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UNIT 3: DIFFERENT CLASSIFICATIONS OF ASSESSMENT

3.0 Intended Learning Outcomes

a. Identify the use of different classifications of assessment;
b. Illustrate scenarios in the use of different classifications of assessment.;
c. Rationalize the purpose of different forms of assessment; and
d. Decide on the kind of assessment to be used

3.1. Introduction
To plan, create, and select the appropriate kind of assessment, we need first to
know the characteristics of the different types of assessments according to purpose,
function, and the kind of information needed about learners.
In this chapter we will discuss the Classifications of Assessment, Use of
Educational and Psychological Assessment, Use of Paper-and-Pencil and
Performance-Based Type of Assessment, Distinguish Teacher-made from
Standardized Tests, Information about Achievement and Aptitude Tests, Difference
between Speed from Power Test and Norm-referenced from Criterion-referenced
Test.

3.2 Topics/Discussion (with Assessment/Activities)

In this chapter we will discuss the following:

1. Classifications of Assessment
2. Use of Educational and Psychological Assessment
3. Use of Paper-and-Pencil and Performance-Based Type of Assessment
4. Distinguish Teacher-made from Standardized Tests
5. Information about Achievement and Aptitude Tests
6. Differentiate the following:
a. Speed from Power Test
b. Norm-referenced from Criterion-referenced Test

What are the different classifications of assessment?

The different forms of assessment are classified according to purpose, form,
interpretation of learning, function, ability, and kind, of learning.

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Classifications of Assessment

Classification Type
Purpose Educational
Psychological
Form Paper-and pencil
Performance-Based
Function Teacher-made Test
Standardized
Kind of Learning Achievement
Aptitude
Ability Speed
Power
Interpretation of Learning Norm-referenced
Criterion-referenced

What are educational and psychological assessments?

When can we use them?
Educational Assessment
 Educational assessments are used in every school setting to track the growth
of the learners and grade their performance.
 This assessment in the educational setting comes in the form of formative and
summative assessment. Formative and summative assessment work hand-in-
hand to provide information about student learning.

Psychological Assessment
 Psychological assessments are measures that determine the learner’s cognitive
and non-cognitive characteristics.

Cognitive tests
 Cognitive tests are those measures ability, aptitude, intelligence, and
critical thinking.

Non-cognitive
 Non-cognitive are affective measures for personality, motivation,
attitude, interest, and disposition.

The result of psychological assessments is used by the guidance counselor to

perform interventions on the learner’s academic, career, and social and emotional
development.

What are the formative and summative assessments?

What is the purpose of formative and summative assessments?
.

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Summative Assessment
 The purpose of summative assessment determines and records what the
learners have learned.

Formative Assessment
 Formative assessment is a continuous process of gathering information about
student learning at the beginning, during, and after instruction so that
so that teachers can decide how to improve their instruction until
learners are able to meet the learning targets.
 The purpose of formative assessment is to track and monitor students
learning and their progress toward the learning target.
 Formative assessment can be in a form of paper-and-pencil or performance-
based assessment that is conducted before, during and after instruction.

What can be determined by a formative assessment at the start of the lesson?

1. What the learners know and do not know so that instruction can be
supplement what learners do not know.
2. Misconceptions of learners so that they can be corrected.
3. Confusion of learners so that they can be clarified.
4. What learners can and cannot do so that enough practice can be given to
perform the task.

When do we use paper-and-pencil and performance-based assessment?

What is the Paper-and-Pencil Assessment?

Paper-and-Pencil Assessment
 Paper-and-pencil types of assessment are cognitive tasks that require a single
correct answer.
 Paper-and-pencil usually comes in a form of test types, such as binary (true or
false), short answer (identification), matching type, and multiple choice.

What is a Performance-Based Assessment?

Performance-based assessment
 Performance-based assessment are type of assessments that require learners
to perform tasks, such as demonstrations, arrive at a product, show
strategies, and present information.
 The skills applied are usually complex and require integrated skills to arrive
at a target response.
 Performance-based assessment includes writing an essay, reporting in front of
the class, reciting a poem, demonstrating how a problem was solved, creating
a word problem, reporting the result of an experiment, dance and song
performance, painting, and drawing, playing a musical instrument, etc.

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 Performance-based task are usually open-ended, and each learners arrives

with various possible responses.

The use of paper-and-pencil and performance-based task depends on the

nature and content of the learning targets.

What are the examples of learning targets that require a paper-and-pencil type of
assessment?

Below are examples of learning targets that require a paper-and-pencil type of

assessment
 Identify the parts of the plants
 Label the parts of the microscope
 Classify the phases of mater
 Provide the appropriate verb in the sentence
 Identify the type of sentence

What are the examples of learning targets that require performance-based

assessment?

Below are examples of learning targets that require performance-based assessment

 Varnish a wooden cabinet
 Draw a landscape using a paintbrush in the computer
 Write a word problem involving multiplication of polynomials
 Deliver a speech convincing your classmates that you are a good candidate
for the student council
 Write an essay explaining how humans and plant benefit from each other
 Mount a plant specimen on a glass slide

How do we distinguish a teacher-made test from a standardized test?

Standardized Test
 Standardized-test have fixed directions for administering and scoring.
 They can be purchased with test manuals, booklets, and answer sheets.
 When these tests were developed, the items were sampled to a large number
of targets called the norm.

What are the categories and examples of standardized-assessment?

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Category Specific Example Visit the site for their description

Intelligence Wechsler Adult http//wechslertest.com/
Test Intelligence Scale
Achievement Metropolitan http//www.test.com/MAT-8-Testing
test Achievement Test
Aptitude test Raven’s Progressive http//www.pearsonclinical.co.uk/Psychology/
Matrices
Critical Watson Glaser http//www.assessmentday.co.uk.
thinking test Critical Thinking /Watson-Glaser-critical-thinking.htm
Appraisal
Interest test RIASEC Markers http//openpsychometers.org/test/RIASEC/
Scale
Personality test NEO Personality http//www.hogrefe.co.uk/neopir.html
Inventory

Non-standardized or teacher-made test

 Non-standardized or teacher-made tests are tests usually intended for

classroom assessment.
 They are used for classroom purposes, such as determining whether the
teacher have reached the learning target.
 Examples of the teacher-made test are quizzes, long tests, and exams.
Formative and summative assessments are usually a teacher-made test.

Can a teacher-made test become a standardized test?

Yes, it can be a standardized test as long as it is valid, reliable and with a

standard procedure for administering, scoring, and interpreting result.

What information is sought from the aptitude test and achievement test?

Achievement Test

 An achievement test measure what learner have learned after instruction or

after going through a specific curricular program.
 It provides information on what learners can do and have acquired after
training and instruction.
 It is a measure of the accomplished skills and indicates what a person can do
at present (Atkinson 1995).
 Achievement is a measure of what a person has learned within or up to a
given time (Yaremko et al. 1982).
 Kimbal noted that the greater number of courses taken by the learners their
more extensive classroom experience with a subject may give them an
advantage.

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 Achievement tests can be reflected in a final grades of the learners within a

quarter.

Aptitude Test
 Aptitude test are the characteristics that influences a person’s behaviour that
aid goal attainment in a particular situation according to Lohgman (2005).
 Aptitude test refers to the degree of readiness to learn and perform well in a
particular situation or domain (Corno et al. 2002).

Magno (2009) created a taxonomy of aptitude test that provides item writers
with a guide on the type of items to be included when building an aptitude test
depending on the skills specified.

How do we differentiate speed from the power test?

Speed Test
 Speed test consist of easy items that needs to be completed within a time limit.

Example of speed test is a typing test in which examinees are required to

correctly type as many words as possible given a limited amount of time.

Power Test
 A power test consist an item with increasing level of difficulty, but time is
sufficient to complete the whole test.

Example of power test was the one developed by the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics that determines the ability of the examinees to use
data to reason and become creative, formulate, solve, and reflect critically on
the problems provided.

How do we differentiate norm-referenced from a criterion-referenced test?

There are two types of test based on how the scores are interpreted: norm-referenced
and criterion-referenced test.

Criterion-Referenced Test

 Criterion-referenced test has a given set of standards, and the scores are
compared to the given criterion.
 One approach in criterion-referenced interpretation is that the score is
compared to a specific cut off.

An example in the grading in schools where the range of the grades 96-100 is
highly proficient, 90-95 is proficient, 80-89 is nearly proficient, and below 80 is
beginning.

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Norm-referenced Test
 Norm-referenced test interprets the result using the distribution of scores of a
sample group.
 The standing of every individual in a norm-referenced test is based on how
far they are from the mean and standard deviation from the sample.
Standardized test usually interpret scores using a norm set from a large
sample.

Assessment:
A. Development Activity

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Check the ideas you have acquired about the classification of assessment.
1. Why are different kinds of assessment classified?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________

2. How does the knowledge of the classifications of assessment help improve

learning?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________

3. How does the knowledge of the classifications of assessment help improve

teaching?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________

4. Which classification of assessment is commonly used in the classroom setting and

why?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________

B.
Write on the blank if the task requires paper-and-pencil or performance-based
assessment.
_______1. State the domain and range of the given function
_______2. Solve systems of linear equations in two variables by graphing method
_______3. Draw the slope of the given equation
_______4. Simplify complex fraction
_______5. Deliver a speech to persuade people to donate for the orphanage
_______6. Multiply and divide rational algebraic expressions
_______7. Observe the chemicals in the laboratory and list down their hazards
_______8. Classify substances according to their physical or chemical and intrinsic and
extrinsic properties

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_______9. Cite evidence of chemical changes

_______10. Present ways to prevent walls from easily cracking during earthquakes

C.
To know more about the different kinds of assessment, complete the table by providing
other specific examples of each kind of assessment. You may use other references.

Type Example
Educational
Psychological
Paper-and-pencil
Performance-based
Teacher-made
Standardized
Achievement
Aptitude
Speed
Power
Norm-referenced
Criterion-referenced

D.
Evaluate your self
Read carefully each item. Choose the letter of the correct and best answer in every
item.

1. What are the two kinds of assessment based on forms?

A. Teacher-made test and Standardized
B. Educational and Psychological
C. Formative and Summative
D. Achievement and Aptitude

2. Which best describes a paper-and-pencil type of assessment?

A. it determines whether students have attained the learning targets.

B. it provides a cognitive task that requires a single correct answer.
C. it used to measure what students have learned after instruction.
D. it determines students’ cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics.

3. When are educational and psychological assessment used?

A. When tracking the growth of the students and marking their performance.

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B. When designing objectives that match the content of instruction.

C. When giving feedback on how well students have understand the lesson.
D. When gathering information at any point of instruction.

4. What is the difference between speed and power test?

A. Speed Test is the ability to type fast in a limited time, while power test
contains item that vary in difficulty.

B. Speed test consists of a few pre-calculated difficult items, and time is also
limited; power test consist of easy items, but time is limited.

C. Speed test consists of easy items, but time is limited; power test consists of
a pre-calculated difficult items, and time is also limited.

D. Speed test contains items that vary in difficulty to the point that no subject
is expected to get all items right even with unlimited time, while speed test
is the ability to type fast in a limited time.

5. Can a teacher-made test become a standardized test?

A. Yes, as long as it is valid and reliable with standard procedure for

administering, scoring, and interpreting result.

B. Yes, because the test is not developed by teacher to ascertain the student’s
achievement and proficiency in a given subject.

C. No, because it cannot determine the purpose and objectives of the test as to
what to measure and why to measure.

D. No, because this test cannot be used as a tool for formative, diagnostic, and
summative evaluation.

Read each case and identify what kind of assessment is referred to.

Type of Assessment Situations

1. The science teacher at the end of the lesson on the
phases of matter provided a 20-item test to record how
much the learner have learned. What kind of assessment
is used?
2. The teacher in music required learners to demonstrate
how the ¾ beats are conducted. What kind of assessment
is used?
3. A student got a score of 25 in Mathematics

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achievement test, which is considered low compared to

the scores found in the test manual. What kind of
assessment is used?
4. A teacher in English raised 3 questions to determine if
the learners understood the story read. The learners who
could not answer the questions will be further helped on
the skills needed. What kind of assessment is used?
5. A teacher made a 10-item spelling test where the
words are pronounced and the learners will write the
correct spelling. What kind of assessment is used?
6. A teacher in science tested the learner’s familiarity
with the parts of the heart. An illustration of a heart is
provided as they need to label the parts. What kind of
assessment is used?
7. A teacher used a Jackson’s Vocational interest to
determine which track of senior high school the learners
can select. What assessment is used according to the
function?
8. A guidance counsellor, as part of the career orientation
of Grade 12 learners, administer a test to evaluate their
abstract reasoning logic, and identification of missing
parts. What kind of test is used?
9. The learner who got a perfect score in the science
achievement test were invited to join a science club. In
this way, how was the score is used?
10. The teacher in mathematics wanted to determine how
well the learners have learned in mathematics
curriculum at the end of the school year. The Iowa test
for basic skills on math was administered. What kind of
assessment is used?

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