Planning
and Implementing Assessment
BUY THIS BOOK FROM BARNES AND NOBLE
Freeman,
Richard, & Lewis, Roger (1998).
Planning and implementing assessment.
London: Kogan-Page.
WHAT
IS ASSESSMENT?
The
word "assessment" comes from
the Latin “ad sedere”, meaning “to sit down
beside.” Actually,
the “sit beside” language arose less from the
friendly sound of mentoring someone and more from the
sense of a legal representative in court sitting
beside a person---500 years or so ago, an assessor was
a person who advised judges on technical points
(mostly having to do with fines and taxes).
Other
Meanings:
Educational
Purposes:
1)
select
2)
certificate
3)
describe
4)
aid learning
5)
improve teaching
These
could be separated into two main dimensions:
development and judgment.
Distinction
In
the UK, assessment is considered to be separate from
evaluation. Assessment
focuses on student learning, whereas evaluation
focuses on how the various components of a course
(e.g., syllabus, teacher) perform.
Assessment results can be USED for evaluation,
but do not themselves constitute evaluation.
Two
Rules of Thumb:
1)
assess behaviors representative of required
performance
2)
use a sufficient
sample of behavior
THREE
TYPES OF ASSESSMENT
I.
Norm-Referenced: establishes a rank order of Ss in
terms of achievement; that is, each S is assessed
relative to others in a given group (e.g., year of
school). Most
properly used for selection. Performs the precaution
that selected Ss are above a minimum standard of
competency.
Problematic
in that it doesn’t measure against a common standard
but rather against a cohort.
Therefore, for example, a person who falls
below the cutoff at School A (and is thus not
selected) might fall above the cutoff for selection at
another school.
II.
Criterion-Referenced: measure Ss performance in
relation to an explicit, previously determined
standard (for example, a driving exam).
Good CRAs first chooses reasonable standards,
makes those standards available publicly,
and then tests according to the standards.
They are problematic to the extent that any of
these three things are not done.
III.
Ipsative (Self-referenced): Ss performance is compared
to their own previous performance rather than
objective standards or the performance of others.
Students may also set their own learning
objectives. Problematic
if a student advances relative to his/her own past
performance but still falls short of competency.
Note:
these types are not mutually exclusive---you
can use them in combination.
RELIABILITY
Two
Types: within
one instructor’s ratings and among different
instructors.
Ways
to Increase Reliability:
