Educational and Classroom Assessment - Assignment Example

ACTION PLAN FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON ASSESSMENT: A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT. (Author’s name) (Institutional Affiliation) Abstract Educational assessment is the process of recording knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs using terms that are deemed measurable (Salvia and Bolt, 2009). Classroom assessment is a type of educational assessment. Various institutions of learning have integrated classroom assessment in their fashions of learning. Classroom assessment has proved to be essential to both learners and teachers. Key Words Educational Assessment, Classroom Assessment Introduction Assessment is a vital component in any institution of learning. Moreover, for any professional practice, one needs to have a wide range of knowledge in assessment. One needs to know how to apply the assessment strategies and in what circumstances. Hills School is a school in Boston, United States of America. This is one of the many schools that have embraced classroom assessment. Classroom assessment has propelled the school to greater heights of success both locally and internationally. The students and teachers have high levels of motivation. To them, success is the order of the day. The assessment combines teaching approaches and some techniques. The approach involves knowing how students are feeling in order to improve the learning activities of the learners. The techniques are always simple, none graded and anonymous hence they relay useful feedback in the teaching and learning activities. As a professional, there are various action plans I am going to use in my assessment practice. All these plans have a goal of acquiring valid assessment that will improve learning. This paper critically looks at the classroom assessment practice at Hill school and my action plans of using assessment in my professional practice. Core Concepts There are two main models of educational assessments; scientific measurement model and judgmental model. Hills School uses the judgmental method. The scientific measurement model is the traditional while the judgmental model is the new assessment model. The judgmental model looks at the cognitive ability. It seeks to help understand intelligence which has become a factor to develop learning and also lead to achievement. Assessment is based on knowledge skills and attitudes. Also, assessments targets personal competence and performance in a particular field. Assessments in professions stress use of judgmental model over the scientific model. The scientific is theoretical in nature while judgmental integrates both theory and practice. In measurement, the scientific model measures the numerical scores while the judgmental looks at knowledge skills and attitudes gathered from performance and competence. The judgmental model is the most suitable for educational assessment because of versatility and dynamism over the scientific model. Emotions are part and parcels of any assessment exercise. Assessment in terms of examinations is sometimes stressful. Emotion influences learners differently. Gender affects emotion in different ways. The traditional views puts forth that women are more emotional than men. On the other hand, men may show anger or hatred. Emotions may affect learning. However not all emotion s in an education learning can inhibit learning. Positive moods and experience leads to good emotions that improves assessment. Showing care can help student not to recall negative experience that may hamper proper assessment. Emotions like anxiety and others that lead to lack of confidence deter god assessment. Teachers needs to supportive to the students to overcome negative experiences that may make them emotional. Assessment needs to be fair. Equity assessment is qualitative in nature while equality assessment is quantitative. Examinations need to be fairly assessed. It should not be done based on what one owns. Different classes of the society needs to receive just treatment in examinations. Ability of an individual needs to go hand in hand with the virtue, talent and merit one has. Fairness in exams overcomes the inequities. Therefore, there needs to be assessment models enhance diversity. Assimilative model is where one needs to master new knowledge. The appreciation of old knowledge is absent. Recognition model recognizes and appreciates different knowledge while in interactive model, different types of knowledge affects the dominant group. To provide fairness in assessment ethnicity, racial, sex, economic and political information needs proper handling during the tests. In Hills School, teachers carry out the assessments fairly on all students. There is no gender, race or any inform of prejudice. It is directly proportional to the ability or hard work of the students. In the school, students who are intelligent scores highly. On the other hand, those who do not possess high intellectual abilities score less. There is no discrimination or biasness of any sort. Furthermore, quality assurance officers assess the teachers from time to time. In higher education, assessment is facing wide criticisms. Lecturers use assessment always to show the grade and qualifications. However, there are burning question about their validity, transparency and efficiency. Universities and colleges are aiming to set standards through ranking the top and bottom students. The criteria of selection sometimes favor the elites. The elites’ children with lower grade may join the universities and continue being assed highly. Universities need to come up with strategies to improve their assessment. How learners are evaluated shows their knowledge, competences, skills and goals. Assessment is a practice linked up with individual, interactional and institutional levels. Assessment itself is collective and it involves several parties like the teachers, learner and other institutional administrators. There are some social cultural perspectives on assessment. Some schools assess on cloze tests, multiple choice questions and other skills which are behaviorist perspectives. According to social cultural perspectives, assessment is a social cultural activity that does not primarily rely on grades. Assessment builds trust between the teachers, parents and students. In assessment, there is judgment. This judgment may comprise of judgment analysis. The analysis helps the assessor to judgments are related to certain aspects of interest, use of statistical methods and the different types of judgments. Assessment and Ethics Every profession has its own ethics (Cooper, 2006). Such ethics are honesty, confidentiality, objectivity and professional competence. Assessment also has its own ethics. In Hills School, ethics in classroom assessment are obligatory. First and foremost, tests are given to different students. As if that is not enough, the teachers treat students fairly and wisely during the assessments. They mark the tests in time without any form of biasness or prejudice. Hills school enforces ethical standards in assessments in four different ways. First, the school enforces the ethics both locally and nationally. The school has several academies in different states of the country. The same ethics of assessment applies in all the subsidiary schools. In case one of the assessors in any subsidiary school breaches the code of ethics, disciplinary charges applies. Members of the disciplinary board at the main school decide on the verdict and disciplinary actions to be meted out to the member. Assessment Subjectivity Assessment in my college is objective and not subjective. While carrying out the assessments, the assessors are not biased or influenced by emotions. The goals of the assessments are usually objective in nature. Assessment Strategies Pre assessment is a strategy whereby the teacher strives to know more about the learners through particular activities before starting to give instruction. Pre assessment elates the emotions of learner hence participatory learning. The strategies under the pre assessment are; squaring off, use of graffiti boxing and use of yes/no cards. In graffiti strategy, there are boards created for students to put there all what they have learnt. They use gum to stick on the board. Students then pin their answers one after the other on the board. This gives them room to think as well as have a feeling of personal ownership to the answers. Students in Hills love the yes/no card strategy. Usually, they make yes and no cards. When teachers ask a question, they either raise the yes or no card. After raising the card they can explain a little bit why they think the answer has to be that way. This helps in assessing the weak and intelligent students. Hills School uses squaring off strategy too. The teacher tells the students to go the corner of the room that matches their learning abilities. They then form small group discussions, ask questions and the teachers are able to assess them. The strategies have become very important in assessing the learners at the school. Assessment during learning also occurs. For instance, a teacher advises students to raise the hands up in air when they know the answer. This helps teachers to understand and assess various students with mixed abilities in the class. Another fascinating approach is when students create some cards. The cards usually have faces drawn on them; happy face, straight face and a sad face. After the end of the lesson, the students can raise the cards to show how they feel about the lesson. This helps the teacher assess his or her teaching. Students at Hills Schools frequently use conversational circle. Here, students are told to say in turns what they understand about a particular topic. When one speaks up to a certain stage, the chance is given to the other to continue. The other strategy is rotational reflection. This is where the teacher moves around the classroom with a paper having some questions. After posing the questions and giving the students some time to respond, a signal is relayed. The signal tells that students that they have to start answering the next questions or sections. The final strategies come after the learning. The teacher makes both the formal and informal assessments. A teacher looks for ways in which he or she can make the learner think or reflect on the material learned in class. This also helps the teacher whether to change the learning styles of the learners or not. Interview (Qualities of an effective assessor) Mr. Johnson of the department of English, Hills School, gives various descriptions of an effective assessor in an interview. According to Johnson, an assessor needs to be friendly. He or she should create a good environment in order to get the information he and she is looking for. He or she should show a sincere interest at the person they are seeking information from. According to Mr. Johnson, a good assessor, a good assessor needs to be flexible. While asking questions, the assessor needs to pay attention and should not interrupt. That is to say, he or she should let them talk while gathering the information. An assessor needs to have a sense of humor. He or she should be confident and should demonstrate mastery of the content in the field he or she is assessing. They need to be highly organized especially when collecting information. Action Plans There are several action plans I would like to take to improve my assessment practice. The action plan needs to be flexible and easy to be implemented. Classroom assessment is dynamic and without an effective action plan, all can be void. That leads to another daunting question? What are these suitable action plans I would like to enhance my assessment practice? First, I will use proper communication. A learning activity or situation can not be assessed when communication is non existent. There must be relayed signals between two or more parties. These parties are the students and the teachers. I will create a free and conducive environment to enhance communication. I will not muzzle the voices of the voice by allowing them to air their opinions freely. The students and I form part and parcel of the assessment exercise. Also communication opens more doors for qualitative assessment. When the student speaks, will be able to know and understand him or her well. This assessment will help a student to improve in weak areas. It will also motivate him or her to continue doing better and better in their academic and social spheres of life (Cooper, 2006). I will be friendly to students and show them love in order to create love. Guidance and counseling forums will also help in enabling good communication. Another action plan is allowing all students to set goals. By setting goals, it will be easier to assess their progress towards the realization of the goals. The students will also strive hard not to fail their teachers or parents after setting their goals. This will help them to be more responsible when it comes to their education. Also, goal setting is an important element especially in classroom assessment. I will encourage students to set realistic goals and work hard to achieve them. Other teachers of the staff will be of help in helping students come up with certain goals. As if that is not enough, I will encourage quality discussions. Assessments require quality discussions. The discussion helps the students to learn with others making them improve in different subjects. I will involve other teachers in managing the groups. Also, I will provide enough materials for the students for discussions. Also, debates play a central role in assessment. I will create an avenue for more debates in and out of the classes. These debates will help assess the learners’ language mastery, confidence, and mastery of the content as well hidden oratory potentials. This is a very important action plan in assessment. I will work hand in hand with other teachers especially language ones to ensure that the debates run well and effectively. I will use oral activities in class, apart from the normal debates or discussions. These activities may include but not limited to; formal presentations, peer tutoring and cross tutoring. The support materials will be plays, poems and dances. I will give students a chance of tutoring on the board too. These activities enhance learning because the learner acquires several skills needed in his or her life. I will help students analyze other non print materials like diagrams, maps, pictures and television. This will stimulate the learners’ interest towards learning (Salvia and Bolt, 2009). The learners will be captivated with learning and it will also make the learning process to be enjoyable and entertaining. I will use non print materials prevent intense monotony that leads to boredom hence poor performance. I will encourage the students to read literature materials. These materials will mostly comprise of fictional works. This will improve their vocabulary banks as well learn new ideas. These ideas can be integrated into learning activities and improve the quality of learning. Also, the mastery of language will boost their scores highly in languages during assessments. Students will be able to describe or discuss in good language that shows proper learning. Their written work ameliorates tremendously almost directly proportional to their reading culture. The support materials will include; novels, magazines, newspapers and other fictional works. Apart from the novels, I will encourage students to read and understand other texts. These texts may not fall under learning, but it is very essential that the student masters their contents. This helps the students acquire general knowledge that may help them when the need for their application arises. Support materials may include bible, dictionary and other philosophical manuscripts. I will take my students for field trips and excursions. Field trips and excursions are good assessment tools (Cooper, 2006). Sometimes, particular students may appear weak in class. But during the field trips they may demonstrate wonderful skills that require my attention. This will help me to assess the skills and talents and tap them. The skills that may be evident during a field trip are; leadership, observation or even team spirit. I will use the school buses and communicate with the administration to allow students to go for the trips. I will give my students homework consistently as part of the assessment. I will give my students homework . I will then mark it and makes corrections. After which, I will record the students’ performances to keep track of the students’ progress. The homework will keep the learners engaged. It will also give the learners a new insight into learning. The student develops research skills that will help him or her in future. The resource materials will be different textbooks that are available in the library. Formative and Summative Assessment There are different assessment strategies I will use in my professional practice. First and foremost, I am going to use pre-assessment. This is a strategy used before giving students instruction (Nicole and McFarlane, 2005).This helps the teacher to understand the prior information students have before introducing new information. Pre assessment is vital in setting the learning environment at school (Lorrie, 2005). I will slowly introduce new ideas in relation to the existing ones. Also, pre assessment increases their interest in what the teacher is about to teach. To add on that, there is several learning activities initiated to improve the way learners interact with the teacher and the content in class. Furthermore, students brings into the lesson knowledge from the past experiences or events. Assessment for Learning I will apply the assessment for learning. I will make the students are aware of what they are supposed to learn at the beginning of the class. I will ask the students what they know before the start teaching a lesson. If there is any evidence of misinterpretations or misconception, I will correct them there and then. I will work hand in hand with students to enable them achieve what they expect. This is a learning process that is continuous. Assessment for learning has two categories. Those are diagnostic assessment and formative assessment. Another name of diagnostic assessment is pre assessment (Salvia and Bolt, 2009). During assessment, I will try to get information from different sources. I will observe the students as well as carefully monitor their progress. I will initiate frequent conversations with the students. There are suggestion boxes that encourage feedback from the students not to mention the elected prefect or student leaders who speak on behalf of the students I will apply assessment as learning. This type of assessment begins when the students commences to set certain goals. For example, I will encourage students to choose themselves the course they would like to do. Also, the students are able to learn different criteria of performance (O’ Connor, 2002). The student counselors advise on the grades students are supposed to get in order to get the best results or best certificate at the end of their studies. When results of different learning activities are out, the students reflect upon them. There are set offices in which they visit to seek academic aid and advice. The students themselves are in control of their learning activities. Assessment of Learning I will carry out several assessments carried on students that have scores in the form of grades or letters. Students will do their exams frequently. I will rank from the top student to the bottom student. So, there will be always a top student with a certain grade and bottom student with a particular grade. There are certain standards set in every assessment (O’ Connor, 2002). For a student to get a distinction, he or she must have several “A” grades in his units. This is one of the standards set for every student to meet to get the first class honors in Hill School. I will communicate the students’ results to parents. Also, I will give students result slips of the semester to show their sponsors, guardians, parents or even apply with them different jobs. At the end of the course, they are able to proceed to the next level if they are successful. Conclusion Assessment is key in any learning environment. Proper classroom assessment can help improve the state of learning in a class or any educational institution. Proper classroom assessment involves strict adherence to the laid down principles of assessment. This principle defines classroom assessment as an objective process that needs to be adopted by both the students and teachers. Embracing good classroom assessment leads to better learning. Appendix I carried out an interview with Mr. Johnson of the Hills School. Mr. Johnson explained to me various principles of summative and formative assessment in use. He explained vividly the assessment strategies in his school and how they have helped it reach higher levels of success. Bibliography Ari, H. 2010. Diagnostic and Formative Assessment: The Handbook of Educational Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.  Cooper, D. 2006. Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to Improve Learning. Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson. Lorrie, A, S. 2005. Formative assessment: Caveat emptor. ETS Invitational Conference The Future of Assessment: Shaping Teaching and Learning, New York, October 10-11, 2005. http://www.cpre.org/ccii/images/stories/ccii_pdfs/shepard%20formative%20assessment%20caveat%20emptor.pdf. Retrieved 17 October 2011. Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth. (2006) Rethinking Assessment with Purpose in Mind: Assessment for Learning, Assessment as Learning, Assessment of Learning Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: MECY. Nicol, D. McFarlane,D,. 2005. Rethinking Formative Assessment in HE: a theoretical model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. O’Connor, K. 2002. How to Grade for Learning. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight. Salvia, J., Bolt, S., 2009.Assessment: In Special and Inclusive Education. Florence: Cengage Learning. Read More