UNIT – I PERSPECTIVES ON ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

UNIT – I

PERSPECTIVES ON ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

Meaning of Assessment

Meaning of Measurement

Meaning of Tests

Meaning of Examination

Meaning of Appraisal

Meaning of Evaluation

Interrelation among Assessment, Evaluation and Measurement

Diagnostic Assessment

1. ASSESSMENT

The word “assess” comes from Latin verb “assidere” meaning to sit with .So in assessment one is sit with the learner. This implies this is something we do with and for the students.

Assessment is “a systematic procedure for collecting information that can be used to make conclusion about the characteristics of people or objects.

(AERA, et. al., 1999)”

Assessment is referred as “a process of collecting evidence and making judgments relating to outcomes”. It is said that assessment has a narrower meaning than evaluation but broader meaning than measurement.

Assessment refers to the collection of data and the gathering of evidence from different sources through different tools, whereas evaluation refers to bringing meaning to the collected data through interpretation, analysis and reflection.

Ø An assessment of learning is always done with a definite purpose or purposes.

Ø Although in school education, all assessment aim ultimately at improving students’ learning, but each and every assessment is done to address specific issues of learning that a teacher faces while teaching in the classroom.

Example - ‘Recurring spelling mistakes in Mother Tongue at Class V level’, ‘Mistakes committed while carrying over is involved in addition of two three-digit numbers’, ‘Faulty reading style’, ‘Incorrect observations of parts of different types of flowers’.

To know the exact status of the specific learning issue, the teacher tries to assess the students with specific tools.

Thus it can be said that assessment refers to the process of collection of quantitative and qualitative information on specific issues based on which steps can be taken for facilitating/ enhancing learning.

2. MEASUREMENT

“Measurement is a process of assigning numbers to individuals or their characteristics according to specific rules.” (Eble and Frisbie, 1991, p.25)

Definitions:

Ø This is very common and simple definition of the term ‘measurement’. You can say that measurement is a quantitative description of one’s performance.

Ø Gay (1991) further simplified

the term as a process of quantifying the degree to which someone or something possessed a given trait, i.e., quality, characteristics, or features.

Measurement of any aspect of an object or phenomenon is its quantitative description.

For example, Sasmita has scored 58 marks in a particular examination and Munu has scored 59, their individual scores are the measurement of their performance on a particular test.

Ø Characteristics Of Measurement:

v Measurement assigns a numeral to quantify certain aspects of human and non-human beings.

v It is numerical description of objects, traits, attributes, characteristics or behaviours.

v Measurement is not an end in itself but definitely a means to evaluate the abilities of a person in education and other fields as well.

v Nature of measurement and assessment vary for various traits or attributes of the students to deal with.

3. TESTS

Test as a tool or a technique. It is also considered as a most commonly used method for measurement of educational and psychological attributes.

Definitions

A/c dictionary- “test is a series of questions on the basis of which some information is sought” (Singh, 2002).

It is also considered as a tool or systematic procedure for measuring a sample behaviour by posing a set of questions in a uniform manner designed to measure any quality, ability, skill or knowledge.

Bean (1953)- defined test as “an organized succession of stimuli designed to measure quantitatively or to evaluate qualitatively some mental process, trait or characteristics.”

Characteristics of test :

v Tests have some organized stimuli (test items) in an organized sequence to test some specific trait/attribute.

v Test can be used as tool for quantitative measurement as well as qualitative assessment.

v Test is a systematic tool to measure sample behaviour

EXAMINATION

Examination is considered as a formal system to know how much one has achieved or where one stands in comparison to others. It is basically a test to see how good somebody is at something.

Generally examination is considered in two senses :

v one, to know about how good one is

v other, to know the shortcomings, or, where is one lacking?

Example of first is semester or annual examination

example of other is unit test, diagnostic tests, etc.

Types of Examinations

APPRAISAL

· Appraisals are judgments of the characteristics, traits and performance of others. On the basis of these judgments we assess the worth or value of others and identify what is good or bad.

· In industry performance appraisal is a systematic evaluation of employees by the supervisors

· Employees also wish to know their position in the organization.

· Appraisals are essential for making many administrative decisions: selection, training, promotion, transfer, wage and salary administration etc.”

Evaluation

Evaluation is “a systematic process of collectingand analyzing data in order to determine whether, and to what degree, objectives have been, or are being, achieved (Gay, 1991)”.

It leads to decision making.

According to Bebby (1977).

evaluation as “the systematic collection and interpretation of evidence leading as a part of process to a judgment of value with a view of action”.

Let us further elaborate the concept of evaluation.

According to Bebby (1977). evaluation as “the systematic collection and interpretation of evidence leading as a part of process to a judgment of value with a view of action”.

If you analyze this definition, you can identify four key elements of evaluation

as follows:

v Systematic collection of evidence

v Its interpretation

v Judgment of value

v A view of action

Let us try to understand the above terms used.

Ø Systematic collection implies that whatever information is gathered, should be acquired in a systematic and planned way with some degree of precision.

Ø Information gathered systematically should be carefully analysed interpreted superficial observations may lead to wrong interpretation.

Ø Judgment of value takes evaluation far behind the level of mere description of what is happening, but requires judgments about the worth of an endeavor.

Ø A view of action means every decision has a specific reference to action. It

may be conclusion oriented or decision oriented.

Characteristics Of Good Evaluation

Validity: A valid evaluation is one which actually tests what is set out to test i.e., one which actually measures the behaviour described by the objective (s), under scrutiny.

Reliability: It is a measure of consistency with which the question, test or examination produces the same result under different but comparable conditions.

A reliable evaluation mechanism is independent of the characteristics of individual evaluator.

Practicability: Evaluation procedure should be realistic, practical and efficient in terms of their cost, time taken and ease of application.

Fairness: Evaluation must be fair for all learners. This can be possible by accurate reflecting of range of expected behaviors as desired by the course objectives.

Usefulness: Evaluation should be useful for all learners. Feedback from evaluation must be made available to learners and help them to prove their current strengths and weaknesses.