Conventional Assessment Techniques - Essay Example

Conventional Assessment Techniques Criterion Referenced Tests Teachers examine students’ performance through assessments (McKenna & Walpole, 2005, p. 84). Criterion referenced tests is one of the main types of conventional assessment types. Using this type of assessment, teachers check the performance of the students in accordance with a standard criterion instead of comparing them with other students’ performances. Advantages 1. Criterion referenced tests provide teachers with accurate assessment of students’ learning. These tests help teachers make out whether the students have gained a certain amount of knowledge or they need to improve their learning skills. 2. Another advantage is that these tests reflect the individual performance of a student with respect to the specific learning criterion set by the teacher. Thus, it is a true indicator of individual performance in class. Disadvantages 1. One of the main concerns regarding these types of tests is criterion validity. At times, teachers are not able to set a realistic criterion to measure students’ learning. They include such points in the criterion which cannot measure students’ performance properly. 2. The level of motivation is usually low, as students know that they are not going to compete with their peer. Students just try to meet the criterion instead of trying to get an edge over peers. Norm Reference Tests Using these types of tests, teachers make comparison between the exam performances of all students. To do this, they design a signal test paper for all students to know which of their students has performed better as compared to others. They rank the students according to their test results. Advantages 1. Such tests help teachers rank their students according to the results of these results. This also helps in building students’ motivation to show good performance than others. 2. Increased competition between students is another advantage of norm-referenced tests. Students want to do well their friends and for this, they prepare well and show improved performances. Disadvantages 1. One of the main disadvantages of nor-referenced tests is decreased standard of performance. The reason is that students are not worried about meeting the criterion set for assessment. Therefore, they just perform to get an edge instead of working for meeting the standard criterion. 2. Working to get an edge over peers also does not show actual class learning, which is another disadvantage of norm-referenced tests. Teachers cannot assess the students’ performances properly because of not having an assessment criterion. Alternative Assessment Techniques Oral Interviews “Informal formative assessment can take place in any student-teacher interaction” (Ruiz-Primo & Furtak, 2004, p. 3). An oral interview is one of such types of informal assessments that involve face-to-face interaction between students and teachers. Teachers usually conduct interviews with students on individual basis to know their level of learned knowledge. Advantages 1. This technique helps teachers in assessing the strong and weak points of students. Teachers can inquire students about different topics and can get an overview of the overall learning of the class. Teachers can also improve vocabulary development and fluency of students (International Reading Association [IRA], 2007). 2. Increased confidence of students is also a major advantage of this technique. Oral interviews can improve student’s communication skills, as well as heir level of confidence. Disadvantages 1. This technique takes a very long time because teachers have to conduct interviews separately for each student. 2. Interviews do not always reveal full knowledge of the students. Some students may have acquired good amount of knowledge but they become confused during direct interviews. Checklists A checklist is a scale of measuring students’ learning. Teachers usually prepare a checklist of some particular skills and observe their students to see whether they have those skills or not. If they find lack of any particular skill in the majority of students, they prepare plan to improve that skill. Advantages 1. Less time requirement is the main advantage of checklist method. Teachers can observe the students for require skills or knowledge at any time in class (Cole, 1999, p. 225). There is no need to do formal assessment in checklist method. 2. Checklists also help teachers know the presence or absence of some key leaning skills in students. Teachers can identify deficiency areas and can work to improve them. Disadvantages 1. It is also not suitable for doing long-term assessment of students’ learning. The reason is that long-term assessment needs inclusion of a large number of skills and knowledge level in the list which doe not happen in case of observation-based checklist method. 2. The inability to do detailed assessment is the main disadvantage of this technique. Teachers include a specific number of factors in the checklist that are unable to provide a complete overview of students’ learning. Performance Assessment This technique involves some particular measures, such as, talking to students quite often and observing their approach towards studies. Such activities help teachers in assessing the knowledge and progress level of students. Advantages 1. This technique also improves the confidence level of the students as teachers interact with them on regular basis to know their potential strong points. 2. This technique also helps teachers identify the ways they can use to improve students’ performances. Teachers can identify the mindset of students to apply the best teaching method. Disadvantages 1. Performance assessment criteria need to be authenticated by all authorities which makes this technique unable to be applied because it is a difficulty task to get the assessment criteria validated by all authorities. 2. The need to assess each student individually makes it a time consuming technique for teachers, as they have to balance both teaching and assessment of students. Homework Homework is widely used method to assess students’ learning. This technique helps teachers know whether their students can do some work on their or not. Advantages 1. This method helps teachers examine the unsupervised performance of their students. Teachers give tasks to students which they have to do on their own. 2. This method also helps students in learning the way to do work without teacher’s supervision. Students become independent which also increases their confidence. Disadvantages 1. Time consumption is one of the main disadvantages of this method. Checking each student’s work individually makes this method a very time consuming one for teachers. 2. Another disadvantage of this method is cheating or copying. Some students copy the work from their friends’ homework and show it to teachers as their own work. References Cole, K. (1999). Walking around: Getting more from informal assessment. Mathematics Teaching In the Middle School, 4(4), 224–227. International Reading Association. (2007). Teachers Reading Well: A Synthesis of the International Reading Association's Research on Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction. Newark, DE: Author McKenna, M., & Walpole, S. (2005). How well does assessment inform our reading instruction?. The Reading Teacher, 59(1), 84–86 Ruiz-Primo, M., & Furtak, E. (2004). Informal formative assessment of students' understanding of scientific inquiry. AERA Annual Meeting Symposium, Assessment for Reform-Based Science Teaching & Learning, Stanford University, Stanford, 1–9. Read More