Understanding the Roles of Assessment in Learning

Assessment

 provides important data on the breadth and depth of student learning

 gives an idea on how far and how deep the acquired knowledge goes
 more than just giving out scores
 measures the progress of student learning
 seeing through the scope of an individual’s abilities
 “process of gathering data to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of student learning” (Harris and
Hodges, 1995)
 a cyclic process (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. Assessment Implementation Cycle (BC, 2006)

Importance of Assessment in Learning

 determines how students will approach the learning task and what study behaviors they will use
 “What and how students learn depends to a major extent on how they think they will be assessed.” (John Biggs,
1999)
 provides valuable information about student learning
 tells what students learned, how well they learned it, and where they struggled
 a lens for understanding student learning and identifying invisible barriers
 help professors to improve their teaching approaches
Four Roles of Assessment

1. Placement Assessment
 used to determine a learner’s entry performance
 pre-tests are used by teachers
 done at the beginning of instruction
 also used to determine if students have already acquired the intended outcomes

2. Formative Assessment
 mediates the teaching and learning processes
 learner-centered and teacher-directed
 context-specific
 some examples are muddiest point and knowledge probe

Positive Effects of Formative Assessment

 reactivates or refreshes student’s prior knowledge

 focuses attention on important aspects of the subject
 a guide for further learning activities to increase one’s performance
 provides knowledge of outcomes and corrective feedback

Negative Effects of Formative Assessment

 may lack the same weight as summative assessments

 teachers may lack training or mastery on how to use formative assessments successfully, therefore will
result to miscommunication

Five Key Attributes of an Effective Formative Assessment

1. Learning progression
2. Learning goals and criteria for success
3. Descriptive feedback
(Insert Figure 2.2)
4. Self- and peer- assessment
5. Collaboration

3. Diagnostic Assessment
 intended to identify learning difficulties during instruction
 can detect commonly held misconceptions in a subject
 not given at the start of instruction
 used to detect causes of persistent learning difficulties
 not used as part of a student’s mark of achievement
 Positive Consequences of Diagnostic Assessment

 give teachers an incentive to work with their students to find out what individual students already know
about the topic at hand
 improves the quality of the classroom environment by creating intrigue about a topic if a student does
not know the answer to a question

4. Summative Assessment
 done at the end of instruction
 used to determine the mastery of concepts and skills the student have attained
 an example is the written examination given at the end of the school year

Positive Consequences of Summative Assessment

 give teachers a strong incentive to provide instruction that helps their students improve their abilities
 evaluates the teacher’s achievement and spur teachers to continually find better ways to instruct students

There is another form of assessment called interim assessment:

 has the same purpose as formative assessments, but were given periodically throughout the school year
 instructional, predictive, and evaluative kind of assessments
 examples are college entrance/ admission test and national achievement test

Taxonomy of Approaches to Assessment

Figure 2. Assessment Taxonomy (Terenzini, 1989)

Citations:

Understanding the Role of Assessment in Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved August 9, 2019, from
http://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/04_s1_01_intro_section.html

Lobo, T. (2019, January 10). Positive Consequences of Assessment of Learning on Teachers. Retrieved August 12,
2019, from https://www.theclassroom.com/positive-consequences-assessment-learning-teachers-7973022.html