Module Assignment: Understanding the Learner & Learning

What are the major purposes of assessment in education? Consider how assessment procedures can most effectively influence the learning of students.

Tutor: Dennis Sale

An assignment submitted by Ng Hwee Kiat to the Division of Education The University of Sheffield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Education (Higher Education) Degree 10 April 2012

What are the major purposes of assessment in education? Consider how assessment procedures can most effectively influence the learning of students.
All of us have experienced assessment in one form or other throughout our lives. We have formed our views of assessment through these experiences and have traditionally viewed assessment as the end of some learning process. This need not be the case as assessments by themselves can serve as opportunities to learn and teach. As teachers and as students we have different perspectives on the purposes of assessment. School principals, administrators, parent and employers use assessments and their results in different ways to suit their agendas and needs. The question is then whose purpose should assessment meet?

What is assessment? Assessment is a way of measuring what students know and of expressing what students should learn. - Mathematical Sciences Education Board, National Research Council (Anon, 1996b). Assessment is the process of gathering, describing, or quantifying information about performance. - Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (Anon, 1997). The above definitions of assessment, although getting to the core of the meaning, appear to be restrictive in their scope. I prefer the definition found in the Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students. Here, assessment is defined as the process of obtaining information that is used to make educational decisions about students, to give feedback to the student about his or her progress, strengths, and weaknesses, to judge instructional effectiveness and curricular adequacy, and to inform policy. (Sanders 1990, p. 1) This definition of assessment includes the major purposes of assessment as part of its scope. Assessment is an integral part of most education system and, sadly, also the most neglected part of good teaching. We can perceive this from the lack of discussion on assessment in

papers promoting aspects of good teaching. Perhaps, most educational practitioners are still not conversant with the multi-faceted purposes of assessment and how assessment can effectively influence learning. In this essay, I will first develop arguments for the purposes of assessment in education and conclude that, of all the purposes of assessment, the most educationally worthwhile purpose is to make use of assessment to enhance learning and teaching. In the second part of the essay, I will be considering how assessment procedures can most effectively influence the learning of students. I will be looking at assessment procedures before, during and after the assessment, as well as how the assessment data can be used to promote efffective learning and teaching. I will also relate the discussion to my personal experience teaching in Singapore and Singapore Polytechnic in particular.

What are the major purposes of assessment? In this section of the essay, I will be discussing the purposes of assessment and identifying the benefiaciaries of these different purposes of assessment. One of the most important questions to be answered whenever we discuss assessment is the question - What are the purposes of assessment? It is important to answer this question as the purposes of assessment would determine the methodology and content of the assessment procedure adopted (Clough 1996, p. 4). It would also help to determine the test validity which is tied to the purposes for which an assessment is held (Dietel, 1991). The purpose of an assessment should dictate the type of questions being asked, the methods employed, and the uses of the resulting information. These addresses the what, how and why of assessment. There are many existing views of the purposes of assessment and these range from the users perspective (Ward 1980 pp. 5-6) to functionality (Denvir, 1989).

Both Dietel (1991, p. 1) and Ward (1980, pp. 5-6) list the purposes of assessment according to their relevance for the groups of people within the educational community. This view answers the question of Assessment for whom? For students, assessments serve as means of motivation, means of identifying areas needing attention, recognition of knowledge, skill and effort, means of getting a job, means of entry to higher course. Parents use assessment results to determine school accountability and gauge student progress. Teachers and administrators use assessment to determine grades, as part of teaching process, to identify areas for further practice, as evaluation of teaching success, as evaluation of course success, to clarify aim of course, as incentive to conscientious and purposeful teaching and as a means of accreditation. Administrators and school planners monitor curriculum effectiveness, assess alternatives, plan and improve school curriculum through school assessment results. Policy makers set standards, monitor quality of education and formulate policies using assessment results. To the employer, assessment results serve as a measure of employability and to the general public, it serves as a measure of competency. An alternative view by Denvir (1989, p. 277) answers the question of Assessment for what purposes? and considers the purposes of assessment under the four main functions of teaching, selection, evaluation, & curriculum control. Assessment for teaching - An assessment is not only a grading device but also a teaching technique in its own right (Milton 1982, p. 31). Assessment used for this purpose has a formative and diagnostic component. It aims at collecting sufficiently detailed information to help teachers plan and teach effectively in order to maximise students future learning. It can be used to monitor the students strengths, weaknesses and progress. The process of constructing the assessment itself is also beneficial as it helps teachers put their courses in perspective.

Assessment for selection - This is a summative process and can include selection for admissions, setting, streaming (Rowntree, 1987), allocation to schools (e.g. in the Singapore Educational system, college admission). It can also be used as a basis for selection for jobs, educational training, and higher education. A recent news report in USA Today indicates the growing trend of employers using assessment grades for job selection (Jones, 1997). Assessment used for this purpose serves the interests of selectors and not the learners. The assessment that the selection is being based on may not be suitable for the selection. This is especially true when the assessment results, i.e., school certificates, are being used for job selection while the assessments are based on contents which are not relevant to the job requirements. Studies also have shown that there is little correlation between traditional examination results, such as GCE, and university examinations (Rowntree 1987, p.17). The basis of using assessment results for selection would definitely be invalid if the assessment is not designed to reflect the selection criteria. However, assessment used for selection can be helpful in matching the students to appropriate levels of instruction if used for banding or streaming. Schools in Singapore use assessment to gauge students performance and stream the students to appropriate educational streams. This is done at Primary 4 (age 10) and Secondary 1 (age 12). When used for grading and classifying students only, assessments contribute little to the improvement of teaching and learning (Bloom 1981, p. 4). Assessment for evaluation - Again this is a summative process and is usually used for certification. It determines mastery of specified criteria (Kulieke 1990, p. 6). The problem of using assessment for this purpose is that we can only assess a sample of the course and not the entire course thus restricting the value of the assessment. The purpose of assessment here is seen as an end of learning and is of no further value to teaching and learning. However, this is one of the most common use of assessment.

Assessment for curriculum control - Assessment results can be used for measuring the effectiveness of instruction and learning (Rudman, 1989). This can be summative if it is used at the end of the instruction or course. It can also be formative if the results are used as a feedback mechanism for school planners and teachers. In addition, I would like to add an additional purpose, assessment for informing. Assessment results are useful devices for informing Educational Boards, parents, and general public. This serves as a means of accountability on the part of the school to the parents and general public. This is a summative process unless curriculum control is also part of the purpose. As can be seen from the preceding discussion, assessment is educationally worthwhile only if it is used in teaching and learning or if it is part of a feedback mechanism to improve the curriculum. A farmer once quoted: You cant fatten a hog by weighing it. To be useful, assessment must positively influence learning and not merely record the results of learning. I believe that no educational practitioners will object to the argument that the primary educationally worthwhile purpose of assessment is to improve learning & teaching. Thompson (1989, p. 1) also concurs that of all the purposes of assessment, the main purpose of assessment should be to inform teaching. This covers aspects of teaching in diagnosis, evaluation as well as grading. The purposes of assessment in Singapore Polytechnic, where I work as a lecturer, are defined in A Guide to Standards and Criteria in Teaching by Cheong. Assessment here is to be used as a means of helping students to learn, a way of reporting student progress and attainment, and a way of helping lecturers improve their teaching (Cheong 1996, Appendix II, p. 6). These purposes here again acknowledge that one of the primary purposes of assessment is to improve learning and teaching. However, to my knowledge, few lecturers in

Singapore Polytechnic utilise assessment beyond the reporting of student progress and attainment. I believe this to be true not only in the Singapore Polytechnic but also elsewhere in educational institutes throughout the world. This begs the questions of why the situation arises and how it can be remedied? The situation could have risen from education practitioners being unaware of the implications of assessment for learning and teaching. I will discuss this in the next section of this essay. The second question of how to utilise assessment to effect learning will be discussed in the subsequent section. How does assessment influence learning and teaching? There are many ways where assessment can influence learning and teaching. Assessment can provide motivation to learn by giving a sense of success in the subject (Rowntree, 1987), by providing immediate, attainable goals toward which to work and by providing knowledge of learning progress (Gronlund 1981, p. 490). However, it can also provide negative impact on motivation and self esteem. Students can also judge the effectiveness of their learning from assessments. They can build up a sense of confidence as learners through assessment. Assessment also helps students to learn how to learn by influencing the choice of learning style and strategy (Boud 1995, p. 37). Assessment should encourage deep learning to promote understanding and active learning approaches. It should discourage surface learning, which is of limited educational value. One factor that is found to influence students choice of deep or surface learning approach is their perception of what will be demanded of them on subsequent examinations. However, not all surface or rote learning is bad; there are some things which is more efficient to learn by rote, such as multiplication tables, resistor codes. Assessments given to students have an impact on what and how the students learn. Students often ask Will that be included in the assessment? They will not pay attention to items that are not tested and not attempt to learn these items. The type of assessment tells our

students the real aims of the teaching. Assessments provide for a way for the lecturers to identify for the students what is important to learn. As a lecturer, I have also often encountered students asking, Will this be in the exams? There have been many studies indicating that students take their cue from the assessment. From our students point of view, assessment always defines the actual curriculum ... Assessment sends messages about the standard and amount of work required, and what aspects of the syllabus are more important. (Ramsden 1992, pp. 187-188) This explains the prevalence of 10-year series (past exam papers) for the GCE O and A Level Examinations in Singapore. Students and teachers use the past exam questions as an indication of what is important and the content on which the students will be tested. It is thus not surprising that in the examination oriented educational system in Singapore (which has a centrally dictated curriculum), teaching to the test becomes a prevalent teaching strategy among schoolteachers. This is especially true when students, parents, teachers and school principals place high stakes on exam results and schools are ranked based on these exam results. Assessment also helps to provide feedback to teachers and students (Rowntree, 1987). It can do this by pre-assessing learners needs, monitoring learning progress, diagnosing and remedying of learning disabilities and appraising of course outcomes. When teachers are better informed of the learning progress and difficulties of their students, they can make better decisions about what a student needs to learn next and how to teach that material in a manner that will maximise the students learning. Unfortunately, researchers quoted by Thompson (1989, p. 22) indicate that teachers seldom, if ever, consider information obtained from assessment when planning or teaching. I find these to be very true from my personal teaching experience and discussions with other teachers. Other than informing teaching, assessment can also help students learn to judge effectiveness of their learning.

There are some factors that can prevent that can prevent assessments from contributing to improved learning. These are wrong focus of assessments, too little feedback, ambiguous and unclear questions, assessments that are too short, lack of communication on purpose and finally insufficient assessments to provide sample of students achievement (Jacobs 1992, pp. 13-14). The challenge then is to overcome these and any other related problems to effect learning through the use of assessment procedures.

How can assessment procedures effectively influence the learning of students? Having considered the implications of assessment on learning, we will now consider how assessment procedures can be used to effectively improve learning. It would be helpful to consider what are the characteristics of a good assessment scheme before we delve into the assessment procedures. These characteristics may vary according to the purposes and the users of the assessment, but generally will require the assessment to be valid, reliable, utilisable or efficient (Ward 1980, pp. 9-13). Validity refers to the appropriateness and relevance of the assessment to the syllabus. Is the assessment measuring what it is suppose to measure? Assessments that do not measure up to the validity criteria may have far reaching effects. Invalid assessments are unfair to students affecting their motivation. They can affect lecturers by detracting from advantages of assessment. Employers will not be able to use the results of invalid assessments and the general public would not have confidence in the competency of the graduate. Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement. To achieve reliability, there should be broad and consistent coverage, assessment should be on the same work and tasks should be marked consistently. Efficiency enables us to make the best use of time, effort and money without making

unnecessary demands on students, lecturers and examiners. The assessment should be easily administered, scored and interpreted (Fuchs, 1995). Any good assessment scheme must first satisfy these criteria before we can consider how to influence students learning through assessment. I shall group the procedures to improve learning through formal assessment in 3 main phases, i.e., before, during and after the assessment. It will be seen that the preparatory work done before the assessment bears the most contribution to the success of using assessment to inform learning and teaching. 1. Before the Assessment

Designing a suitable scheme of assessment includes deciding on the purpose and methods of assessment, the knowledge or abilities to be assessed. Before we start to design any scheme of assessment, we need to clarify the following questions, 1. Who is to be assessed? 2. Who is to carry out the assessment? 3. Who is making use of the assessment results? 4. What is the purpose of the assessment? 5. What is to be assessed? 6. When and where to carry out the assessment? 7. What assessment methods are available? 8. How do we decide which assessment method to use? 9. How to carry out the assessment? 10. What assessment format do we use? I shall only be addressing the following questions which affect learning most directly within the scope of this essay; 1. 2. 3. 4. What is the purpose of the assessment? What is to be assessed? What assessment methods are available? How do we decide which assessment method to use?

What is the purpose of the assessment? This has been discussed in depth in previous sections in this essay. What are students being assessed for? This can be directly linked to the question of the purpose of education. It is important to note that learners and learning, whatever their nature and contexts, are likely to be more purposive and effective if there are

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clear targets and outcomes on which to focus What is to be assessed? The Mathematical Sciences Education Board (National Research Council) identified three educational principles that form the foundation of all assessment strategies, the Content Principle, the Learning Principle and the Equity Principle (Anon, 1996b). The Content Principle says that assessment should measure important learning outcomes (Fuchs, 1995). The assessment methods and tasks must be in line with the goals, objectives, contents and instructional approaches of the curriculum (Thompson 1989, p. 2; Dietel, 1991). Assessments that do not reflect the curriculum generate little information about students learning or the effectiveness of the instruction. The Learning Principle says that if we want to develop higher order learning skills such as analysis, synthesis, arguments etc., we need to able to assess meaning and understanding. A strategic mix of surface and deep learning is preferable. This can be encouraged and supported by a mix of assessment approaches: multiple choice for a quick and efficient way of testing recall, projects and essays for assessing understanding and to encourage deeper level of understanding. The Equity Principle says that assessment should support every students opportunity to learn. What assessment methods are available? The traditional examination system for assessment is well known and widely utilised. This can in the form of written examinations, practical examinations, and oral examinations, in course assessment, project, and assignment work or course work assessment. The advantage of the examination system is that it can provide achievement benchmarks that indicate a students success relative to his or her peers. Objectivity is maintained and the student is not subject to the subjectivity of individual teachers. External examinations can

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also serve as a means of ensuring consistent standards between schools. Examinations have traditionally acted as a motivating influence for students with the idea that success in examination leads to a good job. Traditional assessments are usually product based, which is not suitable for process based or objectives based curriculum. These objectives require process-based assessments schemes generally classified as alternative assessments. Alternative assessments require the students to perform, create, produce or do something that requires them to use higher level problem solving skills to achieve higher order learning objectives. These assessment methods include open-ended questions, essays, portfolios, and oral and integrated performance assessments. Examples of alternative assessments are Performance Based Assessment (Shepard, 1995), Behavioural Assessment (Fuchs, 1995), Mastery Learning (Gronlund 1981, pp. 500 to 503), Curriculum Based Measurement (Fuchs, 1995), Portfolio Assessment (Kulieke, 1990) or Profiling (Hitchcock, 1986) and Authentic Assessment (Kulieke, 1990). Alternative assessment not only prompted the teachers to teach differently, but criteria were made explicit, and children learnt more (Shepard 1995). Interesting and sufficiently challenging assessment activities can help motivate students to master the activities. A portfolio or profile is basically a record of achievement (Broadfoot, 1989). It is a collection of work, usually drawn from students classroom work. A portfolio becomes a portfolio assessment when the assessment purpose is defined; criteria or methods are made clear for determining what is put into the portfolio, by whom, and when; and the criteria for assessing the work is identified and used to make judgements about performance. Portfolios are multidimensional presentation methods designed to record student progress, effort, performances and/or achievement, and encourage students to reflect on their learning (Macintosh 1984, p. 212). The use of portfolios requires assessment methods to be matched to

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learning goals. Portfolios provide one of the best means to meet the educationally worthwhile purposes of assessment. These purposes include improving student motivation, aiding discipline, increasing communication, making opportunities for self and peer assessment, placing assessment at centre of learning process and freeing the curriculum (Hitchcock 1986, pp. 19 to 36). However, due to its highly formative nature and lack of summative element, it may not be of much use to end users requiring certification. Employers need to understand these alternative assessment records before they can be widely accepted in place of the diplomas and certificates (Harris, p. 109). Another categorisation of assessments can be based on the distinction between formative and summative. Formative assessments are usually conducted several times throughout the course and provide ongoing feedback to teachers and students. Unlike summative assessments, the purpose of formative assessments is not to grade or certify the student but to help both the student and teacher focus upon the particular learning necessary for movement toward mastery (Bloom 1981, p.71). Summative assessments are given at the end of the course and are used to determine the extent of mastery and for grading. A third type of assessment is diagnostic assessment. This is used for identifying deficiencies and problems as well as strengths and special talents. Diagnostic assessment or evaluation can be done at the beginning of the course or prior to a course to determine the zero point for all students taking the course (Bloom 1982, p. 116).

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Beneficiary Purpose Assessment Type

Teacher Informs Teaching Diagnostic Assessment

Teacher & Students Informs Teaching & Learning Formative Assessment

Teacher & Students Informs Teaching & Learning Formative Assessment

Employer, Public, etc Informs Performance Summative Assessment

Teaching Schedule Assessment Type

Teaching Schedule Informal Assessment

Figure 1- A Teaching & Learning Oriented Assessment Model How do we decide which assessment method to use? The teacher with a well-developed understanding of assessment will strive to connect his or her goals for learning firmly with assessment strategies he or she uses Ramsden (1992, p. 189) As teachers, we should be skilled in choosing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions. The assessment methods chosen should be appropriate, useful, administratively convenient, technically adequate and fair (Sanders, 1990). The assessment methods used must reflect the content to be mastered. If the content of assessment (what schools assess) and the format of assessment (how schools assess) do not match what is taught and how it is taught, the assessment results may be meaningless. We can all recognise the potential harm if decisions regarding students futures are made using these results (Porter 1997, p. 1). The assessment method must be of high technical quality. The factors determining technical quality are reliability, validity, and efficiency which I have discussed previously. The assessment methods used must match the purposes of the assessment. In addition, it must be in agreement with the goals, objectives, content and instructional approaches of the curriculum (Thompson 1989, p. 24). Some assessments are used mainly to gather information

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about the students in order to make decisions about them, e.g., grading. The assessment for this purpose would focus on the products of the student learning. Marzano (1993) indicates the assessment method most appropriate for the types of skills being assessed. If simple process or content skills are to be assessed, traditional response type of assessments would suffice. However, for complex skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and conceptualisations, performance assessments (usually alternative assessments) would be more appropriate. Types of Skills Process Skills: Simple Process Skills: Complex Multiple Choice, Short Response Long division, punctuation Performance Assessment

problem solving writing critical thinking lifelong learning Recall Facts Concepts (e.g. democracy) Generalisations

Content/Declarative Knowledge: Simple Content/Declarative Knowledge: Complex

Table 1 Matching assessment methods to skills being assessed Other assessments may be designed to serve an instructional function. These may be used to diagnose student strengths and weaknesses and plan appropriate instruction. In this case, we need to assess the process as well as the product. Ideally, to promote learning, we should implement multiple assessment techniques instead of only written tests. Proper use of evaluation techniques requires an awareness of their limitations as well as their strengths. In addition, for effective progress in learning, we need to pitch assessment at appropriate levels of difficulties. 2. During the Assessment

The goal of good test administration is to provide and maintain conditions that will enable all students to demonstrate their maximum level of achievement (Jacobs 1992, p. 150). This
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includes announcing the test the date, the content and format of test. Assessment that is most useful, in the educational perspective, must be continuous. Every lesson has built into it an assessment of students progress towards the objectives of the lesson. This can be through informal or formal assessments. Informal assessment occurs through listening to students, observing them, and making sense of what they say and do (Thompson 1989, p. 1). Thought provoking questions, good listening skills, a tendency to probe and analyse students ideas and responses all contribute to learning through informal assessments. It has been recognised that assessments can be used to enhance learning and classroom teaching (Fuchs, 1995). Students feel that frequent testing helps them retain more content, reduces test anxiety, and aids their own monitoring of their progress (Rudman 1989, p. 3). Jacobs (1992, p. 30) also suggests that too few tests deprive students and teachers of feedback on their progress and contributes to a lack of student motivation. However, too many tests will impinge on the teaching time. 3. After the Assessment

After the assessment, teachers need to be able to describe the meaning, limitations, and implications of the assessment results. Teachers should also be able to analyse and probe the students explanation and reasoning as well as provide feedback to the students. Feedback (Information Processing Theories) and reinforcement (Skinners Behavioural Theories) are two of the most pivotal concepts in learning. Feedback is usually external while reinforcement can be external or intrinsic (generated by the individual). Good feedback helps to identify the students present state of learning, what they need to learn and how to proceed. It also provides positive reinforcement for their learning achievements. The students should also be provided with a clear explanation of the basis of assessment decisions. They need to

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know what they have done well and what needs to be improved or learned. They also need to be given guidance on the possible courses of action to develop knowledge and skills (Sale 1996, p. 9). In both feedback and reinforcement theories, the length of time between the response and the feedback or reinforcement affects the amount of learning. Generally the more immediate the feedback or reinforcement, the more learning is facilitated. Thus assessment results or reactions should be as immediate as possible to facilitate learning (Jacobs 1992, p. 159). The way the assessment decision is communicated to the students is also important, how we say and what we say. While 88% of the students wanted to know the results of their tests, only 44% wanted to discuss them with their teachers (Rudman 1989, p. 3). Why? It is not just the feedback, but the subsequent action we take in making the outcomes of assessment useful for future learning. Feedback is not enough, just as telling the students their weaknesses is not effective teaching response. The teacher need to indicate to the students where and to what extent growth is required. 4. Using the Assessment

There are several ways of using the assessment results to influence learning. We can use the assessment at the beginning of the course. This helps us to identify what students bring to instruction. It can help us as teachers to plan review material and identify potential issues to be faced (Rudman 1989, p. 1). It can also help us to diagnose what the student knows. We can use the assessment to reinforce learning (Skinner). Teachers seldom consider information obtained from assessment when planning or teaching. However, we need to assess our students learning in order to make informed instructional decisions such as grouping of students in the class and determining the pace of classroom instruction (Rudman 1989, p. 1). Taylor suggests that it would be useful for teachers to perform a reflection and

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self evaluation on the assessment in order to learn from the students assessment (Taylor 1996, pp. 20-22). We can use the assessment for decision making - this includes decisions about individual students, planning teaching, developing curriculum, and school improvement (Sanders, 1990). Fuchs also suggests that teachers make 3 types of decisions using assessment results, 1. Instructional Placement Decisions - what the student knows and where he or she should be in the instructional sequence - i.e., what to teach next. 2. Formative Evaluation Decisions - information to monitor a students learning while an instructional program is underway - how quickly progress is being made, whether the instructional program is effective, and whether a change in instructional program is needed to promote the students learning. 3. Diagnostic Decisions - which specific difficulties account for the students inadequate progress so the teacher can remediate learning progress and design more effective instructional plans. (Fuchs, 1995) We can also use the assessment for grading. Grading students is an important part of teaching. Grading is defined as indicating both a students level of performance and a teachers valuing of that performance (Sander, 1990). Assessment can also be used for measuring the effectiveness of instruction & learning (Rudman 1989, p. 1). Finally, assessment results must generate accurate meaningful information (Fuchs, 1995) so that we can make use of it meaningfully. This can only be done if the assessment has been designed to collect meaningful information relevant to its designated purpose. The Singapore Polytechnic Experience Singapore Polytechnic also recognises that good assessment leads to effective learning. This can be achieved in the following ways by lecturers as spelt out in the manual, A Guide to Standards and Criteria in Teaching by Cheong, 1. Link assessment to learning: All assessment must follow the table of

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specifications in the curriculum. It is important to link the level of teaching and learning in the classroom. 2. Deploy a variety of assessment methods: Multiple choice tests should preferably be in combination with other methods requiring more in depth analysis. Questions requiring quantitative manipulation modules must be balanced with questions requiring explanations. 3. Assessment feedback: Students need to know how they might improve their learning. It will motivate them to learn better. Feedback however can only be done for formative class tests and homework where papers are returned to the students. This does not apply to sessional examinations where feedback is not possible. (Cheong 1996, Appendix I, p. 6) These assessment guidelines focus on the learning of the students and would definitely improve the learning of the students. Unfortunately, from personal experience, I have found that most lecturers do not follow the above guidelines when it comes to assessment. The reason could be due to lack of understanding the importance of assessment towards effective learning. Conclusions There are two major diverging viewpoints on assessment. They are those of the constructivist viewpoint and the technical quality viewpoint. From the measurement or technical quality viewpoint, assessment takes the form where testing follows teaching. The focus is on measuring performance and the quality of the assessment. Important characteristics are the validity, reliability and efficiency of the assessments. These are all familiar terms and are important indicators of the quality of assessment but they do not tell us if the students have achieved the learning outcomes or if the teachers have taught well. Most curriculum development process following this measurement viewpoint uses assessment as a means of measuring attainment in order to award certificates, diplomas or some other form of award. Assessment schemes designed for this purpose are usually done after the curriculum design. This makes it difficult to use assessment as a tool to inform learning. From the constructivist viewpoint, the primary goal of assessment is to change what and how

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teachers teach rather than measure performance for accountability purposes. The reform strategy here is to change the content and format of traditional tests to enhance the coverage of important learning outcomes and to mirror good instruction (Bond, 1994). The focus here is on the learning outcome and teaching strategy. What have the students and teacher learnt? Have the students learnt what the teacher intended them to learn? Correct answers do not always mean that the students have learnt the concepts. The NCTM Evaluation Standard (Anon, 1989) is an example of the constructivist viewpoint of assessment; it assesses not only what the student know but also how they think. Assessment should have both formative and summative contents for the assessment to be useful to the students. The best way to ensure that assessment incorporates learning is to provide meaningful feedback. Feedback should be on items that they get right as well as items that they get wrong. We will also need to conduct frequent assessments to be able to provide more opportunity for feedback. Feedback is also most effective when it is provided promptly. Brown suggests: The key to the use of assessment as an engine for learning is to allow the formative function to be pre-eminent. This is achieved by ensuring that each assignment contains plenty of opportunities for learners to receive detailed, positive and timely feedback, with lots of advice on how to improve. This not only informs student activity, but also enables them to develop continuously and to achieve ever-better results. (Brown, 1995) Teachers must also work together to create a school environment that values good assessment practices (Porter, 1997). As teachers, we need to be aware of the continuous assessment opportunities during teaching, thoughtfully plan the design and selection of assessment schemes, be sensitive to students responses and to opportunities to probe further and be willing to use the information gathered to improve teaching. Assessment needs to be integrated and not interfaced to the curriculum as an afterthought. Determining and clarifying what is to be assessed must has priority in the assessment process. Comprehensive assessment

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requires a variety of assessment techniques, which should be selected in terms of the purposes to be served. Finally, to inform learning and teaching, assessment must be used as a means to an end (formative), rather than being an end in itself (summative).

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References Anon (1989) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, Reston, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). [ONLINE] http://enc.org/online/NCTM/280dtoc.html Anon (1996a) Assessment, Education Week on the WEB. [ONLINE] http://www.edweek.org/context/topics/assess.htm Anon (1996b) Measuring What Counts, Mathematical Sciences Education Board, National Research Council. [ONLINE] http://www.nas.edu/mseb/measure/exe.htm Anon (1997) CRESST Assessment Glossary, Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. [ONLINE] http://cresst96.cse.ucla.edu/glossary.htm Bloom, B. S., et al. (1981) Evaluation to Improve Learning, McGrawHill. Bond, L. A. (1994) Critical Issue: Rethinking Assessment and Its Role in Supporting Educational Reform, NCREL [ONLINE] http://www.ncrel.org/sdrd/areas/issues/methods/assments/as700.htm Boud, D. (1995) Assessment and Learning: Contradictory or Complementary?, in Knight, P. (ed), Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, SEDA, London, Kogan Page, pp. 35-48. Broadfoot, P., et al. (1989) Records of Achievement: Report of the National Evaluation of Pilot Schemes, in P. Murphy and B. Moon (eds), Developments in Learning and Assessment. Open University, Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 290-299. Brown, S., Race, P. & Rust, C. (1995) Using and Experiencing Assessment, in Knight, P. (ed), Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, SEDA, London, Kogan Page, pp. 75-85. Cheong, D. (1996) A Guide to Standards and Criteria in Teaching, Singapore, Educational and Staff Development Department, Singapore Polytechnic. Clough, E. (1996) Assessment of Learning, Module 1, Unit 9, Understanding Learning and the Learner, Sheffield, University of Sheffield Division of Education. Denvir, B. (1989) Assessment Purposes and Learning in Mathematics Education, in P. Murphy and B. Moon (eds), Developments in Learning and Assessment, Open University, Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 277-289. Dietel, R. J., et al (1991) What Does Research Say About Assessment? NCREL, Oak Brook. [ONLINE] http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/4assess.htm Farner, B. & Eastcott, D. (1995) Making Assessment a Positive Experience, in Knight, P. (ed), Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, SEDA, London, Kogan Page, pp. 87-93. Fuchs, L. S. (1995) Connecting Performance Assessment to Instruction: A Comparison of Behavioral Assessment, Mastery Learning, Curriculum Based Measurement and Performance Assessment, ERIC Digest E530, ED381984. [ONLINE] http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed381984.html

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