AS SE SS ME NT and

EVAL UATIO N in
So cia l Stu die s
Cla ssr oo ms
A Question of balance
John Myers

What is the state of Assessment and

evaluation in Social studies today?
What is the state of Assessment and
evaluation in Social studies today?

In Canada 150 years ago, assessment has only identified

and ranked student using tests, essays and quizzes in which
this limited the role of Assessment. This resulted to
broadening of Assessment over the past twenty years
Three reasons why assessment have broadened over the years:

The goals of education in general and social studies in particular

Joseph Kirman argues that the social studies is not about the
accumulation of selected facts for later recall but should aim to
produce a responsible person able to:

 cope with change

 Capable of making reasonable decision
 An intelligent consumer
 Controller of science and technology
 Live and appreciate human diversity
 Support and defend human dignity
Such a person should be abto to:

 Settle differences honorably

 Avoid the use of violence
 Be cognizant of and active in the stewardship of our planet
 Have the skills necessary to maintain a functional economic system
and democratic government
 Assessment reform has also been driven by
increased knowledge about learning

Past: Present:
Learning was viewed as Learning as a more active
a relatively passive process in which learners
learning constructs knowledge and make
connections among facts and
concepts.
The innovations :

 Curriculum integration
 Authentic assessment
 Cooperative learning
Assessment and evaluation reform comes from the
widespread view that traditional ways of reporting
student achievement and the evaluation side of things
are not telling us what we really need to know

 The Objectives needs to be achieved, the need for

results serves as the clear evidence that the students
have met the outcomes set for them
STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT
• This includes provincial, national, and international achievement tests
• "Standardized" refers to the fact that the results of such tests, if
administered according to their instructions, can be interpreted the
same way in different circumstances
• The standardization occurs as a result of field-testing with thousands of
students which are administered system-wide or province-wide.
• The instructions to students, the test conditions, the timing, and scoring
are the same in all places.
• These tests are generally norm- referenced and provide comparative
data.
 Cons of standardized
assessment

• Does not set a standard as to

what students should be able to
do

• Rather than defining clear

expectations it sets the students
to get the highest score possible.

• It's seldom assess complex

thinking and behaviors

• Standardized test are incapable

of of providing teachers with the
day to day,moment to moment
information they need in for
making instructional decisions.
ASSESSMENT LITERACY
The capacity to better match assessment methods and information
desired about student achievement, make sense of the student
achievement data we collect, communicate assessment results
effectively, use assessment to maximize student motivation and learning,
identify current trends and issues in the Field for further investigation and
research so that we can be more proactive and better be able to hold our
own in debates about assessment, evaluation, standards and
accountability.
WHAT IS THE
VOCABULARY OF
ASSESSMENT AND
EVALUATION?
 ASSESSMENT VS.
E VA L U AT I O N

A s s e s s me n t - is th e p r o c e s s o f g a th e r i n g d a ta a b o u t
s tu d e n t le a r n i n g o r p e r fo r m a n c e .
Ev a lu a t io n - ju d g in g th e s tu d e n t p e r fo r m a n c e b a s e d o n
a s s e s s m e n t d a ta
Informal assessment refers to unplanned
and
spontaneous methods of gathering
information about
student understanding.

Formal assessment involves planned and

structured
methods of evaluating student performance.
 2 TYPES OF ASSESSMENT
Formative Assessment provides ongoing
feedback for both students and teachers to
improve learning.
 PRINCIPLES OF QUALITY
FEEDBACK

• feedback should be timely

• feedback should be specific and corrective
• feedback can be verbal and written and
can come
from teachers, peers, or the student
him/herself
Summative Assessment
•measures student learning at the
end of a specific period.
 How Do I Plan for
Sound Assessment
and Evaluation?
 1.What is to be
assessed? Assessment
should be valid,that is
they should provide
information.
What is the purpose of
the assessment?

•To provide information for

the student and teacher to
monitor orimprove the
progress.
 3.What assessment
tools will best provide
the information we
need?
-Tools will vary depending on
what is to be assessed and the
purpose of the assessment
 4.Who will collect the
d a t a ; t e a c h e r, s t u d e n t s , o r
outside judges?
•Involving students in self or peer-
assessment can be a very effective
teaching and assessment
technique.
 FORMS OF
ASSESSMENT AND
E VA L U AT I O N
 1. Placement Evaluation:

Placement evaluation is conducted

before the organisation of teaching-
learning activities to measure the
entry behaviour or previous
knowledge of the learner
 2.Formative Evaluation:

Scriven (1991) defined it as, “Formative

evaluation is typically conducted during
the development or improvement of a
programme or product (or person, and so
on) and it is conducted, often more than
once, for in house staff of the programme
with the extent to improve”.
 3.Diagnostic Evaluation:
Diagnostic evaluation is
conducted along with formative
evaluation during the instructional
process. It is carried out based on
the data obtained from formative
evaluation.
 4.Summative
Evaluation:

•Summative evaluation is
conducted to know the terminal
behaviour of learners. The key
word in summative evaluation
is “certification”
 ASSESSMENT
S T R AT E G I E S I N
SOCIAL
SCIENCES
 Continuous and
Comprehensive
Evaluation
Continuous means that evaluation
strategies are integrated with the
teaching-learning process. Teacher
needs to aim at achieving
instructional objectives continuously
either by using formal or informal
assessment.
 Comprehensive evaluation
signifies the use of a variety
of tools and techniques,it
ensures all round assessment
of the learners.
Te r m E n d E x a m i n a t i o n
Term end examination is usually
conducted at the end of a term, say
after completion of a semester,
annually, or at the end of the entire
course.
 Open Book Examination
Open book examination
emphasizes use of textbooks
during the examination to write
answers to the questions
 USE OF ICT IN
ASSESSMENT AND
E VA L U AT I O N I N
SOCIAL SCIENCE
 Use of e-mail and
Internet
Social science teacher can e-mail
assignments to learners and ask them
to return the assignment responses
through return mail to her/him
 Use of Audio and
Vi d e o M a t e r i a l s
Social science teacher can give
students assignments in the form of
developing audio video materials on
several social science contents
 Use of e-portfolio
Like portfolio assessment, Social
Science students can also be motivated
to develop e-portfolio in their personal
account and upload and store the
significant work they perform in visuals,
audio-video, and descriptive forms.
Use of Social Media
At the present time, social media
play very important role not only in
communicating to the friends or
relatives but also contributing to
academic excellence.
 O t h e r Ty p e s o f
Assessment and
S t r a t e g i e s i n Te a c h i n g
Social Science
 Assessment of Co-
Scholastic Abilities
Co-scholastic assessment aims at assessing
desirable behaviour related to
learner ’s life skills, attitudes, interests,
values, co-curricular activities and
physical health.
Scholastic Assessment
Scholastic assessment refers to
assessment of cognitive abilities
of learnersin various academic
activities which are associated
with various subjects.
 Document-based
questions
Students are supposed to be able to use the
concepts and procedures of the disciplines
involved in social studies such as history,
geography, and economics. These questions
are not designed to test student’s recall of
information but rather their abilities to
critically use sources as the basis for
constructing historical accounts.
 Selected
response tests
Selected response tests, often called
“objective paper and pencil tests” consist of
multiple choice, truefalse, matching, and fill-
in-the-blank items. The phrase “selected
response” is most accurate since it reflects
the procedure of selecting correct responses
from a range of possibilities.
Extended- or essay-
response tests
Essays are items that require an
extended or constructed written
answer to a relatively open-
ended question for which a
variety of appropriate responses
are possible.
 Structured Observation
Many performance and authentic assessments will
include “hard” evidence of student progress such as
written components, constructed models, and visual
representations, but often much of the evidence of
student progress will be gathered through watching
them work. These observations would be structured not
only in the sense that the teacher looks for evidence
for precise criteria like these but also in the sense that
some form of record is kept of the observations such
as checklists or anecdotal notes
THANK YOU!