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Assessment in Pre-school and Primary School

Dr. T. Mukunthan

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• Assessment of Learning Outcomes of Children in Mathematics

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Assessment

• Municipal Council / Urban Council

• Bank / Insurance Company• Referee /Umpire • Teacher / Lecturer

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Assessment

• What is Assessment?The word ‘assess’ comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’.

In assessment one is supposed to sit with the learner. This implies it is something we do ‘with’ and ‘for’ students and not ‘to’ students (Green, 1999).

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AssessmentMeaningful identification of the nature of learning Process of children

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Assessment

• Assessment is an on-going process aimed to understanding and improving student learning.

• It involves making our expecting clear to students and setting appropriate outcomes for learning.

• It helps determine how well student performance matches those outcomes.

• It uses the resulting information to improve student learning.

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Assessment

• Assessment is the systematic collection review and use of information about Educational programmes undertaken for the purpose of improving learning and development

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Why we assess the children

• Ongoing assessment can provide invaluable information to parents and educators about how children grow and develop.

• Developmentally appropriate assessment systems can provide information to highlight what children know and are able to do. 

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Purpose of Assessment

Children• Identify what children know• Identify children's special needs• Determine appropriate placement• Select appropriate curricula to meet children's

individual needs• Refer children and, as appropriate, their families

for additional services to programs and agencies

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Models of Assessment

Families• Communicate with parents to provide

information about their children's progress and learning

• Relate school activities to home activities and experiences

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Types of Assessments

• Norm referenced and Criterion referenced assessment

• Formative and Summative assessment

• Formal and Informal assessment• Qualitative and Quantitative

assessment

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Norm referenced and Criterion referenced

Criterion Referenced• Specific standards established• Certain information/learning is necessary to continue

the next steps of learning.• Students learning is compared to the criteria or

standards (NOT to each other)• Assumption: If students do not reach standards, find

other means of teaching students• Banks of testing items created to match different types

of curriculum (mostly multiple items)

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Norm Referenced• Based on “the Bell Curve”• Use standardized tests• Comparing students to students• Want to create a spread

–Item analysis–Distinguish items: High achievers get

correct and low achievers get wrong• Used for screening people in and out

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Formative and Summative assessment

Formative

• Anecdotal records • Quizzes and

essays • Diagnostic tests • Lab reports• MAP test

Summative

• Final exams• Statewide tests

(OSAT)• National tests• Entrance exams

(SAT and ACT)

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Summative Assessment

• Summative Assessments are given periodically to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know.

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Examples of summative assessments:

• State assessments (Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, GCE(OL), GCE(AL)

• End-of-unit or chapter tests• End-of-term or semester exams• Scores that are used for accountability

for schools (AYP) and students (report card grades).

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Key to Summative Assessment

• Think of summative assessment as a means to measure, at a particular point in time, student learning relative to content standards.

• Although the information that is gathered from this type of assessment is important, it can only help in evaluating certain aspects of the learning process.

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Disadvantages of Summative Assessment

• Because they are spread out and occur after instruction every few weeks, months, or once a year, summative assessments are tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of programs, school improvement goals, alignment of curriculum, or student placement in specific programs.

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Formative Assessment

• Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process.

• When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening.

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• Formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made.

• These adjustments help to ensure students achieve targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame.

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Think of formative assessment as "practice.”

• Students try out a new skill and receive immediate feedback.

• Formative assessment helps teachers determine next steps during the learning process.

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Student Engagement

• Formative assessment is most powerful when students are involved.

• Students should be thinking critically about their own learning.

• Students should act as resources to other students.

• Research shows that the involvement in and ownership of their work increases students' motivation to learn.

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Types of Formative Assessments

• Criteria and goal setting with students engages them in instruction and the learning process by creating clear expectations.

• Observations assist teachers in gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional planning.

• Student record keeping helps students better understand their own learning as evidenced by their classroom work.

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• Questioning strategies should be embedded in lesson/unit planning. Asking better questions allows an opportunity for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into the degree and depth of understanding.

• Self and peer assessment helps to create a learning community within a classroom. Students who can reflect while engaged in metacognitive thinking are involved in their learning.

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• When assessment at the classroom level balances formative and summative assessment, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards.

• Students should be able to share information about their own learning.

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Formal and Informal assessment

• Formal assessments have data which support the conclusions made from the test.

• We usually refer to these types of tests as standardized measures.

• These tests have been tried before on students and have statistics which support the conclusion such as the student is reading below average for his age.

• The data is mathematically computed and summarized. Scores such as percentiles, stanines, or standard scores are mostly commonly given from this type of assessment.

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• Informal assessments are not data driven but rather content and performance driven. For example, running records are informal assessments because they indicate how well a student is reading a specific book.

• Scores such as 10 correct out of 15, percent of words read correctly, and most rubric scores; are given from this type of assessment

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Qualitative and Quantitative Assessments

Qualitative Quantitative

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quantitative

• Collects data that can be analyzed using quantitative methods.

• Includes methods that rely on numerical scores or ratings. • A quantitative measurement uses values from an

instrument based on a standardized system that intentionally limits data collection to a selected or predetermined set of possible responses. Quantitative assessment approaches work by the numbers, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and charting results, trends, and norms.

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Qualitative

• Collects data that does not lend itself to quantitative methods but rather to interpretive criteria.

• Includes methods that rely on descriptions rather than numbers.

• Qualitative measurement is more concerned with detailed descriptions of situations or performance; therefore it can be much more subjective but can also be much more valuable in the hands of an experienced teacher.