Assessment of a Leading Educational Idea - Research Paper Example

? EDUC 90619 Leading Educational Ideas Assessment Task 2 - Leading Education Research ‘How is using assessment to inform teaching and learning a leading educational idea?’ Assessment directs instruction. Word Count: 4000 words Weighting: 80% Melbourne University Date: July 2012 (Extension granted) Abstract Learning, teaching, and assessment, have an entangled relationship that informs laerning. This means that teachers have an important role in influencing the extent at which learning process in the classroom is influenced by assessemt. My review entails conducting a literature review and assessment records within the educational institution and how it informs learning. This inquiry presents a literature review on how assessment informs learning, methodology used in the study and analysis of information obtained. Introduction Teachers have to administer complicated and challenging situations, harmonising the personal and communal pressures of a crowd of more learners while activating the circumstances for educational success. This process can only be achived through assessment. The question raised by the common Teacher, is therefore how does the idea of assessment fit within the context of Teaching and Learning. The process of educational assessment is an important part of instruction and learning. Established assessment activities assist teachers and learners appreciate what they have gone through, the situation they are in, and the next move. One single assessment cannot give adequate information to information and develop the teaching and learning process. Crick states that using diverse assessments as an element of teaching, provides realistic information concerning learner’s development. Some of the terms that will be relevant within my inquiry are: Formative assessment This is the assessment that is ongoing and normally conducted during the teaching learning process. The instructor does teach and evaluates after teaching to find out if objectives have been achieved (Wang, 2007). Summative assessment; assessment conducted at the end of a program (Wang, 2007). Student-directed Assessment; This assessment allows students to become effective users of assessment information. Students can become proficient users of student-directed assessment strategies such as conferencing, self-assessment, peer assessment and goal setting (Wang, 2007). Assessments that straightforwardly involve learners assist them learn significant skills that they will be in a position to use as permanent learners. They become skilled at to be contemplative and approachable, to believe about their own hard work, to be productive in self- measurement and peer measurement, and to make available precise information that elaborates on the differentiation (Wang, 2007). Conferencing Conferences are more often than not short, relaxed meetings whispered with individual learners or a little group of learners and entail investigative listening, penetrating and responding. Questioning are conferences done to gather detailed information. They may require a collection of questions targeted for an exact reason or a prescribed set of on paper questions to which a learner responds in inscription. For illustration, instructors may call for information about a learner’s use of manuscript and use an official consultation or gathering to question in a straight line connected to a fastidious characteristic of the learners’ performance (Pontus and Thornton, 2008). Portfolios; A portfolio is a determined collection of learners’ work samples, learner personality -assessments and objective statements that reproduce learners’ progress. Learners usually select the activities samples to identify in the portfolio; however, the instructor may also advocate that precise activities samples be incorporated. Portfolios are commanding tools that permit learners to see their educational growth from status to grade. Goal Setting; Goal setting follows of course out of personality -assessment, colleague assessment and conferences. Learners and instructors make a decision of what they require to focus on subsequently in the learners’ learning, set objectives, goals and arrangement the steps learners will apt in the direction of obtaining their goals and objectives (Wang, 2007). Peer Assessment; Peer appraisal allows learners to examine one another’s work as it is connected to unambiguous criterion and to recommend support and suggestions for development. Peer appraisal offers learners the chance to contribute to and with one another on their insights about teaching students (Wang, 2007). Literareture review Assessment provides information to administrators, teachers, parents, school support teams, psychologists, speech therapist and other education policy makers about learners’ achievement. It gives precious information for calculating training; acts as an assessment for learners, classroom settings, and schools; and provides information to policy decision makers. Tools of assessment can make available formative or summative statistics, and they can use customary or genuine designs that affects the teaching learning process, as illustrated by (Hughes, 2010; Beck, 1979). Needs assessment or a pre-test provides information to instructors on what learners know and what they do not know at the beginning, setting the way for curriculum development.  The information obtained will emphasize the opening between accessible knowledge and a preferred result.  Proficient instructors discover what learners previously know, and make use of this information as an establishing new approches that can be used to improve teaching laerning process. Asseseement of learners the whole time of instruction, exceptional instructors continuously amend and improve their lessons to get together the miscellaneous needs of learners (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2011). Assessment directs learning in that the process of how and what learners learn relies on a most important degree on how they reflect and how they will be evaluated.  Assessment activities must propel the right signs to learners about what to learn, how to revise, and the relative point in time to pay out on ideas and skills in a study course. Talented faculties convey what learners need to be acquainted with and be capable to do, both in the course of a course outline, and by selecting assessments in order to express learners’ energies. Additionally, they are excessive prospect for learning outcome in learners who increase to the opportunity (Bridgeland, Dilulio, & Morison, 2006). Assessment informs learners of their improvement in that Successful assessment give learners a gist of what they can make out and do not recognise about subject matter.  If prepared well, responses provided to learners will point towards how to make better their accomplishment.  Assessments have to go with the subject matter, the kind of judgment, and the skills educated in classrooms. Due to the feedback from teachers, learners become conscious of their areas of strength and weakness. Assessments completed in a good way should not be a shock to learners. Assessment informs teaching exercise in that manifestation of learners’ activities offers teachers insights on the usefulness of their teaching methods. By methodically, getting together, analysing, and providing an interpretation of proof, we can conclude how well learners’ learning parallels our expectations for a session, component or program. The information from responses indicates to the teachers how to develop teaching, where to reinforce teaching, and what situations are well comprehended, and consequently may be reversed in future classes. Role of giving grades in assessment; Grades must be an indication of what learners have learned as definite in the learners’ education outcomes. They should be founded on direct confirmation of learners learning as calculated on tests, credentials, written projects, and oral presentations. Grades over and over again fail to inform us unmistakably about “great learning” such as significant thinking skills, problematic solving skills, exchange of ideas skills which are oral, in black and white and listening, communal skills, and moving organisation skills. Significant to educators is the utilization of assessment to both notify and direct instruction. By means of an extensive assortment of evaluation tool, a teacher can decide which instructional methods are successful and which necessitate to be customized. In this method, assessment can be second-hand to make better classroom exercise, plan set of courses, and research individual own teaching exercise. Assessment will for all time be second-hand to make available information to family, children, and school administration. In the earlier period, this data was first and foremost articulated by a “score ". Gradually more, this data is being perceived as a channel to authorise learners to be self- thoughtful learners who check and assess their own development as they build up the ability to be self- aimed at learners. Classroom Appraisal is a technique planned to assist instructors to find out what students are gaining in the learning settings and how they are gaining it. Uniqueness of classroom assessment entails: Student centered assessment concentrates on observing and humanising knowledge, instead of observing and humanising teaching. Instructor centered assessment where particularised teacher selects what to assess, how to calculate, and how to do something in comeback to the data obtained, by income of the appraisal. Reciprocally Beneficial – learners strengthen lesson’s content and reinforce their self--? appraisal skills; ability what their instruction center by asking three questions: “What are the necessary skills and information I am demanding to teach?”, “How can I as an instructor discover out whether learners are obtaining information with them?”, and “How can I as a teacher assist learners learning to improve?” Formative assessment; its code is to make improved the advantage of student learning, not to put together obtainable corroboration for assessing or giving grades to students; it gives in series on what, how a large amount, and how healthy students are educated. This is similar to Berstein (1975) analysis of visible pedagogies notions of class. Circumstance Precise – the assessment technique is elected to fit the subject substance and the necessities of the exact class. Continuing it is a constant procedure, i.e. the formation and preservation of a classroom “disapproval loop”; as this method becomes incorporated into each day classroom behaviour, the infrastructure loop sandwiched between sense (education) and learners (information) becomes more well-organized and capable; it gives early disapproval – before learners are assessed for scores so that essential adjustments can be completed. Successful assessment starts with understandable goals. It frequently takes a number of hard thoughts before instructors can coherent the exact qualities and competencies they expect to educate during the course satisfied – with what is most significant to educate and what learners should actually learn. Classroom Assessment methods give sense criticism on how complimentary they are attaining their instructional goals. Summative assessment Summative assessment as appraisal “information for the importance of assessing educational development at the end of a particular time period ( for instance, a component of fabric or an complete educate year) and for the aims of developing a leaner’s educational standing comparative to some recognised decisive factor. The main purpose is to construct judgments about human being student accomplishment & allocate grades. Examples entail tests, quizzes, term papers, exams, homework and lab reports. Formative assessment The process of formative assessment as a procedure “used by instructors and learners during teaching that gives criticism to regulate continuing instruction and learning to get better students’ attainment of planned educational outcomes. The main purpose is to notify education and get better learning process used as “reaction devices” Examples include fake questions, pay attention to students’ questions and commentary, observe association language and facial language, classroom assessment method. Assessments, be it formative or summative, can be intended as conventional or genuine tools. Customary assessment makes tools such as manuscript and pen tests, while genuine evaluation focuses on assessment of student instruction in a supplementary “genuine life” state of affairs. The extent of the investigation on assessment intends focuses on genuine assessment (Wang, 2007). There is a wide variety of assessments that are accessible for use in reorganisation assessment in the classroom settings. These kinds of assessments comprise methods that are both customary and substitute. The various kinds of substitute assessments can be utilised with an assortment of subject content and procedure skills, as well as the following wide-ranging targets. Declarative information — this is the "what" information. Restricted knowledge— this is the "why" information. Bureaucratic knowledge— this is the "how" information. Concentration knowledge— this is the use of facts in both comparable settings and in dissimilar contexts. Challenge solving— this is a process of using information or skills to determine a version or problem. Analytical thinking— the process of assessment of concepts connected with investigation. Credentials — refer to a procedure of communicating comprehension. Comprehension — this is the amalgamation of ideas, skills and processes by the learner. Successful assessment provides information and supports the teaching and learning process, serving to increase achievement and accomplishment. All concerned should appreciate and take suitable clarification of the three major kinds of assessment: Assessment for teaching and learning is fundamentally formative. It is the procedure of looking for ideas and interpreting confirmation so that students , parents and instructors can make a choice, by way of high excellence dialogue, where the students are in their teaching and learning process, where they want to go subsequently and how paramount to search out there. Assessment as teaching and learning is fundamentally evaluative. It is about making use of assessment to become skilled on how to be taught and consequently give confidence the expansion of self-directed learners. In effectual assessment as teaching and learning, students learn by means of personality and peer appraisal recognise and reproduce about their individual proof of learning. Individual teaching and learning preparation provides a compassionate structure for these procedures. Assessment of teaching and learning is fundamentally summative. It is about assigning numbers, analysing and treatment of performance. Successful assessment of teaching and learning provides data about personality skills and information leading directly to which are to chances in life, employment and schooling (Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis and Chappuis, 2005). Classroom situation assessment performance is high-quality teaching and learning actions. All through teaching actions, assessment for the most part frequently occurs at the same time as an uncompleted process of get-together, recording, and analysing information on learners from numerous perspectives and areas of source. It provides information so it informs the instructor about a learner learning. This data is used to hold up instruction and in due course to dish up the basic requirements of each learner. An imperative characteristic of assessment, consequently, entails manifestation as considerate investigation in which appraisal and instruction/learning provides information or inform and are well-versed by everyone. There are quite a few aspects that manipulate the process of amalgamation of instruction/learning and measurement. Time is a compulsory circumstance for good quality teaching. Instructors require time to construct into their instructing state of affairs to record, put in order, and construct use of assessment knowledge in their day by day instruction strategy. Conventionally, the main technique of classroom appraisal has been teacher surveillance, based on students’ interpretation behaviours using subjective proceedings and/or information collection procedures. Listening carefully observation on one or two learners per day might to be successful. Most outstandingly, although, is for instructors to repeatedly expand their comprehension of what it measures to be an initial booklover. Some Guiding Principles about Assessment ? Assessment is essential for the successful implementation of good teaching learning instruction. ? Assessment is an integral part of the Teaching Learning Cycle. ? Assessment informs teaching. ? Assessment tells us what students can do and what they need to learn to do next. ? Assessment needs to be focused on individual students. ? Assessment needs to be ongoing. Even with larger classes, an observant teacher will come to know, through daily interaction and observation, the children who are keen and confident, those who take part quietly yet effectively, and those who are struggling in reading and writing. By observing and recording observations of students at work and by using assessments such as running records, phoneme awareness, and alphabet recognition, a teacher will have the information that is needed to: Assess individual student progress. Evaluate the classroom program. Report on progress to administrators. Report on progress to parents. Discuss progress with the students Assessment demonstrates sensitivity to individual differences and needs Assessment affects student inspiration and self-esteem and consequently needs to be responsive to how particularised students learn. “Accommodations to … appraisal will to a great extent serve the requirements of particularized learners who have exchange of ideas, behavioural, academic or corporeal exceptionalities. As instructors discuss with learners, decisions are completed with take into account to the after that steps in learners learning process. This entails accommodations for particularized learner learning requirements. Accommodations to indoctrination and assessment, as well as those for second language learners and for students with extraordinary education requirements, make sure the most constructive impact on learners’ education and a precise accepting of student presentation. Exact accommodations might entail adjustments to the variety, breadth, deepness and swiftness of assessment. From the documents i found the following the ways of conducting an assessment. Assessment should be openly connected to set of courses prospect and to instructional methods, comprise of a variety of forms, like explanation, subjective notes, ranking scales, presentation tasks, learner self-assessment, instructor brain-storming questions, presentations and teaching logs (Bennett and Rolheiser, 2001). I realized that assessment should be intended to obtain data about what learners recognise and are talented to do, what they require to study, and what they have obtained and about the efficiency of the knowledge experience. I found that assessment should be in a position to reveal a variety of leaner’s skills, abilities and knowledge, engage distribution the planned outcomes and appraisal criteria with learners previous to an assessment action. Assessment should be conducted before, throughout and after teaching, provide recurrent and expressive criticism to learners, make certain that learners can explain their development and accomplishment. From the reviews I conducted, assessment for education is characterised by the continuing exchange of data about learning between learner and self, colleague, teacher and family members. It gives information about learners’ progress, allowing the instructor to make curriculum adjustments to best get together the knowledge needs of a learner or lesson. Assessment for teaching gives comprehensive, evocative criticism through commentary. As a consequence of getting criticism, paying attention on the teaching and learning outcomes, learners will have a better comprehension of what they require to do to get better their prospect presentation. If learners are to become knowledgeable users of measurement information, they require to be incorporated in the assessment procedure (Hattie, 2009). The following are some of the ways constructing Rating Scales, Checklists, and Rubrics normally used in assessment. 1. Use rating scales, checklists, and rubrics in relation to students’ outcomes and principles. 2. Use straightforward formats that can be implicit by learners and that will correspond information about learner’s learning, to family members. 3. Make sure that the distinctiveness and descriptors planned are obvious, exact and visible. 4. Hearten learners to support with writing suitable criteria. For instance, what are the elements that show levels of presentation for a piece of influential writing? 5. Ensure that rating scales, checklists, and rubrics are developed to trail development over time. 6. Leave gap to record subjective notes or explanation. 7. Use general templates that become recognisable to learners and to which a variety of descriptors can be included quickly to reproduce the skills assessed. 8. Provide leadership to learners to use and generate their own rating scales, checklists, and rubrics for identity -assessment roles and as strategy for goal surroundings. Checklists usually present a yes/no arrangement in relation to learners’ expression of exact criteria. They might be used to trace observations of an entity, a cluster or an entire class. Rating Scales permit instructors to point to the level or occurrence of the skills and methods presented by the learners and can demonstrate a choice of presentation levels. Rating scales affirm the procedures and supply three or four answer selections to explain the excellence or occurrence of learner’s work. Instructors can make use of rating scales to proof observations and learners can use them as personality -assessment utensils. Rating scales also provide learners’ data for developing goals and improving students’ performance. Coaching students to use evocative words such as for all time, typically, occasionally and by no means assists them to locate specific needs and strength. I found from asseesment reviews that Successful rating scales make use of descriptors with obviously understood events, like incidence. Balance that depends on prejudiced descriptors of excellence, such as reasonable, high-quality or outstanding, are less efficient because the particular word used does not hold enough data on what procedures are presented at each of these location on the rating scale. Further more, I would say that Instructors can augment the assessment worth of a rating scale or a checklist by adding up two to three extra steps that provide learners a chance to recognise skills they would love to expand or the ability they sense is most significant. For instance, teachers can train students to place a star next to the skill they believe is the most vital, for heartening other’s, sphere the skill they would love to make better, underscore the skill that is very challenging. I noted that most aouthors noted that rubrics employ a set of procedures to assess a student’s presentation. They entail of a set extent scale and comprehensive descriptions of the individuality for all stage of performance. These images focus on the superiority of the result or presentation and not the magnitude; e.g., not the figure of paragraphs, samples to hold up a given thought, spelling mistakes. Rubrics are usually used to assess learners’ performance with the meaning of counting the outcome in a score for covering purposes. Rubrics can augment the steadiness and dependability of grading. Methodology Based on the perception of assessment and how it informs learning, I chose to use high school students and their teachers to ascertain how assessment informs the teaching learning process in high schools in Australia. It should be measured that assessment is an essential part of the teaching and learning process (Hattie, pp.78). I will apply the traditional approach of inquiry to obtain information about assessment and how it informs leraning. I will use it to obtain content knowlegde on assessment within the classroom context. I will also apply scientific approches to obtain information within the classroom context. Hypothesis will be tested using this scientific approach to prove assessment thoeries. In summary, I will use an inquiry based learning approach where, I will make direct observation during the teaching leaning process to determine how assessment informs learning. Using the findings from the oberservation , I will develop a comprehensive review in relation to the topic. Through observation, i will also indentify topics the require solutions. Hypothesis will then be created, methods of creating hypothesis will be developed. Lastly, develop means of collecting and analysing data. I will conduct experiments to test the stated hypothesis, record the findings, prove and revisit the hypothesis. Finally, will state the conclusions, validate the conclusions and construct meaning in relation the assessment and how it informs learning. Conclusion Assessment methods and approaches give evidence of comprehending and are important parts of the preparation process. Assessment ought to be measured and planned before agreeing on teaching activities. Assessment methods and responsibilities provide the situation and course for teaching activities that will be second-hand to build sympathetic and skills among the learners. It should be noted that, teaching learning and assessments makes the learners appreciate their expansion of outgoing capability. These assessments makes the learners observe how they advance in their skills obtained in a classroom situation. The assessment tools and instruments need to be accommodating enough for individual difference in a classroom. Assessment can have outward appearance on the foundation of a learner and assist the learner to develop ther learning skills and look carefully the process that aims at improving his or her education. These explanations could also assist parents in comprehending how paramount it is to assist their children develop learning skills at all levels of learning and teaching process. Instructors possibly will use the data obtained from assessment to conducted to assist arrange future indoctrination. Therefore assessment informs learning. References Bennett, B., & Rolheiser, C. 2001. Beyond Monet: The artful science of instructional integration. Toronto, Ontario: Bookation. Berstein, B. (1975). Class, Codes and Control (Vol. 2). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Beck, R. (1979). Handbook in Social Philosophy. New York: Macmillan. Bernstein, B. (1977). Class, Codes and Control (Vol. 3). London: Routledge. Bland, D., & Carrington, S. (2009). Young People, Imagination and Re-engagement in the Middle Years. Improving Schools, 12(3), 237-248. Bridgeland, J., Dilulio, J., & Morison, K. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives on High School Dropouts. Washington DC: Civil Enterprises. Christenson, S., Reschly, A., Appleton, J., Berman, S., Spanjers, D., & Varro, P. (2008). Best Practices in Fostering Student Engagement. In A. Thomas, & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology. Bethesda: National Association of School Psychologists. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge. Creswell, J. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. London: Sage. Crick, R. (2012). Deep Engagement as a Complex System: Identity, Learning Power and Authentic Inquiry. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (pp. 675-695). New York: Springer. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2001). Make Their Heads Spin! Improving Learning in the Middle Years. Melboune: Curriculum Corporation. Hattie, J., 2009. Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London & New York:  Routledge, Taylor& Francis. Pontus, J. F. & Thornton, S.R. 2008. Is outcomes assessment hurting higher education? Thought & Action: NEA Higher Education Journal, 24, 66-72. Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., & Chappuis, S. 2005. Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right, using it well. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute. Wang, T. H. 2007. What strategies are effective for formative assessment in classroom situation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(1), 171–186. Read More