GROUP

Large Scale Assessment

Ventura, Stephanie S.
Yaranon, Nympha Leah V.
A dialogue between two students reviewing for their examination.
Nympha: Hey Stephanie, let’s review! We should pass our exams, which subject should
we review first?
Stephanie: How about Professional Education? There are many terms and topics that we
must master and understand.
Nympha: Okay, let’s do the alternate asking of questions.
Stephanie: Sure, I’ll ask first! What does LSA and CBA stand for?
What are the different terms in Large-scale assessment?
Nympha: Hah! That’s too easy, LSA stands for Large Scale Assessment and CBA stands
for Classroom Based Assessment, and I think there are 3 terms under large-scale
assessment, the system-wide assessment, standardized testing and large-scale annual
assessment.
Stephanie: Nice, you really are good in memorization. What do we mean when we say
system-wide assessment?

Nympha: Oh, that? I think that it suggests the participation of all schools which are part
of a system. How about you? Can you define Standardized Testing?

Stephanie: Uhh, wait… it’s a test that suggests the consistent manner and conditions in
the administration, scoring and interpretation of assessment tools, am I right?

Nympha: Yes, that’s right! What about Large-scale annual assessment? Is it the frequency
of scheduled school assessment?

Stephanie: Yes, I remember our classmate reporting that.

Nympha: Let’s go back with the LSA and CBA, do they have similarities or differences?

Stephanie: Yes. The underlying assessment concepts behind LSA are closely related to
those of classroom-based assessment (CBA).

Nympha: I have read that LSA and CBA can be both designed and used for norm-
referenced assessment and criterion-referenced assessment.

Stephanie: Yes, according to my research, both CBA and LSA are similarly interested in
knowing to what extent students have mastered the expected body of knowledge and
competencies being assessed.

Nympha: Okay, enough with this. Let’s now talk about their purpose.
Staphanie: I think that one purpose of CBA is for ranking and comparing students in class.
On the basis of their test scores, the students overall standing in class is known and reported
as part of their grades.

Nympha: That’s right! LSA likewise uses this norm-referenced approach in ranking
schools within administrative districts, divisions, or regions in a country using some
descriptive statistics.

Stephanie: Oh! Now, I clearly understand their differences. Thank you for that additional
information.

Nympha: But wait! There’s more…

Stephanie: What is it?

Nympha: Do you have any idea about the content of LSA and CBA tools that are both
aligned to the curriculum and specific learning outcomes?

Stephanie: As far as I know, LSA intends to gather information across target schools of
regions in a country and its main concern is to monitor the status of student achievement
in specific areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics. Similarly, CBA aims to do the
same within a class using the intended learning outcomes for an instructional period.

Nympha: What about the involvement of teachers in the preparation of the assessment
tools?

Stephanie: Although LSA involves a greater number of teachers in the development

process, both levels of assessment rely heavily on experienced teachers in selecting the
instructional outcomes to be tested.

Nympha: Yes, planning the test content takes a formal convention of teachers across
various parts of the country together with other curriculum experts. In CBA, a classroom
teacher may seek collegial advice of his/her peers in determining content of a summative
test that may be administered to one class or to classes of the same grade level in the school.

Stephanie: Oh, they have different preparation.

Nympha: Exactly!

Stephanie: Now I realized why selected-response format, like multiple-choice and binary-
choice items are commonly used.

Nympha: Why do you say so?

Stephanie: Because with LSA being administered to large population, use of machine
scoring for multiple choice facilitate fast interpretation and fast results.
Nympha: You’re right! I remember when we were in Grade 6, we took National
Achievement Test which is an example of Large Scale Assessment and it used machine
scoring for multiple choice for fast results.

Stephanie: Yes. PNUAT is also an example of it.

Nympha: I noticed that assessment is more focused on cognitive instructional outcomes.

Stephanie: I agree with that! Because performance base formats which can be utilized to
assess non-cognitive behaviors, are less frequently use for this purpose.

Nympha: Do you also know that there are barriers in using large-scale assessment data in
policymaking?

Stephanie: Of course! First is the lack of or poor dissemination of information. An example

for this is the thing that only education officials and policymakers have access to assessment data,
resulting in little public awareness and pressure.
Nympha: Wow, you’re also good with memorization! Next to that is the limitations in assessment
programme and analyses, right?

Stephanie: Yes, under this is the difficulty in comparing results from one assessment
programme to another, uncertainty of data being recognized at the national level, and limited
capacity of technical experts to analyze large-scale assessment data.
Nympha: Third is the weak assessment bodies and fragmented government agencies wherein
assessment mechanisms, especially concerning information dissemination, are not being adequate
or organized.

Stephanie: That’s right. Lastly, the political factors that involves violent conflict and political
unrest influencing the implementation of assessment, lack of political will, lack of efforts to
improve reading instruction at the primary level despite indications from the data, and no
acceptance of assessment results, or no agreement on how to implement changes.
Nympha: I think we are now prepared for the exam, we just have to remember all the things that
we have talked about and we will pass.

Stephanie: Right! God bless to the both of us.