ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT

LEARNING

Arlan M. Villanueva, M.A.

Commonwealth High School
What is Assessment?

Assessment is a systematic process of gathering,

interpreting, and acting upon data related to student
learning and experience for the purpose of
developing a deep understanding of what students
know, understand, and can do with their knowledge
as a result of their educational experience; the
process culminates when assessment results are
used to improve subsequent learning.
Huba and Freed, 2000
Key Points

Assessment is an ongoing
process aimed at
understanding and
improving student learning
Multiple methods
Criteria and standards
Evidence
Students know, can do and
understand
Its more than just collecting
data
Sequence in Preparing Instructionally
Relevant Assessment

INSTRUCTION
Indicates the learning
outcomes to be attained by
students

LEARNING TASK
Is there Specifies the particular set
close of learning task(s) to be
agreement assessed.
?

ASSESSMENT
Provides a procedure
designed to measure a
representative sample of
the instructionally relevant
learning tasks.
What is the Assessment Process?

AIMS

ADJUSTMENT ACTION

ASSESSMENT
Importance of Assessment

To find out what the students know (knowledge)

To find out what the students can do, and how well
they can do it (skill; performance)
To find out how students go about the task of doing
their work (process)
To find out how students feel about their work
(motivation, effort)
What is Student Assessment for?

To help us design and modify programs to

better promote learning and student success.
To provide common definitions and
benchmarks for student abilities that will
enable us to act more coherently and
effectively to promote student learning.
What is Student Assessment for?

To provide feedback, guidance, and

mentoring to students so as to help them
better plan and execute their educational
programs.
To provide improved feedback about student
learning to support faculty in their work.
Functions of Assessment

Diagnostic: tell us what the student needs to

learn
Formative: tell us how well the student is
doing as work progresses
Summative: tell us how well the student did
at the end of a unit/task
What can be assessed?

Student learning characteristics

-Ability differences
-Learning styles
Student motivational characteristics

-Interest
-Self-efficacy
-goal orientation
What can be assessed? Cont.

Learning
Content knowledge
Ability to apply content knowledge
Skills
Dispositions and attitudes
Performances
How should we assess?

True False Item Inventories

Multiple Choice Checklist
Completion Peer Rating
Short Answer Self Rating
Essay Journal
Practical Exam Portfolio
Papers/Reports Observations
Projects Discussions
Questionnaires Interviews
 Criteria In Choosing an Assessment
Method

It should be reliable.
It should be valid.
It should be simple to
operate, and should not
be too costly.
It should be seen by
students and society in
general.
It should benefit all
students.
Who should be involved in
assessment?

The teacher
The student
The students peer
Administrator
Parents
 What should we do with the
information from our assessment?

Use it to improve the focus of our teaching

(diagnosis)
Use it to focus student attention of strengths
and weaknesses (motivation)
Use it to improve program planning (program
assessment)
Use it for reporting to parents
Classroom Assessment

Paper and pencil assessments: Ask students

to respond in writing to questions or problem
-Item level: Assessing lower vs. higher skills
-Knowledge vs. application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation
-Authentic tasks
e.g. multiple choice, T/F, matching
(recognition), short answer, essay (recall)
Paper and Pencil Assessment
Strengths
-Can cover a lot of material reasonably well
-Fair
-Effective in assessing declarative knowledge of content
- Easier to construct and administer than performance assessments
Weaknesses
-Require forethought and skill
-Less effective in assessing procedural knowledge and creative
thinking
-Construction of good higher level recognition items is difficult
-Recall items that do a good job of assessing higher level thinking
(essay questions) are difficult to score.
Performance Assessments

- assessment that elicits and evaluates

actual student performances
Types of Performances:
1. Products: drawings, science experiments,
term papers, poems, solution to authentic
problems
2. Behavior: time trial for running a mile,
reciting a poem, acting tryouts, dancing
Performance assessments

Strengths
-Effective for assessing higher level thinking and authentic
learning
-Effective for assessing skill and procedural learning
-Interesting and motivating for students
Weaknesses
-Emphasize depth at the expense of breadth
-Difficult to construct
-Time consuming to administer
-Hard to score fairly
How can we assess student learning?

Traditional assessment: assess student

knowledge and skills in relative isolation from
real world context.
Traditional assessment practices reflect what
students are able to recall from memory
through various means, such as, multiple
choice, true/false, fill in the blank, and
matching questions.
How can we assess student learning?

Authentic assessment: assess students

ability to use what theyve learning in tasks
similar to those in the outside world.
Occurs when the authenticity of student
learning has been observed. It requires
information from a variety of source such as
content work samples, observation during
class activities, and conferences with
students.
Classroom Assessment

Informal Assessment: teachers

spontaneous, day to day observations of
student performances.
Examples
Verbal

-Asking questions
-Listening to student discussions
-Conducting student conferences
Informal Assessment-cont.

Nonverbal

-Observing
-Task performances
-On-and off-task behavior
-student choices
-student body language
Informal Assessment

Strengths
-Facilitates responsive teaching
-Can be done during teaching
-Easy to individualize
Weaknesses
-Requires high level of teacher skill
-Is vulnerable to
-Bias
-Inequities
-Mistakes
Classroom Assessment

Formal assessment: assessment that is planned in

advance and used to assess a predetermined
content and/or skill domain.
Strengths
-allows the teacher to evaluate all students
systematically on the important skills and concepts
-helps teachers determine how well students are
progressing over the entire year
-provides useful information to parents and
administrators.
Portfolios

A collection of student samples representing

or demonstrating student academic growth. It
can include formative and summative
assessment. It may contain written work,
journals, maps, charts, survey, group reports,
peer reviews and other such items.
Portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and
meaningful collections of students work in
one or more subject areas.
Importance of Portfolios

For Students
Shows growth over time
Displays students accomplishment
Helps students make choices
Encourages them to take responsibility for
their work
Demonstrates how students think
Importance of Portfolios

For Teachers
Highlights performance-based activities over year
Provides a framework for organizing students work
Encourages collaboration with students, parents, and
teachers
Showcases an ongoing curriculum
Facilitates student information for decision making
Importance of Portfolios

For Parents
Offer insight into what their children do in school
Facilitates communication between home and school
Gives the parents an opportunity to react to what
their child is doing in school and to their development
Shows parents how to make a portfolio so they may
do one at home at the same time
Importance of Portfolios

For Administrators
Provides evidence that teacher/school goals
are being met
Shows growth of students and teachers
Provides data from various sources
What do portfolios contain?

Three basic models:

Showcase model, consisting of work samples
chosen by the student.
Descriptive model, consisting of representative work
of the student, with no attempt at evaluation.
Evaluative model, consisting of representative
products that have been evaluated by criteria.
Disadvantages of Portfolio

Require more time for faculty to evaluate than test or

simple-sample assessment.
Require students to compile their own work, usually
outside of class.
Do not easily demonstrate lower-level thinking, such
as recall of knowledge.
May threaten students who limit their learning to
cramming for doing it at the last minute.
Rubric

It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a

students performance based on the sum of a
full range of criteria rather than a single
numerical score.
It is a working guide for students and
teachers, usually handed out before the
assignment begins in order to get students to
think about the criteria on which their work
will be judged.
Rubrics are scoring criteria for

Free-response Questions
Scientific reports
Oral or Power point
presentations
Reflections/Journals
Essay
Laboratory-based
performance tests
Article review or reactions
Portfolios
Many others
Open-ended Question
During a storm, Wendy noticed that she always heard thunder shortly
after she saw a flash of lighting. Explain why there is a difference a
time between seeing lightning and hearing thunder.

Level of Performance Criteria Sample Answer

4 Response include the fact that light Light is faster than sound.
travels faster than sound; makes the You can see the lightning
connection with scenario bolt before sound reaches
you.

3 Response only mentions the fact that Sound travels slower

light is faster than sound; does not than light
relate the concept of hearing and
seeing

2 Response is scientifically incorrect Sound is faster than light

1 Question or parts of question Thunder follows lightning
restated
0 No answer or answer erased
Concept Mapping

It requires students to explore

links between two or more related
concepts. When making concept
maps, they clarify in their minds
the links they have made of the
concepts and having visual
representation of these links, they
are better able to rearrange of
form new links when new
concepts are introduced.
Laboratory Performance

In this format students and teachers know

the requirements in advance and prepare
them. The teacher judges the student
performance within a specific time frame and
setting. Students are rated on appropriate
and effective use of laboratory equipment,
measuring tools, and safety laboratory
procedures as well as a hands-on designing
of an investigation.
Inventories

Diagnostic Inventories: Student responses to

a series of questions or statements in any
field, either verbally or in writing. These
responses may indicate an ability or interest
in a particular field.
Interest Inventories: student responses to
questions designed to find out past
experience and or current interest in a topic,
subject or activity.
Classroom Assessment

Presentation: a presentation by one student or by a

group of students to demonstrate the skills used in
the completion of an activity or the acquisition of
curricular outcomes/expectations. The presentation
can take the form of a skit, lecture, lab presentation,
debate etc. Computers can also be used for
presentation when using such software as
Hyperstudio, Powerpoint or Corel presentations.
Peer Evaluation: judgments by students about one
anothers performance relative to stated criteria and
program outcomes
Journal Assessment

This refer to students ongoing record of expressions

experiences and reflections on a given topic. There
are two types: one in which students write with
minimal direction what he/she is thinking and or
feeling and the other requires students to compete a
specific written assignment and establishes
restrictions and guidelines necessary to accurately
accomplish the assignment. Journals can evolve
different types of reflecting writing, drawing, painting,
and role playing.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

What happened? How do I feel What did I learn?

about it?
SYNTHESIS JOURNAL

What I What I How I

Did? learned? can Use
It?
SPECULATION ABOUT EFFECTS JOURNAL

What happened? What could happen

because of this?
Summary

A fair assessment is one in which students are given

equitable opportunities to demonstrate what they
know and can do.
Classroom assessment is not only for grading or
ranking purposes. Its goal is to inform instruction by
providing teachers with information to help them
make good educational decisions.
Assessment is integrated with students day-to-day
learning experiences rather than a series of an end-
of-course tests.
Why link assessment with instruction?

Better assessment Better

teaching
means better teaching.
means
better
learning.

Better
students Better learning
mean better means
opportunities better students.
for a better
life.
 (Read and Take Joy in being a Teacher)
THE CREATION OF A TEACHER
Anonymous
The Good Lord was creating teachers. It was His sixth day of
overtime and He knew that this was a tremendous
responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many
impressionable young children. An angel appeared to Him and
said, You are taking a long time to figure this one out.
Yes, said the Lord, but have you read the specs on this
order?
TEACHER:
must stand above all students, yet be on their level
must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject
being taught
must run on coffee and leftovers,
must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be
right most of the time
The Creation of a Teacher
must have more time for others than for herself/himself
must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic
children, and worried parents
must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are
not supportive
must have 6 pair of hands.
Six pair of hands, said the angel, thats impossible
Well, said the Lord, it is not the hands that are the problem. It is the
three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!
The angel looked incredulous, Three pairs of eyeson a standard model?
The Lord nodded His head, One pair can see a student for what he is and
not what others have labeled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back
of the teachers head to see what should not be seen, but what must be
known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she acts
out in order to reflect, I understand and I still believe in you, without
so much as saying a word to the child. Lord, said the angel, this is a
very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow.
The Creation of a Teacher
I cant, said the Lord, for I have come very close to creating
something much like Myself. I have one that comes to work when
he/she is sickteachers a class of children that do not want to
learn has a special place in his/her heart for children who are
not his/her ownunderstands the struggles of those who have
difficultynever takes the students for granted
The angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating. It is
too soft-hearted, said the angel. Yes, said the Lord, but also
tough, You can not imagine what this teacher can endure or do,
if necessary. Can this teacher think? asked the angel. Not
only think, said the Lord,. but reason and compromise. The
angel cam closer to have a better look at the model and ran his
finger over the teachers cheek. Well, Lord, said the angel,
your job looks fine but there is a leak. I told you that you were
putting too much into this model. You can not imagine the stress
that will be placed upon the teacher. The Lord moved in closer
and lifted the drop of moisture from the teachers cheek. It shone
and glistened in the light. It is not a leak, He said, It is a tear.
The Creation of a Teacher
A tear? What is that? asked the angel, What is a tear
for? The Lord replied with great thought, It is for
the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even
the smallest task. It is for the loneliness of children
who have a hard time to fit in and it is for compassion
for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the
pain of not being able to reach some children and the
disappointment those children feel in themselves. It
comes often when a teacher has been with a class for
a year and must say good- bye to those students and
get ready to welcome a new class.
My, said the angel, "The tear thing is a great idea
You are a genius!
The Lord looked somber, I didnt put it there.
Maraming salamat po!

THANK
YOU
VERY
MUCH!

Please visit:
www.arlanvillanueva.blogspot.com