Re-Conceptualising the Child's Role in Assessment - Research Paper Example

Re-Conceptualising the Child's Role in Assessment Introduction Assessment involves interpretation and representation of learning. It is the act of gathering, recording, interpreting and communicating information affecting people in an institution. The information communicated helps in decision making. Assessment is used to develop both short-term and long-term needs of a child which assists in planning. Teaching and learning are the central processes which are commonly used as a basis for children assessment. The sense that parents or teachers make of children behavior and the manner in which they represent their characters are colored by history, language and other norms that surround the society. Different outcomes concerning behaviors are achieved when children are assessed by different people. Some interpretations by teachers or parents do not coincide with the meanings that children are trying to make. The perspectives of children are considered deficient with respect to interpretations that are made by teachers. Pupils have been made to understand the perspective of the assessors rather than assessors understanding the meanings that children are trying to make (Airasian, 2007). Assessment should be practiced in the society and all learning institutions because it helps in measuring the child’s achievements. It is used as an indicator to measure what the child has achieved over a specified period of time. Assessment helps a child to be self-aware as a learner hence developing powers of self-assessment. It improves learning amongst young children. Learning institutions use assessment as a strategy for improving education programs and learning curriculum. Through assessment, institutions are able to identify courses and teaching methods which require improvement. They indicate how the students are fairing on with their learning processes. Children are supposed to be prepared to be adults in the society. Assessments not only prepare children for learning but also to become adults. They benefits children throughout their lives since they learn how to perform well in assessments which can be applied directly in real world situations. Through assessment, children can develop the capabilities which enable them to improve their performance and other abilities. This is a good asset as this is applicable in the real world situations. Assessment for Learning Assessment has been used in learning institutions as a tool to improving learning abilities of children. Assessment has been integrated in the every day learning and under classroom practice. The process involves using assessment in the classroom setting to improve children’s achievement basing this on the idea that they would improve if they comprehend the objectives of the learning process. This concept has been used for a long time but the mode in which it is incorporated in the classroom practices has changed substantially. Teachers believe and are very confidence that every child is unique and possesses different abilities to learn. This is the driving factor which enables teachers to develop children’s multiple intelligences and potentials through assessment. The concept is conducted as an integral part of the curriculum and the learning feedback cycle. The learning targets or the objectives of learning curriculum which will be used when integrating the concept are set out. Assessment for learning processes should be designed in such a way that it reveals what the children are expected to learn and the processes they are going to use in achieving the set objectives. There are various assessment modes used by learning institutions for comprehensive understanding of the children abilities to learn. The response acquired from assessment process are given to children and the teachers which can be used as a basis for decision making on ways of improving learning and teaching practices in the institutions (Clarke, 1998). The assessment mode to be used is affected by purpose for which the assessment is designed for. Most learning institutions have adopted formative assessment modes which are carried out informally on daily basis within classroom setting. This process is done throughout the year. The objective of formative assessment responds promptly and effectively to learning and teaching challenges that are realized during daily assessments. On the other hand, summative assessment approach is carried out at the end of the learning processes and it focuses on the outcomes of the learning process. These results are then used for measuring what the children have learned during the specified period of time. The results are also used to measure how much an individual student has achieved at the end of the teaching and learning process. New conceptions Teachers’ thinking influences assessment in learning and teaching. The connections between new conceptions and the classroom practice are still a matter of debate. Research indicates that new conceptions on the assessment for learning practice have affected teachers’ development for the learning and teaching practices which have finally raised quality of education in most learning institutions. It is a matter of fact that effective teaching mirrors effective learning hence better outcome. There are changing practices that are aimed at improving learning processes. The beliefs and policies that guide goal setting of the teaching practices should be reflected in the classroom setting. Researches confirm that there are new approaches to learning and teaching which promote higher standards and increased students’ performance. The journey towards effective teaching and assessment requires teachers and other stakeholders to invest resources in professional development and change. Initially, children were provided with publisher-provided assessment which carried multiple-choice questions and they were required to match with either true or false. These questions were concerned with the contents of a specific chapter and required pupils to select responses that were memorized during classroom teaching. The answers given were used to determine child’s learning ability hence they were rewarded accordingly. Teachers’ views of classroom teaching and assessment were also used as standardized tests for testing and communicating learning abilities of individual children. Scores and grades were used to communicate summative assessments concerning levels of performance of particular children (Clarke, 1998). There are emerging new ways of thinking about children assessment in the learning environment. Leaders in the assessment fields have attempted to elaborate significant changes that have occurred concerning assessments for learning. There is a significant shift in assessment procedure of the children. The new conception of assessments requires that assessors critically assess the results of the teaching practice with different objectives. The teacher has to carry out pre-assessments on children at initial stages of the instructional units. This is aimed at identifying prior knowledge about the topic or the content of the chapter. This information helps the teacher to determine a realistic starting point of the classroom instructions and discussions. Teachers are also required to carry out formative assessments throughout the instructional lessons so that they can collect evidence of the learning process for the purposes of monitoring the child’s progress. According to new assessment approaches, teachers are required to undertake summative assessment as the final stages of child’s learning abilities appraisal. This takes a form of paper and pencil test and capstone performance as subject to follow instructions. Summative assessment tests are used to determine the ability of the child to cope up with the learning standards. They are used to make comparisons on the strength of different children who are then assigned grades. Formative assessments centralize on successful teaching and that students should learn very important goals and standards. These approaches are better than those used initially because of the fact that children get involved directly in the teaching and learning process. This offers them opportunities to take responsibilities for learning by individually setting up personal goals and thereafter selecting strategies for effective learning. Formative assessments are very efficient due to the fact that children or the subjects undergoing the learning process have a role to play in ensuring that they achieve better outcomes. According to Butler (2004), formative assessments foster competition amongst children which enhances quality outcomes in the long run. Under the new approaches, teachers are obliged to be able to define and assess different kinds of learning goals such as knowledge, products, reasoning, skills and effective goals. The new approaches to assessments are goal-centered and teachers are greatly challenged to monitor child’s progress in conceptual understanding and use of the skills throughout the learning process. This implies that teachers are supposed to be close to the children at all times. They are also supposed to capture evidence of reasoning and problem-solving agility amongst these children. In addition, teachers are required to give information about students’ ability to relate and work with others, communicate their understanding and ability to demonstrate other dispositions (Airasian, 2007). Through formative assessments, children are able to apply concepts and skills to technology hence enhancing development of better products and services for better living standards in the society. They are used to capture evidence of child’s thinking and learning concerning important concepts and skills that are quite useful in the modern days. Learning institutions are able to learn about professional development needs and curricular changes that should be undertaken for effective learning and teaching practice. Teaching professionals have received powerful messages from educational research on how to enhance child achievements. According to Gardner (2006), formative assessments are very crucial as it enhances transparency. He stressed on the implications of formative assessment in higher learning using the following words “Learners progressing to higher education in Britain will experience more attempts to demystify, engage students with the criteria and provide as much as transparency as possible…..” They argue that formative assessments are the most powerful tools which can be used by school administrators and teachers for promoting effective learning in the learning institutions. Educational researches have also confirmed that formative assessments are very crucial in helping low achievers more than other children which in turn reduce the gap in performance. This has the effect of raising the overall performance of the children in the learning institutions. New conceptions are quite important in the modern world because of better gains when the children are involved in the teaching and learning process. According to Stiggins (2007), children should be trained in self-assessment in order to enable them understand the benefits of learning goals and how to achieve these goals. Self-assessment is a constituent of the new conceptions and these have been very helpful in achieving success by individual children. Self-assessment involves children or pupils working together with the teachers during the learning process. They work hand in hand to determine the criteria they can use during learning and teaching practice and how they will assess and appraise the outcomes. In these conceptions, children and teachers are both engaged in the actual assessment process. The goal-centered approach is less punitive as compared to the past approaches where teachers and children work differently. This gives pupils control over their learning or education hence able to gain intellectually. According to Clarke (1998), there are positive results when children in the learning institutions are given choices and are involved in decision making because of the fact that they feel recognized hence they are willing to take up learning responsibilities. When students are involved in the learning process, they become committed to completing tasks assigned within the required time. They acquire improved self-esteem and perceived academic performance through development of high level reading and writing skills (p. 24). Formative assessment approaches have been supported by National Research Council which recommended that it is an important feature of assessment which supports learning activities by enabling students or pupils to access opportunities to review and improve their reading and thinking skills. It further argued that the formative approach helps teachers to design and implement the curriculum which addresses important educational goals and standards. Key Strategies Traditional beliefs and practices in the teaching profession have been re-examined hence inclusive approaches have been developed. These approaches cater for the needs of all students who are involved in the learning process. The unique challenges of inclusive education have necessitated establishment of new learning strategies so as to ensure success of all kinds of students in the learning process. Sharing and understanding goals for learning and criteria for success This is a non-coercive technique which was developed for special education settings and has been used extensively in many learning institutions around the world. It has proved to be quite successful in inclusive educational settings which have enhanced quality in education. Under this strategy, teachers provide students with maximum chances to learn while maintaining academic focus. They expect a great deal of achievements from their students as they expose them to work-oriented styles. They are recommended to show enthusiasm while keeping the students on the task and motivating them. The strategy should be presented in step by step manner to avoid confusing the children undergoing the learning process. Guidelines and strategies to be used should be in form of knowledge based framework which helps teachers to generate assessment activities for students. Teachers have to recognize that generation of instructional assessment activities within specified knowledge-based framework is important because it determines the validity of assessment of the classroom instructions. This approach consists of four steps namely; i. The teacher should identify the core concepts and the relationships existing between the contexts to be taught. ii. The instructors or teachers should construct a conceptual map which represents the core concepts. This will be an organizing guide for all the instructional units or contents to be taught. iii. Teachers have to construct tasks for instructions or assessments. This is achieved through combination of selected elements from specific conceptual maps which have direct links with the assessment typology to be used (Black, 1998). The curriculum conceptual maps are necessary since they provide a structure used in representing all the activities that students performed during the course of learning as represented by the scope of the unit. All activities in which the students were engaged should be considered i.e. when conducting hand experiments, observing teachers when demonstrating, reading and discussing information from the text books etc. This makes easy the transformation of activities into assessments (p.345). iv. The core-concept map developed should be connected to all instructional and assessment tasks. Teachers should construct classroom assessments from the instructional activities given to students. The activities should represent diverse performance typology. Teachers can ask students to make observations and record the events they observed. Students should be requested to make predictions of what they think would happen under particular conditions. They should justify the occurrence of particular events hence creating a concept map which shows the relationships between the concepts. Under the instructional strategy, students should be exposed to experiments in order to explore and establish the relationships of the learning principles. The strategy also involves transformation of activities into testable assignments which can be used to measure the level of understanding of the students. The tests should query the students about the activities represented in either pictorial, graphic or in text form (Clarke, 1998). Under the instructional strategies, good instructional design should be used so that the teaching process can minimise the need for adaptation. These strategies remain the only way in which children can be provided with all the needs they require. The strategies have been found to be extremely effective in dealing with intellectual, emotional and physical challenges. This is because of the fact that students are given abundant guided practice which develops them physically. The reinforcement that is usually made through descriptive praise and encouragement is important in the development of a child. Students undergoing the learning process participate and engage themselves in practical activities which are inherent in their development. Teachers are in a position to carefully control and sequence the educational content that children are going to study. The interactive group teaching is very vital for social development of the student. Students are taught how they can best complete learning tasks that have they have been assigned (Airasian, 2007). Rubric- Referenced Assessment Strategy Research indicates that students or children undergoing learning processes should use rubrics in supporting their own learning and scholastic performance. Rubrics help students to focus much on their efforts hence producing higher quality work which will earn them good grades. Teachers use rubrics and checklists as a means of communicating expectations of particular assignments. Teachers use rubrics to provide focus to students concerning the expected feedback on the work assigned to them. Rubrics are not only used to grade students but are also used to teach and evaluate them. Teachers should use this strategy as a part of formative or student-centered approach because of its potential to aid students in developing a vision of success. This assessment strategy is useful to students when they are making judgments regarding the quality of the activities they have done. According to Stiggins (2007), children undergoing the learning process are the major assessment users hence they should be able to use them in various ways as teachers or instructors used them to clarify the standards and quality of the assignments. Rubrics are also used to guide ongoing feedback about work in progress which is expected to meet its standards. Recent study By Airasian (2007) provides that students are effective users of the rubric-referenced strategy. The study confirms that students are able to achieve high scores when they adopt the rubric strategy since their ratings correlate with instructors’ ratings. The technique has been considered valid and a reliable tool for peer rating hence it is an effective strategy which teachers and learners can use in the classroom context It is imperative that teachers investigate behaviors of students who are going to use the rubric strategy so as to avoid including students with ill motives who can simply tamper with other students’ achievement. According to Stiggins (2007), students are always positive towards the strategy which contrasts with the traditional assessment methods. Students like this since they are able to know what the expected results are. Teachers can effectively communicate expectations thereby acting as directions for students. His research indicates that students are able to identify their limitations i.e. strengths and weaknesses in the course of their work when they are used to give response on the assignments given to them. In general, rubric-referencing strategy has been widely used by students in determining expectations of teachers on the work they gave, planning production processes in arriving at the expected outcomes, checking their work in progress and in guiding and reflecting on the feedback from others. Even though the strategy has been received by many around the world, there are misconceptions which limit its effectiveness. This was confirmed by Stiggins when he commented that “These include the notion amongst students that it is not necessary to read the whole of the rubric given. Some students believe that the rubric represents a recipe or map which guides teachers in arriving at what they want” (p. 24) Providing Feedback that Move learners forward It noteworthy to understand that assessment does not involve set of procedures but it is a pedagogy process which is affected by social interaction. Researchers of assessment process have agreed that feedback process is affected by the following aspects; i. Where students/learners are ii. Where they plan to go iii. How best they can get there Feedback strategy is very vital in the modern learning environment because it centralizes so much on the learning capabilities of the students themselves. Youngsters in learning institutions should be guided by the response given to them upon competition of the task assigned. This strategy is considered effective under practical situation because much emphasis is on the task given to the student rather than the student. The processes used by the student in the completion of specific task are also a major concern of feedback strategy. Students are monitored during the course of doing assignments given to them. The teacher has obligations of ensuring that every student follows the correct steps in arriving at the answers. It is during such supervision that teachers can direct students on ways of improving the quality of their results. The students are advised by their supervisors on ways of tackling particular tasks in order to improve the quality of the end results. Under this strategy, students should be exposed to tasks that are quite challenging but are achievable. These challenging tasks should be understandable by the entire student undergoing the learning process. It is not logical to introduce tasks that are very challenging and at the same time could not be understood. The tasks should be specific so as to avoid confusing feedback from the students. Teachers are called upon to be making clear and flexible intentions of what the students are going to learn and how far they have reached at a particular time (Butler, 2004). Feedback strategy has proved helpful in planning and specifying learning intentions by teachers. It is under this strategy that teachers and students enhance the aspect of sharing of ideas. They share ideas that are aimed at achieving specified learning objectives hence they can both go back to the drawing board to work together towards achieving these intentions. Learning institutions need to take great care on the feedback process to avoid the dangers of bad practices manifesting among the students who are not willing to work hard. The way principles and ideas are reflected in the written feedback is important to both the learner and the teacher. In the ancient days, teachers used to flick through student’s assignments and thereby making occasional tick which implied that the teacher has gone through the whole work done by student. This weakness was common among lazy teachers who were not ready to take up responsibilities. The traditional method was widely used and students’ books were commonly covered in marks. The fact that head teachers and parents could inspect what students have done forced these teachers to scrutinize very keenly their marking procedures. The dominant conceptions of improved assessment for learning as given by learning trajectory have incorporated some desirable learning structures which govern the curriculum activities in the learning environment. Feedback process involves improving and achieving specific results, revisiting the procedures that students use in arriving at the end results and redefining the approaches that were used by the student when tackling the task. This enables the teacher to make the necessary changes in order to improve the results. This strategy is quite essential when considering educational needs of special students because it enables teachers and the school administration to reduce degenerative conditions (Stiggins, 2007). The nature and the quality of feedback that students are given creates a culture which can affect their focus, form status and the role of feedback in the learning process. Culture and context are primary aspects which teachers should monitor to avoid distorting the learning process in the learning institution. Feedback strategy makes enormous contributions if it is geared towards improving the learning process rather than measuring it. The strategy is also likely to improve the learning abilities of the students if the teachers place emphasis on each student’s progress and eliminate making comparisons of students’ abilities. It is very important to use the technique as part of ongoing dialogue between teachers and the students rather than using this as a judgment of students’ abilities after the results. In addition, the strategy is very vital in improving quality performance among the student only if there is expectation that the learning institution will act upon the feedback of the students’ performance. In institutions which adopt these strategies as norms, there is likelihood that students’ self-image is likely to change significantly, there is enhance mature relationships and high chances that pedagogy is going to evolve. Furthermore, profound changes in the classroom norms will be precipitated by the teachers who use these strategies. They should be quite thoughtful in developing this assessment strategy for learning. When implementing feedback strategy, there are chances that the predominant culture of the classroom will have an impact on the way students receive and react to the feedback. Gardner (2006) identified ways in which students react to information concerning the gap created between normal strategies and the newly set strategies in improving the quality of learning. According to Gardner, students are likely to increase their efforts towards implementing the new strategies. This reduces the number of students who will give up because of the differences arising due to changes in the strategies. Instructors ought to be very conscious when adopting this strategy. They have to be keen enough on what they tell their students about this deliberate adoption of the strategy (Clarke, 1998). Feedback strategy is a very strong indicator of what learning institutions regard as crucial. It is recommendable that it reflects the values of a specific learning institution. Educational institutions have to ensure that the strategy is aligned with educational programs and kinds of learning that students have gone through since they were admitted to the institution. This strategy is a direct way of making learning and teaching processes explicit hence it has a larger part to play in supporting development and making of the children become autonomous. The nature and the quality of feedback is very influential hence it is imperative that teachers should be very cautious to avoid poorly judged or inappropriate response which can have adverse effects on the quality of the learning process. Feedback which directly supports teaching and learning activities should be fostered in order to derive substantial benefits from it. The strategy supports learning and teaching processes enormously if teachers and students pay attention to the principles underlying it and effective monitoring of the actual effects is done rather than that of the intended effects (Clarke, 1998). Feedback strategy is very important but teachers and instructor should be very cautious when executing the learning process using this strategy. He stressed on effects of feedback plan using the following words: “Feedback is always important but it needs to be approached cautiously because research draws attention to relatively potential negative effects.” Engineering Effective Classroom Discussion, Questions and Activities Clarke (1998) commented on the importance of asking questions in the classroom context. He stressed the benefits of asking numerous questions using the following words: “Asking questions, either orally or in writing, is crucial to the process of eliciting information about the current state of the pupils understanding.” (p. 8) Under this approach, it is important to identify what the students are going to learn after which the teacher should collect the right sort of evidence about the level of progress that students have done towards achieving learning objectives. Teachers have to plan the kind of tasks, questions and activities so that they can elicit right goals which the students should achieve. These are techniques based on the theory that learning builds upon knowledge that the student already knows. They are based on constructivist learning theories which argue that learning is effective when a student is involved in the learning process as opposed to receiving information or knowledge through passive ways. The prior knowledge is called schema which is filtered through the teaching process to become very important knowledge to the youngsters or people undergoing the learning process. Many learning institutions around the world have adopted assessment for learning methods based on the theory. In the constructive educational environment, teachers have to play a great role in prompting and facilitating discussions. They have to focus on guiding students by asking relevant questions which guide them to developing their own inferences about the subject of study. Teachers have to play a role of modeling in the constructive learning environment. They should show the students ways in which past learned information can be incorporated in what they are currently learning. They have to coach the students on how to achieve the best results. In these learning theories, teachers and students work together as opposed to traditional methods where the two parties to the learning process worked separately. Features of Constructivist Learning and Teaching Under this approach, students are given training on how to take initiative for their personal learning experiences. Students should get involved in the learning process by participating in discussions and the questions asked by teachers. Teachers have obligations of asking their students questions regarding what they learned in the past and what they are currently learning. Understanding should prevail in the learning environment to ensure free discussions between teachers and students. Students should not be intimidated by teachers as the case might be in the traditional method of learning and teaching. The learning process is further characterized by free interaction and student-centered programs. As noted earlier, the theory focuses so much on the student rather than on the task. In the pursuit of academic excellence in the learning institution, teachers should encourage students to be responsible and to take up duties as required. They facilitate learning process by motivating students to be autonomous. The traditional method of testing students has been revolutionized hence the concept that they should produce the correct answer is outdated as stipulated by this theory. Under constructive theory, knowledge is very important. Students are encouraged to acquire knowledge about certain phenomena which can be relevant in their daily lives. The assessment in not only based on tests but also on observations of what they are doing when they are in the classroom. Teachers have to consider the perspective of the student regarding specific issues (Clarke, 1998) Activating Students as Learning Resources for one another This produces a great deal of benefits in any educational environment. In order to achieve these huge gains, teachers have to provide for group goals so that students can work as groups as opposed to working in an individual as the case might be. Individual accountability should be enhanced to ensure that students are responsible to the group in which they belong. Assessment encourages group effort among learners and this can be achieved only if the learning goals and success criteria are made available to all the students. Teachers should be willing to support the students to improve their work. Students should be taught not to give evaluative feedback when they are commenting on the work they have done but should identify features which merit attention of everyone. This approach has been widely used and it has produced astonishing feedback. This is because of the fact that students appreciate feedback which comes from fellow students rather than from somebody whom they believe is above them. Conclusion According to available research evidence, students’ achievement can be enhanced by using assessments or through constant use of instructions. Teachers should adjust their instructions in order to meet needs of all the students. However, it is true that making such changes in the traditional method of assessment involves adding specific routines in order to change the focus from what the instructors are effecting in the learning process. According to our personal experiences, investment of efforts in changing few routines is amply rewarded. Teachers’ work become professionally fulfilling when students are engaged in class work (Bredo, 1997). References Airasian, P. W. (2007). Assessment in the classroom. NY: McGraw Hill, 132-176. Arg, J. (1999). Assessment for learning. Cambridge University: University of Cambridge School of Education, 56-90. Askew, S. & Lodge, C. (2000). Assessment and Classroom Learning. Journal of assessment in education 2(1), 45-90. Black, P. (1998). Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice. Journal of assessment in education, 11(2), 321-345. Bredo, D. (1997). The Social Construction of Learning. Handbook of academic learning, San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 134-165. Butler, R. (2004). Formative assessment in action. Abingdon: Hodder and Stoughton Publishers, 13-67. Clarke, S. (1998). Targeting assessment in the primary classroom. Oxford: Hodder and Stoughton, 124-176. Clarke, S. (2008). Active learning through formative assessment., Oxford: Hodder and Stoughton, 4-57. Gardner, J. (2006). Assessment and learning. London: Sage. Shepard, L. (2000). The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture. Educational researcher, 9(7), 4-14. Stiggins, R. J. (2007). An introduction to student-centered classroom assessment. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More