PTLLS Level 4/ Assessment - Essay Example

College: Assessment is an essential process that should be carried out at different stages of the learning process to ascertain whether the program is attaining the desired effect. Initial assessment is a process of identifying learners ability and the kind support they would require to achieve the best out of the program in question. The initial process is learner centered and aims at personalizing the learning programs to fit into the learner’s ability (Crooks, 1988). It should be positive and embrace the learners strengths as well as bring out the need to maximize on their potential.

The trainer should come up with strategies to help learner’s formulate their goals and align their personal objectives with the requirements of the program. Effective initial assessment ensures that learners partake the right program and entry is at the right level for efficient learning. It also enables the trainer to understand useful learners achievements and experiences to necessitate progress as well as find a learning start point. In addition, it provides an opportunity for identifying learner’s potential both in theory and practice.

The limitation on initial assessment is that the learner can withhold important details hence leading to settling on the wrong program. According to Crooks (1988), formative assessment is conducted on a frequent basis to understand learning progress and point out areas that may need more time allocation. Normally, interactive assessments are used to identify students learning needs and to guide the trainer on where or when a different teaching method should be adopted. Formative assessment can be integrated with the institutions policies to necessitatethe identificationn of strengths and weaknesses as well as promoting feasible evaluation cultures.

It promotes sustainable learning, higher learning achievements and easy skill acquisition. The advantage of formative assessment is that teachers are in a better position to understand and meet individual student’s learning needs. This is because interactive assessment gives trainers an opportunity to understand students’ strengths and weaknesses at the personal level and thus, they are best suited to come up with customized strategies to improve students’ outcomes. Somer limitations to the process include tension and lack of a connection between classroom and school based assessment and evaluation processes (Crooks, 1988).

Summative assessment is carried out at the end of a program to ascertain whether the programs goals have been attained. The assessment measures what students have learned and whether they are qualified to proceed to the next level. In addition, it ensures that learners have attained the set standards before being certified to enter into the job market or higher levels of education. Crooks (1988) states that summative assessment provides an opportunity for gathering information that can be used to make decisions on whether learners are benefiting from the program or not.

It gives proof of what an individual has achieved in a learning program. Summative evaluation process is used to determine student grades and their future directions in occupations as well as ambitions to further their education. The results are assessed in certain standards either set by the institution or state. The advantage is that it gives students and trainers an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the learning process to a wider scale. The limitation is that if students are tested on their weak areas, they are likely to lose out on the set benefits of better performance like employment.

ReferenceCrooks, T.J. (1988), “The Impact of Classroom Evaluation Practices for Students”, Review of Educational Research, 58, pp. 438-481