Assessment Practice in Classroom
Assessment practice in classroom
Students’ assessment is one of the essential principles of any pedagogical program; it plays a crucial part in the educational process. According to McMillan (2011), attaining a perfect classroom assessment requires meaningful learning goals and standards that should be set before commencing classroom assessment procedures. Monitoring students’ progress will help teachers to adjust their instructions effectively to take students to the next level of learning. Diagnostic assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment are major types of classroom assessment, and together they form the assessment cycle. McMillan (2011) points out that teachers must use achievement information derived from summative assessment to provide instructions, to attain the purpose of the assessment, and to give performance feedback to students and parents.
Pre assessment or diagnostic assessment is the first step in classroom assessment that teachers do before commencing a new learning activity, to provide them with information about students’ pre knowledge, tendencies, and motivations. It is a crucial procedure needed to proceed to the next step, which is formative assessment. This type of classroom assessment is given during a learning activity to detect the student’s progress and adjust teaching according to possible new requirements. After completing the learning activity, summative assessment takes part in the process. This assessment is intended to determine whether long-term learning goals have been met, in addition to providing feedback and measuring the level of success that has been obtained; students can use outcomes of a summative assessment formatively to guide their learning. In order to make this process effective, teachers should perform consistent assessments that provide reliable results because “unreliable assessments cannot be valid” (Eggen, 2009, p.436). Unclear directions can give inconsistent information that lead to
Students’ assessment is one of the essential principles of any pedagogical program; it plays a crucial part in the educational process. According to McMillan (2011), attaining a perfect classroom assessment requires meaningful learning goals and standards that should be set before commencing classroom assessment procedures. Monitoring students’ progress will help teachers to adjust their instructions effectively to take students to the next level of learning. Diagnostic assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment are major types of classroom assessment, and together they form the assessment cycle. McMillan (2011) points out that teachers must use achievement information derived from summative assessment to provide instructions, to attain the purpose of the assessment, and to give performance feedback to students and parents.
Pre assessment or diagnostic assessment is the first step in classroom assessment that teachers do before commencing a new learning activity, to provide them with information about students’ pre knowledge, tendencies, and motivations. It is a crucial procedure needed to proceed to the next step, which is formative assessment. This type of classroom assessment is given during a learning activity to detect the student’s progress and adjust teaching according to possible new requirements. After completing the learning activity, summative assessment takes part in the process. This assessment is intended to determine whether long-term learning goals have been met, in addition to providing feedback and measuring the level of success that has been obtained; students can use outcomes of a summative assessment formatively to guide their learning. In order to make this process effective, teachers should perform consistent assessments that provide reliable results because “unreliable assessments cannot be valid” (Eggen, 2009, p.436). Unclear directions can give inconsistent information that lead to
References: McMillan, James H. (2010) Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction, 5th Edition. Pearson/Australia, Dec-10 Eggen, P. (2009) Educational Psychology: windows on classrooms, 8th Edition. Pearson/Australia, Jan-09 Robinson, G. (2008b). Understanding literacy and numeracy. In P. Foreman (Ed.), Inclusion in action (2nd ed., pp. 303-307). South Melbourne, Victoria: Thompson.