Pinciples of Assesment - Essay Example

The term 'assessment' primarily refers to evaluation and in the context of the it refers to the appraisal of individuals to measure their performance. Performance appraisal has always been a part of human routine irrespective of age and the economic class an appraisee belongs to. Victorian DE&T (2006) v/s Griffin & Gillis (2005) The two sets of principles studied in the context of the course each appeal to different classes of a society and thus their effectiveness and goals vary a great deal. The principles cited under Victorian Essential learning standards place their primary emphasis on improving the performance of the individual being evaluated as indicated by the very first principle "The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student performance". The idea here is to ensure the complete transfer of knowledge to the learner and the purpose of assessment is to deduce the level of success that has been achieved in this transfer of facts, for e.g. a history teacher tested students on the topic of American Revolution in order to find the amount of information grasped by the students on the subject, an obvious affect of this assessment would be a feedback and a possible repetition of the lecture for students who scored poorly on the test. It leaves no ambiguity in the fact that The Victorian standards aim at helping out the appraisee rather than the appraiser. In comparison to this the Griffin & Gills principles of assessment aim to measure the collective affect on a group i.e. the person being evaluated and the group which is being affected by his/her performance. Moreover the Griffin & Gills methods can be utilized in the selection and recruitment or in case of students for admitting them into an institution as implied by the following principle "able to be used for purposes of selection and recognition; encourage learning of higher order skills", though the second part of the statement refers to the case of individuals who already a part of the institution or an organization the first piece is in contradiction to Victoria standards which intend to evaluate existing pupil. Victoria principles for assessment stress on the evaluation procedure to be an ongoing process i.e. students should be tested throughout the semester to use the test result attained throughout the period to be used as a basis for assessment. In contrast to this the Griffin & Gills seem to be referring to an episodic process of testing. Victoria's principles are open to moderation in times of need whereas the Griffin & Gills are based on fixed measures and these are beyond the influence of the appraiser unlike the Victorian standards. Assumptions Victorian Essential Learning Standards It has been assumed that assessments affect the students and parents and the outcome of assessment on the institutional goals and standards has been ignored. It can be seen throughout the course of points none of which relate to the effect on the teacher or the institution in the event of an unreliable or biased assessment. One major assumption made is that teachers could moderate their evaluation procedure if they cite the need for it. One should not forget that individuals have different personalities and thus they set different goals for the subject they teach moreover no two courses in the curriculum are exactly similar to have same goals. For e.g. History and Mathematics are in no way similar and the instructors in these courses might not have identical plans for assessing students. Under these circumstances the protocols of an institution would press on conformity in the procedure of assessment and hence the idea of moderation in techniques by individual teacher is rarely functional. Griffin & Gills set of principles It has been assumed that there exists a possibility of drafting plans that would completely reliable and would eliminate alternative explanation for results. This principle is a mere hypothesis which on test might not hold to be true. External influences always exist in the evaluation and research has proved that complete reliability and objectivity is impossible to achieve. To be able to design an evaluation system that is fair, equitable and unbiased is again an assumption, when it comes to practical implications. In the real life scenarios to be able to avoid peer pressure to reasonably evaluate all of your subordinates is close to impossible. In a survey conducted in a multinational company's Human Resource Department, the head pressed on this issue that he saw it impossible to avoid referential barriers in appraising his subordinates. Target Audience of the two sets of Principles Victorian Principles of Assessment These principles as clearly implied from the data intend at assessing the performance of school and university students. All the fundamentals stated aim to improve the performance of pupils and to set assessments tools that would nurture, test and develop the diverse population of students. Griffin & Gills The principles stated by the above named individuals revolve around an organizational framework and aim at evaluating employees within or prospecting to be a part of the organization. Emphasis is laid on the resources and the effect that an individual has on the organization as a whole. The needs of stakeholders has also been given importance and care is taken in developing fool proof objectively designed assessment plan which is true mostly for performance appraisal of the employees of an organization. Objective set of Principles (Arranged in the order of Importance) 1. The assessments should aim at developing individuals and should serve tool to extract necessary information to evaluate organizational performance as a whole. 2. The assessments should be based on the learning and experience of individuals as well as on the norms of the organization. 3. The assessments should be valid and reliable 4. The assessment criteria should be well described and individuals should know what is expected of them 5. The assessments should be Criterion-Referenced rather than being Norm Referenced so as to increase the objectivity and reliability 6. The assessment procedure should provide feedback and performance counseling 7. The assessment techniques shall be varied according to the needs but this varied set should be within the institutional protocol and these variants shall be made available by the management. 8. The entire assessment should be supported by documentation to promote fairness equality and impartiality. 9. The assessments procedure should be low on cost but at the same time should contribute towards individual and organizational development 10. Assessments should be done on the basis of performance throughout a given period The above set of principles is based on objectivity and norms that are applicable in all circumstances. There are minimum assumptions and the principles are based on practicality. For e.g. the importance of use of various tools have been identified but in keeping in view the functionality these tools are to be set up by the management and not individuals. Moreover the purpose of the assessment has been given the most importance as anything without purpose is like a body without a soul. The scope of assessment has been broadened and the effect of individuals on the group they are linked to has not been ignored. Assessment is fruitless if the appraisee has no knowledge about the procedure and scale on which he will be evaluated it has therefore been highlighted and given importance as the third most significant principle. The aim of appraisal is to develop an individual and to mould him in such a way that he gets rid of his weakness this important outcome of assessment cannot be achieved without providing constructive feedback to an individual. In other words Assessment is incomplete without feedback Finally the assessment should be fully documented to improve quality and the procedure should be based on criterion so as to be able to identify the strengths and weakness of an individual and accordingly work towards the rectification of shortcomings. Bibliography 1. OCSLD (OXFORD CENTRE FOR STAFF AND LEARNING DEVELOPMENT). (2007). [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/principles.html[ Accessed: 19th July,2007] Read More