Examing Current Assesment Practice - Thesis Example

EXAMINING CURRENT ASSESSMENT PRACTICE “Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about learning.The central purpose of assessment is to provide information on student achievement and progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning.” [Principles for assessment and reporting in NSW government schools, NSW Department of School Education 1996]. Assessment tools measure how much a student has learned from previous lessons. This may come in different forms – oral tests and graded recitations, performance in specially designed contests that highlight understanding of concepts taken up, completion of projects related to the concept to apply the knowledge derived from it, and written tests or examinations demonstrating student retention of the concept and application of the skills learned. Most teachers put a lot of effort and thinking in designing their tests. Since its goal is to evaluate how much the students have learned from their lessons, teachers may come up with various strategies in their tests. Math tests are usually perceived to be easy to create because it entails some problems to answer and there is just one accurate answer expected, however, math teachers know that the process is equally important as the product. They have to ensure that students are correct in the process they go through to come up with the answers. What makes it more complex is the fact that Mathematics is a hierarchical discipline where concepts build on previous concepts and more often than not, need full understanding before proceeding to the next, more complicated concept. (Ruthven, 1987). In learning writing, what is referred to is handwriting or expression of thoughts in print. The more basic handwriting skills assess a student’s fine motor competencies. Writing as an expression of thoughts is a higher level of skill. “Children construct their understanding of written language in a developmental sequence that is observable and very similar in all children” (Brewer, 2001, p. 276). Assessment for writing skills is different for handwriting and expression of thought. Vygotsky came up with the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). He defined the ZPD as the distance between a child’s independent problem-solving level and that obtained under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (Wertsch, 1985). Wells (1997) cautioned us, however, that a ZPD is formed not just within an individual learner, but in the interaction between the learner, coparticipants, and available tools during involvement in a common activity. ZPDs, therefore, depend on the quality of the total interactive context as well as individual learner capabilities. (Bonk & Cunningham, 1998). This implies that before a student can be successful in a written examination, he must have been involved in a social learning context so when he is on his own, he can cull from his learning from the group and apply it on his own. However, he must be challenged enough to think on a higher level than what he is more comfortable with. The following assessment materials are evaluated based on its quality and effectivity in measuring student learning. Teachers will benefit from the grid provided by the Quality Teaching guide, as they could more thoroughly reflect on their own teaching practices and design their assessment materials more appropriately. Number Assessment – Addition & Subtraction: Element Coder’s Comments Agreed Score Intellectual Quality 1.1 Deep knowledge The variety of activities in the task helps the student link concepts to come up with better solutions to his problem-solving. He gets to check his answers with concrete possibilities offered by the picture problems presented as he relates various processes together. 5 1.2 Deep understanding The assessment material gets to evaluate the students’ deep understanding of the concept by presenting varying degrees of difficulty and strategies to check and balance knowledge on addition and subtraction. 4 1.3 Problematic knowledge Students’ problematic knowledge gets tested in various methods presented in the assessment material. Socially constructed problems are offered for the students to solve, making the concept more relevant to him. 4 1.4 Higher-order thinking The material allows students to manipulate information and ideas to solve problems and create new (for them) meanings and understandings 4 1.5 Metalanguage Students are required to do tasks to show their knowledge of mathematical language – translating concrete picture problems to number problems, number problems to word problems and vice versa. 5 1.6 Substantive communication “The task requires students to produce an elaborate, sustained and coherent clarification of complex ideas, concepts or arguments directly related to the substance of the topic” (Assessment Practice Guide, p. 24). 5 Quality Learning Environment 2.1 Explicit quality criteria The notations at the end of the page gives leads on how the student performs on the task. 3 2.2 Engagement Material presents enough interest to keep students engaged in the task 3 2.3 High expectations Apart from the relevance of the items presented to assess student knowledge, the material likewise posts challenges to the students’ “zone of proximal development”. 4 2.4 Social support Assessment material does not show evidence for this item - 2.5 Students’ self-regulation Assessment material does not show evidence for this item - 2.6 Student direction There are items in the assessment material that throws the responsibility of coming up with students’ own choice and method of solving the problem. 4 Significance 3.1 Background knowledge Material assumes students know how to go about the task without mentioning anything about their background knowledge 1 3.2 Cultural knowledge Some references to information relevant to student life were included in the material. 2 3.3 Knowledge integration The items in the material integrates students’ knowledge in various areas of the topic at hand. 4 3.4 Inclusivity Assessment material does not show evidence for this item - 3.5 Connectedness The word problems takes the students out of the context of pure numerical problem solving and applies their knowledge to real life. 3 3.6 Narrative An item requiring the student to write about links in addition and subtraction allows student to express his thoughts using narratives. 3 This assessment material was attractive enough for students due to the variety of tasks it offered. The concrete pictures guide the students in arriving at their answers. It equitably offers more challenging tasks, as it involves higher-order thinking skills and requires students to translate the problems in different mathematical languages to demonstrate their knowledge. The varying levels of difficulty allow the student to go through the whole task engaged, therefore, better able to apply previous knowledge on the concept. It also respects the student enough to provide some items he is free to use his strategies with. This material is ideal for a culminating test, after the students have concluded a unit on addition, subtraction and its application to more practical problem-solving situations. Best Writing Assessment Element Coder’s Comments Agreed Score Intellectual Quality 1.1 Deep knowledge “The task requires sustained focus on key concepts or ideas but does not require articulation of the relationships between and among concepts” (p.14). 4 1.2 Deep understanding The tasks in the material assesses student learning on the topic by presenting problems in various strategies that push students to think inside-out and upside-down. Student tried to organize his answers with carefully-written answers. 5 1.3 Problematic knowledge Although there is only one correct answer to each of the problems posted, student is encouraged to find various ways to arrive at it. Organizing his problem-solving by adding rows to delineate numbers was one way for him to avoid confusion. 3 1.4 Higher-order thinking The various methods open to students makes them engage in higher-order thinking skills to help them come up with the correct answers. It is obvious from his writing of his engagement. 4 1.5 Metalanguage The items in the material allow students to engage in several mathematical language forms to express their answers. Writing the problem vertically as well as horizontally shows student knows he can arrive at the same answer. 4 1.6 Substantive communication Students communicate the accuracy of their answers by showing the process of how they derived it. 3 Quality Learning Environment 2.1 Explicit quality criteria The cues of an addition table and the “working” out box are the only evidences of what of what the material expects from the students. The rest of the items seem to assume they know what to do. 1 2.2 Engagement The answers of the student manifest his engagement in the task. 3 2.3 High expectations The tasks in the material provide a lot of challenge to most students. It is evident from the student’s writing that he has accepted and have been successful in the challenge. 4 2.4 Social support Assessment material does not show evidence for this item - 2.5 Students’ self-regulation Assessment material does not show evidence for this item. The last item, though was unfinished, and can be assumed that time for the task was up before student can complete it. - 2.6 Student direction There are some items that give students leverage on how to solve the problems posted. 3 Significance 3.1 Background knowledge Referring to some knowledge on addition strategies the student knows gave a more grounded approach to the material. 2 3.2 Cultural knowledge Using situations that students may relate to somehow gives importance to their cultural knowledge. 2 3.3 Knowledge integration The tasks require students to integrate knowledge in many areas of addition throughout the material. 4 3.4 Inclusivity Assessment material does not show evidence for this item - 3.5 Connectedness The items attempt to connect concepts to real-life situations. 3 3.6 Narrative The task does not make use of any narrative. 1 This assessment material likewise provides a variety of tasks to determine if the students have adequately retained concepts in addition and subtraction. The items on this material are more challenging than the first material, as it involves more digits to work with. Like the other material, it also engages the student in higher level thinking, as he finds relationships among the concepts reflected in the items. It also makes use of a variety of ways to assess student knowledge. The process a student uses in solving the problems is emphasized in this material, as spaces are provided for him to demonstrate how he arrived at his answers. However, as an assessment material to assess students’ competencies in writing, this may not be an appropriate one because it involved numbers. It was evident that the student carefully wrote the numbers neatly so that he will not be confused with the numerical operations. It showed the students’ good fine motor skills. The addition of lines in the solving of the number problems was an indication of the student’s need to be clear in arriving at the solution. Having to deal with so many digits may indeed be confusing, so the student resorted to delineating the digits. To assess writing skills (for both fine motor writing skills and expression of ideas through writing), it would be more appropriate to evaluate text of student narratives. There, the handwriting skills as well as coherence of thoughts as expressed in writing may be assessed. The constraint in assessing both materials is that the coder only assesses what is seen on print. The more valuable learning that happens before a student is able to complete the materials is not given consideration. The materials attempted to make students demonstrate their knowledge. According to Fred Newman, “Authentic achievement involves the challenge of producing, rather than reproducing, knowledge” (Shalaway, 1997). Aside from expecting students to merely answer questions (reproducing knowledge), there are items that make them actively think of ways to come up with their own ways of solving problems. This type of assessment material veers away from traditional assessements that expect students to merely regurgitate memorized facts and not challenge them enough to think deeper. Also, traditional assessments ignore the learning styles of many children (Shalaway, 1997). The introduction of a variety of methods to check students’ knowledge and understanding of the concepts is a fresh innovation in the design of assessment materials. “Effective assessment means much more than giving paper-and-pencil tests and assigning letter grades. The process occurs before, during and after lessons, units, or marking periods” (Shalaway, 1997, p. 142). It is away of tracking their progress, and helping teachers design a more appropriate curriculum for them. The materials assessed in this paper are just mere portions of an assessment system that should include student performance in class. Going through this exercise again points to the value of teacher reflection and evaluation of their current teaching practices. It helps teachers calibrate their quality of teaching to the high standards prescribed by the Quality Teaching Guide provided. Aside from giving teachers ideas on how to design effective assessment materials, it emphasizes the need to always think of maximizing their students’ potentials through tests like these instead of using it to merely determine their current knowledge and understanding of concepts. For teachers, isn’t that what is most important? References Bonk, C.J. & Cunningham, D.J. (1998) “Searching for Learner-Centered, Constructivist, and Sociocultural Components of Collaborative Educational Learning Tools” in Electronic Collaborators. Retrieved on September 8, 2008 from: www.publicationshare.com/docs/Bon02.pdf Brewer, J. (2001) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Allyn & Bacon. Principles for assessment and reporting in NSW government schools, NSW Department of School Education 1996 Quality Teaching in NSW Public Schools (2004) An Assessment Practice Guide. State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional Learning Directorate Ruthven, K. (1987). Ability Stereotyping in Mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics 18, 243-253. Shalaway, L. (1997) Learning to Teach. Scholastic Professional Books. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wells, G. (1997). “The zone of proximal development and its implications for learning and teaching.” Retrieved on September 7, 2008 from http://www.iose.utoronto.ca/~gwells/zpd.discussion.txt Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of the mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Read More