ASSESMENT AND EVALUATION

In the process of education, and even in life there is a certain happiness

attached with knowledge of improvement and development.Though used
interchangeably,Evaluation and assesment refers to two distinct
mechanism employed in ensuring there is improvement and development
in an individual.
WHAT IS ASSESMENT?
Assessment is a continuous process of research on the teaching and
learning process to provide useful feedback for the improvement of the
process.According to Brown, (1990) assessment refers to a related series
of measures used to determine a complex attribute of an individual or
group of individuals. This involves gathering and interpreting information
about student level of attainment of learning goals.Assessment is
feedback from the student to the instructor about the student’s learning.

TYPES AND APPROACHES TO ASSESSMENT

 Formative vs. Summative Assessment
Formative assessment is designed to assist the learning process by
providing feedback to the learner, which can be used to identify strengths
and weakness and hence improve future performance. Formative
assessment is most appropriate where the results are to be used internally
by those involved in the learning process (students, teachers, curriculum
developers).
Summative assessment is used primarily to make decisions for grading or
determine readiness for progression. Typically summative assessment
occurs at the end of an educational activity and is designed to provide the
basis or evidence of the degree to which a student has mastered the
knowledge, understandings, and skills of the unit.. Some examples of
summative assessments include tests, projects,demonstrations,
presentations, and performance tasks.

 Informal vs. Formal Assessment

With informal assessment, the judgments are integrated with other tasks,
e.g., lecturer feedback on the answer to a question or preceptor feedback
provided while performing a bedside procedure. Informal assessment is
most often used to provide formative feedback. As such, it tends to be
less threatening and thus less stressful to the student. However, informal
feedback is prone to high subjectivity or bias. Formal assessment occurs
when students are aware that the task that they are doing is for assessment
purposes, e.g., a written examination. Most formal assessments also are
summative in nature and thus tend to have greater motivation impact and
are associated with increased stress. Given their role in decision-making,
formal assessments should be held to higher standards of reliability and
validity than informal assessments (McAlpine 2002).

 Continuous vs. Final Assessment

Continuous assessment occurs throughout a learning experience
(intermittent is probably a more realistic term). Continuous assessment is
most appropriate when student and/or instructor knowledge of progress or
achievement is needed to determine the subsequent progression or
sequence of activities (McAlpine 2002).
Continuous assessment provides both students and teachers with the
information needed to improve teaching and learning in process.
Obviously, continuous assessment involves increased effort for both
teacher and student. Final (or terminal) assessment is that which takes
place only at the end of a learning activity. It is most appropriate when
learning can only be assessed as a complete whole rather than as
constituent parts. Typically, final assessment is used for summative
decision-making. Obviously, due to its timing, final assessment cannot be
used for formative purposes(McAlpine 2002).
 Process vs. Product Assessment
Process assessment focuses on the steps or procedures underlying a
particular ability or task, i.e., the cognitive steps in performing a
mathematical operation or the procedure involved in analyzing a blood
sample. Because it provides more detailed information, process
assessment is most useful when a student is learning a new skill and for
providing formative feedback to assist in improving performance
(McAlpine 2002). Product assessment focuses on evaluating the result or
outcome of a process. Using the above examples, we would focus on the
answer to the math computation or the accuracy of the blood test results.
Product assessment is most appropriate for documenting proficiency or
competency in a given skill, i.e., for summative purposes.
In general, product assessments are easier to create than product
assessments, requiring only a specification of the attributes of the final
product (McAlpine 2002).
 Divergent vs. Convergent Assessment
Divergent assessments are those for which a range of answers or
solutions might be considered correct. Examples include essay tests.
Divergent assessments tend to be more authentic and most appropriate in
evaluating higher cognitive skills. However, these types of assessment are
often time consuming to evaluate and the resulting judgments often
exhibit poor reliability. A convergent assessment has only one correct
response (per item). Objective test items are the best example and
demonstrate the value of this approach in assessing knowledge.
Obviously,convergent assessments are easier to evaluate or score than
divergent assessments. Unfortunately, this “ease of use” often leads to
their widespread application of this approach even when contrary to good
assessment practices. Specifically, the familiarity and ease with which
convergent assessment tools can be applied leads to two common
evaluation fallacies: the Fallacy of False Quantification (the tendency to
focus on what’s easiest to measure) and the Law of the Instrument
Fallacy (molding the evaluation problem to fit the tool) (McAlpine 2002).
 Approaches to Assessment
In approaches to assessment, two central tendencies emerge which are
relevant to language as subject. One places emphasis on the assessment of
learning where reliable, objective measures are a high priority. The focus
here is on making summative judgements which in practice is likely to
involve more formal examinations and tests with marks schemes to
ensure that the process is sound(McAlpine 2002). An alternative
approach is to change the emphasis from assessment learning to
assessment for learning, implying a more formative approach where there
is much more emphasis on feedback to improve performance. The
approach here might be through course work and portfolio assessment in
which diverse information can be gathered which reflects the true broad
nature of the subject (McAlpine 2002).

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES (CATS):

• Climate Surveys – Feedback of teaching/learning methods used, text,
pace, format of class, etc.
• Muddiest Point - Discussion Board or individual student input for what
is still unclear
• Minute Paper – What was most useful that you learned? What questions
remain?
• PreTest and PostTest – Questions to show overview of course content;
used for first day to show depth and breadth of topics covered and last
day to show what learning has occurred
• Embedded questions – Questions embedded within the actual graded
tests
• Reflection Paper – Student critical thought feedback over a learning
unit, a learning experience, a field experience, etc.
• Competency Checklists – Skills and competencies checklist of ability
• Group Informal Feedback on Teaching (GIFT) – Anonymous survey
asking for 1-2 instructor actions that help students learn and 1-2 instructor
actions that hinder or interfere with learning
• Self-Assessment Survey or Posting
• Student Portfolio of Work – compilation of work, including drafts, over
time to show growth and development of skills and knowledge.

WHAT IS EVALUATION?
Evaluation uses methods and measures to judge student learning and
understanding of the material for purposes of grading and reporting. he
purpose of an evaluation is to judge the quality of a performance or work
product against a standard.
TYPES OF EVALUATION
 Summative Evaluation is the commonly known type of evaluation.as
the name implies, summative refers to a summarizing evaluation.This
is the type of evaluation carried out at the end of the course of
instruction typically,It comes at the end of the term, course or
programme of teaching.to determine the extent to which the
objectives have been achieved. It is also applied to judge the teacher
and students, the curriculum and the entire system.Annual
examinations and half yearly examinations in schools, public
 examinations are the example of such evaluation.The purpose of this
kind of evaluation is to grade, rank, classify, compare and promote
the pupils. It is also used for the purpose of certification. Summative
evaluation is also used for selecting students for scholarships or for
admission to particular courses. Prediction regarding the success of
students in their future endeavours can also be made on its basis.

 Formative Evaluation:As the the name implies, is inbuilt and applied

during the process of teaching and learning(I.e During the formation
of education process).The purpose of this evaluation is to provide
feedback regarding the students' progress by finding out the learning
gaps and the weak point.It may also provide feedback as regards the
teachers success in dissemination of knowledge,efficiency of the
teaching methods, effectiveness of the course content and teaching
materials e.g weekly tests,oral tests,terminal examination etc.The
main purpose of formative evaluation is improvement in learning.

 Diagnostic Evaluation: This is another kind of evaluation which is

more closely related to formative than the summative evaluation.This
type of evaluation is carried out most of the time as a follow up
evaluation to formative evaluation. As a teacher, you have used
formative evaluation to identify some weaknesses in your
students,diagnostic test is designed to assist in finding the underlying
cause of students persistent learning difficulties.
REFERENCES
Brown, D. H. (1990). Language assessment: Principles and classroom
practices. London: Longman
McAlpine, M. (2002). Principles of Assessment. Glasgow: University of
Luton. Available at http://caacentre.lboro.ac.uk/dldocs/Bluepaper1.pdf