unique record of the child’s thinking and learning
(Wikipedia).

Learning journals is a collection of notes, observations, thoughts and other

relevant materials built-up over a period of time and usually accompanying a
period of study, it is personal and will reflect your personality and
expressions (Wikipedia).

Learning logs and journals are the record of personal experiences of learners
during the teaching- learning process. Learning logs and journals give
emphasis on personal experience, reflections and reactions about what they
have learned. It is used as a medium of reflection. Learning logs focus on
recording the step by step activities accompanied with questions and ideas. It
will be helpful to the learners for self-assessment by correcting their
mistakes. Writing learning logs and journals help the learners to strengthen
the quality of their learning and integrate theory and practical.
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Types of Assessment
Importance of writing learning logs and journals: Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
• It is a record of experiences. These experiences facilitate learning.
• Developing problem-solving skills, questioning attitude and critical
thinking.
• Enhancing inter-cognition and reflection.
• Improving the ability of self-expression and self-empowerment.
• It works as a means of communication between one learner and the
other.

Fig. 13.1: Format of journal writing

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Assessment and Assessment and
Evaluation Check Your Progress 9 Evaluation
Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Write any two purposes that might be served by a portfolio.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………

13.13 GRADING
Grades are standardized measurement of varying levels of comprehension
within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in different ways such as a
letter (A,B,C,D, etc.), in percentage, as a scale (5.0-1.0), as description
(excellent, very good, good, average, satisfactory, needs improvement, etc.).
Most of the time it was found that evaluation stressed only cognitive aspects
of learning and numerical marking. Therefore, National Curriculum
Framework (NCF) 2005 introduced grading system in schools to reduce
examination pressure and negative assumptions about marking 0-100.
Grading is a system of assigning a degree using symbols of measurement of
achievement of students. Care will be taken to define each symbols used
uniformly and precisely so that all the concerned people can understand the
meaning of each symbol communicate meaningfully. The grading pattern
will be different for different departments/institutions. As far as school and
educational institutions are concerned, a general pattern of grading system
can be adopted. The grading pattern followed by CBSE for scholastic
achievement is given in table 13.6.

Table 13.6: Grading pattern by CBSE for Scholastic Achievement

Marks range Grade Grade Point

91-100 A1 10
81-90 A2 9
71-80 B1 8
61-70 B2 7
51-60 C1 6
41-50 C2 5
31-40 D 4
21-32 E1 Fail
00-20 E2 Fail
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Types of Assessment
Suppose we specify a grade to a particular student. What function does it do? Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
i) Compares student’s performance with some absolute standard or a
relative standard of the specified group already defined.
ii) Quality of performance on the basis of effort and achievement.
iii) Quality of knowledge or learning attained at the end of any instructional
process.

Check Your Progress 10

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided after each item.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.

1) Mention some of the academic areas where grading is better than marking
for assessment.

…………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………

13.14 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, you have studied the basic concepts of assessment and
evaluation. Assessments can be classified on different criteria. Based on
purpose, assessments can be categorized as formative, summative and
diagnostic. Nature of data is the basis for qualitative and quantitative
evaluation. Scholastic and co- scholastic abilities should be assessed to get a
complete profile of a child. In self-referenced assessment, the learner
compared his/her own present performance with earlier performance.
Performance based assessment helps a teacher to check the effectiveness of
both process and product of a task. It assesses to what degree the education
system has achieved the pre-designed (intended) result. When you deal with
alternative assessment, it goes beyond the knowledge acquired by learners
and gives information about to what extend they are able to apply their
knowledge. CCE comprised of two aspects ‘continuous’ and
‘comprehensive’. CBA is trying to find out whether a person is able to do a
task or group of tasks and how effectively they can do. When students judge
their peers’ performance, it is termed as peer assessment. Peer assessment
combined with teacher assessment is found to be effective technique to assess
individuals in a group work. Well-planned and systematic collections of
students’ works as portfolios, learning journals and learning logs can be used
on any level of teaching- learning process. By coming to the end, you have
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Assessment and Assessment
come across with grading which is a system of assigning a grade using and
Evaluation Evaluation
symbols of measurement of achievement of students.

13.15 UNIT-END ACTIVITIES

1) Construct a scoring rubric for an essay question in any subject of your
choice.
2) Classify each of the following into formative, summative and diagnostic
assessment:
a) A term end examination.
b) A class test to locate difficult area in solving linear equations.
c) Conducting science quiz by a science teacher during the
instructional process.
d) Preparation of a portfolio at the end of a course.
e) Teacher conducts reading test to find out errors in reading skills.
f) Giving surprise test on any topic/unit.
3) If possible, try to get two or more portfolios used by students during their
course with guidelines, purpose, scoring criteria, given by their teacher
educators(student self-evaluation and reflections are also recommended).
Analyze and discuss with colleagues about strengths and weaknesses of
these portfolios and suggest changes if required.
4) Imagine that pen-paper tests are going to be abolished at all educational
levels, discuss its direct and indirect consequences on students, and
teachers.

13.16 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED

READINGS
 Woolfolk, A. (2014). Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Allyn &
Bacon.
 Agrawal, M. (2004). Curricular reform in schools: The importance of
evaluation. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 36 (3), pp. 361–379 .
 ARG (2002) .Assessment for learning: 10 Principles, research-based
principles to guide classroom practice. Retrieved from http://
www.assessment-reform-group.org.uk
 Bhattacharjee A. and Sarma N. (2010). Status of Co-Scholastic Activities
in The School Programme of The Elementary Schools. Journal of All
India Association of Educational Research, 22(1), pp. 61-65. Retrieved
from http:/ /www.ejournal.aiaer.net/vol22110/8.pdf.
 CBSE. (2010). Manual for Teachers on School Based Assessment
Classes VI To VIII. New Delhi: CBSE

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Types of Assessment
 Dingel, M. & Wei, W. (2014). Influences on peer evaluation in a group Types of Assessment
and Evaluation and Evaluation
project: An exploration of leadership, demographics and course
performance. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education Vol.39,(6),
pp. 729-742.
 Davies, W.M. (2009). Group work as a form of assessment: Common
problems and recommended solutions. Higher Education 58:563–584.
 Gronlund, W., Miller, M.D., & Linn, R.L. (2013). Measurement and
Assessment in Teaching. Nether Lands: Pearson.
 Cohen, L., Manion, L.& Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in
education. New York, NY: Routledge.
 NCERT. (2008). Source Book on Assessment. New Delhi: NCERT.
 NCERT (2000). National Curriculum Framework for School Education
– 2000, New Delhi: NCERT
 Palm, T. (2008). "Performance assessment and authentic assessment: A
conceptual analysis of The Literature." Practical Assessment Research
and Evaluation, 13(4).
 Ralph W. Tyler. (1935). “Characteristics of a satisfactory diagnosis”,
educational diagnosis.34th Yearbook: Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
 Smith, S.L. (1994). Authentic assessment Vs. Traditional assessment
among students. (n.p.): Mercer University.
 Stevens, D. & Levi, A. (2013). Introduction to rubrics: An assessment
tool to save grading time, convey effective feedback, and promote student
learning. Virginia: Stylus.
 VedPrakash, et. al. (2000). Grading in schools. New Delhi: NCERT
 Walvoord, B. E. F., & Anderson, V.J. (1998). Effective grading: A tool
for learning and assessment. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
 Zhang, B., & Ohland, M.W. (2009). How to assign individualized scores
on a group project: An empirical evaluation. Applied Measurement in
Education, Vol.22(3), 290-308.

13.17 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress 1
1) Refer table 13.1
Check Your Progress 2
1) Areas of learning difficulties.
Different learning points
Time available
Remedial techniques
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Assessment and Check Your Progress 3 Assessment and
Evaluation Evaluation
1) Quantitative and qualitative evaluations are used according to the nature
of data available. To assess different aspects of learning and
development both are important.
Check Your Progress 4
1) Scholastic assessment-Assessing cognitive abilities which includes
knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation,
and creativity objectives. It is related to academic activities associated
with different curricular subjects.
Co-scholastic assessment – Assessing affective and psychomotor
abilities include lifeskills, co-curricular activities, attitudes and values.

Check Your Progress 5

1) Norm referenced Criterion referenced

 Covers large domain of  Focuses on a delimited domain of

learning tasks. learning tasks.
 Emphasizes  Emphasizes description of what
discrimination among learning tasks individuals can and
individuals in terms of cannot perform.
relative level of learning.  Interpretation requires a clearly
 Interpretation requires a defined and delimited
clearly defined group. achievement domain.

2) Write your own argument.

Check Your Progress 6

1) Case analysis, debates, projects etc.
Check Your Progress 7
1) Learner’s development is continuous and progress on various aspects
should be assessed from the beginning and continue throughout the
entire span of academic session.
2) Comprehensive evaluation means evaluation of both scholastic and co-
scholastic areas. All the domains are to be assessed.
Check Your Progress 8
1) A well-designed peer assessment criterion removes the bias in the
assessment process and reduces the number of free riders.
Check Your Progress 9
a) Students assessment and instruction.
b) To display current accomplishments and demonstrate progress.
Check Your Progress 10
1) Manipulative skills, social skills, socio-emotional aspects, and individual
and group projects. 137
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