Effects of the Educational Assessment on the Students Life - Essay Example

Effects of the Educational Assessment on the Life Introduction Education is widely recognized across theglobe. During the education process, students undertake educational assessments. Assessment refers to any strategy used in gauging the level of knowledge student possesses on a given subject. Education assessments can also be used for measuring the skills and attitudes of student. Academic assessments are crucial and are used by teachers and other entities in making decisions regarding students. The decisions made using the assessments play a great role in determining the lives of the students. Assessments take different forms and range from simple but subjective judgments to complex standardized tests. Educational assessments have profound effects on the lives of students. This is because they often determine the chances that a student has to advance in academics and other aspects of life. This paper focuses on effects of educational assessments on the students’ life. In any learning institution, assessments form an integral part of the curriculum. They indicate how well the students understand academic aspects. Additionally, the results obtained after the assessments are used for different purposes such as education advancement, grading, seeking funds, and in placement or ranking of students. Depending on the purpose that the assessment was designed for, the effects of the outcomes affect students differently (Gibbs and Simpson 16-19; Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 72-76). Every assessment is designed to serve a given purpose. Academic assessments are intended to determine the student’s status regarding a given topic. There are numerous arguments on whether assessments reflect the intelligence of students. Traditionally, the role of teachers entailed teaching or instilling knowledge on the students. The students were supposed to concern themselves with learning whatever the teacher teaches. Assessment was considered a tool of evaluating how well the students had understood. The focus of the assessment was for judging the students (Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 101-104). The effects of educational assessments on the students life is greatly determined by the purpose of the assessment. Learning institutions and instructors use assessments for varying purposes. Being able to determine the level of knowledge in students can be hard. Assessments are important in that they enable the instructors determine the level of knowledge a student possesses. Assessments are used in making educational decisions such as whether a student is qualified to proceed to the next learning level. This is because the assessments are supposed to evaluate if the students have the capacity to understand courses given at each level. If students fail to prevail in a test, they may be barred from proceeding to the next academic level. Therefore, assessment affect the rate at which student complete a curriculum. Assessments for purposes like those that have been discussed above should be tailored appropriately to ensure that they are reliable and fair (Gibbs and Simpson 24-26). There is always competition for resources. Assessments are often used to determine the individuals who can benefit from such resources. Awards such as scholarships are often based on academic performances. For students who may not have enough finances and may want to apply for scholarships, assessments are crucial. They are often used by those awarding scholarships for selection purposes. In such cases, assessments may determine the chances of the students to further their academics (Gibbs and Simpson 24-26). Academic assessments may result in labeling of students as failures or achievers, depending on their scores. Since assessments are used to evaluate the level of knowledge in students, those students who fail to achieve the set pass mark are considered failures while those who prevail are considered successful. Being considered a failure or successful has effects on the students. When students fail, they may be unable to proceed further in their academics. Additionally, they may start considering themselves as incapable, which may affect other aspects of their lives negatively. On the other hand, those who succeed in the educational assessments get an opportunity to proceed with their education. Additionally, the feeling of success can make students who succeed in education to prevail in other aspects of their life. This is because success in academics creates a sense of high self-esteem, which motivates the students to put effort in other aspects of their lives (Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 62-66). Assessments form an important part of learning. This is because academic assessments indicate whether learners are achieving their academic goals or not. When the assessments are fair and valid, they give the appropriate feedback regarding the level of knowledge possessed by students. Additionally, students are able to identify the areas they may be weak in and work towards improving them. Therefore, educational assessments are crucial in enabling students set their academic goals and work towards them. Students can thus use assessments for self-growth and improvement (Gibbs and Simpson 22-26). Another effect of assessment on students is that it enables them develop critical thinking. Academic assessments entail problem solving. During problem solving, the students have to think critically to come up with a solution. Therefore, the assessments enable the students to review the information acquired through learning in a critical manner (Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 32-36). Academic assessments enable students to improve their memory. While preparing for academic assessments, students are required to study their course work and remember the details during the assessments. During most assessments, the students have to retrieve the information from their memories. This enables the students to learn to capture and memorize ideas. This is crucial in improving different aspects of the students’ lives (Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 21-24). Academic assessments can diminish the student interest in learning. When students fail to perform well in the assessments, they may become demotivated. This is because assessments may make the students feel like they are incapable of succeeding in academics. Some assessment method may not work for some students. In such cases, students may be considered incompetent misleadingly (Gibbs and Simpson 7-12). Another effect of academic assessment on student is changing their attitude towards education. Academic assessments encourage students to study hard (Mclnerney, Brown and Darmanegara 7-10). Academic assessments result in rewards, which encourage students to study hard to meet the set targets. Additionally, academic assessments make some students to compare themselves with other students (Gibbs and Simpson 3-6; Looney 15-19). Academic assessments encourage accountability amongst students. Imagine if there were no exams. Most students would probably not bother studying. However, exams require students to study. Studying ensures that students use their time appropriately. This is crucial since parents as well as the government invest a great deal of money in funding education. Assessments thus ensure that students are making proper use of the resources. Academic assessments determine the life of students after graduating from school. Employees use academic certificates and other academic qualifications, which are often awarded using academic assessment in selecting their employees (Gibbs and Simpson 12-15). Academic assessments affect the learning styles preferred by students. After understanding the assessment strategies used by different instructors, some students may opt to develop learning styles that aim at passing exams without internalizing the details. Such styles include clamming. Others will pay attention to the cues given by lectures and use them for study purposes. Additionally, some students fear failing in exams and may consider cheating in the exams in order to pass. Moreover, some students may distort the purpose of learning and consider studying to pass exams only (Gibbs and Simpson 4-7). The scores awarded after students attempt academic assessments have effect on how students view themselves. Some students consider the grades reflective of their self-worth or personal capability. Getting a poor grade can result in poor self-image for such students. Additionally, students who excel in assessments may consider themselves better than they may consider others. Such students may develop an ego that may make them undermine other people not just in schools but also in the workplaces (Gibbs and Simpson 3-5). Assessment tests can affect how students relate with their teachers. This is because some student may relate to teachers depending on how well they perform in the subjects taught by specific teachers. Students who perform well in certain subjects are likely to develop a positive relationship with their teachers. Additionally, the students will develop a positive attitude towards the subject. On the other hand, students who fail in a given subject are likely to dislike the teachers teaching the subject. They may also develop distaste towards the subject. This is hazardous since it may deter good performance in certain areas of academics (Looney 2-6). The academic assessments affect the long-term achievements of the students. Students who perform well in assessments administered in the early stages of life are likely to set high life goals. Setting high goals encourages the students to work hard to be able to achieve the goals. Conversely, students who fail to excel in academic assessments may undermine their capability and set low goals or fail to set goals in other aspects of their life. This may result in failure not just in academics but also in other aspects of their life. Therefore, outcomes from academic assessments affect the likelihood of succeeding in other aspects of life that could be related to education or not related at all (Looney 12-16). Some forms of academic assessments may hinder innovativeness amongst students. Assessment methodologies such as high-stake examinations discourage developments of innovative behaviors amongst student. This is because such assessments oblige students to focus more on the classwork and avoid co-curricular activities. This may result in failure of some students to identify talents in other areas of life since they may spend most of their time studying for the exams. Therefore, academic assessments may lead to lack of creativeness amongst students. Creativeness is crucial in workplaces since it enhances problem solving. People who lack creativeness may not excel in the workplaces irrespective of their high academic achievements (Looney 23-26). Conclusion Academic assessments are used all over the world to evaluate learning. Academic assessments serve several purposes. Some of the purposes include determining if a student is to be promoted to the next level. Another purpose is to determine if students have understood a given concept. Depending on their purpose, academic assessments have different effects on the students. Assessments can change the attitude of the students towards education in a positive or negative way. When students excel in exams, they feel they are motivated to work harder, which leads in improved performance. This often results in success in life. However, when students are not favored by assessment and fail, they may develop a negative attitude toward education. Failure in education may result in problems when students seek for jobs, financial funding, or when the students want to further their education in institutions of higher learning. Therefore, academic assessments have effects on how much students study. Academic assessments can affect the probability of excelling in other aspects of life. Students who fail to score high marks in academic assessment may undermine their capability. Additionally, they may fail to set high goals resulting in underachievement in other aspects of life. On the other hard students who score high in academic assessments are likely to set and achieve higher goals in other aspects of life. Another effect of academic assessment is on the innovativeness of students. Most assessments require students to focus on classwork. Therefore, students take less or no time to explore other activities. This may lead to some students not identifying their talents. Additionally, innovativeness is crucial in workplace and lack of it may lead to underachievement. Consequently, the effect of academic assessments is mainly determined by the ability or inability of students to excel. Students who excel in academic assessments set high goals even in other aspects of life. Those who fail in academic assessments may set low goals. This affects the overall achievements in life. Works Cited Gibbs, Graham and Claire, Simpson. "Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Students' Learning." Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Issue 1 (2004-05): 3-31. Looney, Janet. "Assessment and Innovation in." OECD Education Working Papers, No. 24 (2009): 1-59. Mclnerney, Dennis, Gavin, Brown and Arief, Darmanegara. Student Perspectives on Assessment: What Students Can Tell Us About Assessment for Learning. London: IAP, 2009. Print. Read More