BASIC CONCEPTS IN

ASSESSMENT
Assessment in Learning focuses on the
development and utilization of assessment
tools to improve the teaching-learning
process.
It emphasizes on the use of testing for
measuring knowledge comprehension and
other thinking skills.
As part of overall evaluation process, we need
specifically to find out if the learners are
actually learning as a result of the teaching.
There is a lot debate on how to assess learning,
and especially about how to evaluate
performance.
It gaves us guidance on what to assess,
because they are written in terms of what the
learners should be able to do.
• The Assessment itself can be done in different
ways:
1. Ask the learners to recall facts or principles.
2. Ask the learner to apply given or recalled
facts or principles.
3. Ask the learner to select and apply facts and
principles to solve a given problem.
4. Ask the learner to formulate and solve his or
her own problem by selecting,generating and
applying facts and principles.
5. Ask the learner to perform tasks that shows
mastery of the learning outcomes.
In many education systems, assessment is used
as a tool dor sorting students for selection purposes
(progression to a higher level of education, higher
reward among others).

Assessment where students are compared with

each other is known as norm-referencing. It is
much better if learners are aware of what they need
to learn and what they have learned.
Teachers and trainers should advise
the learners, and guide them in order to
help them learn; this is the key role of
the teacher. Assessment of learners in
relation to a particular target or level of
performance is called criticism-
referencing.
Different Terminologies: Assessment,
Testing Measurement and Evaluation
Assessment, Measurement and
Evaluation mean many different
things. This terms are sometimes
used interchangeably in the field of
education.
The term Assessment refers to the different
components and activities of different schools.
An assessment can be used to student learning
and in comparing student learning with the
learning goals of an academic program.
It is a systematic process of gathering,
interpreting and using this information about
students learning.
There are different purposes of assessment
such as: to provide the feedback to students
and to serve as diagnostic tool for instruction.
For this purpose of assessment usually answers
the questions, “Was the instruction effective?”
and “Did the students achieve the intended
learning outcomes?”
The most common form of assessment is giving a test.
Since test is a form of assessment, hence, it also answers the
question, “how does individual student perform?”

Test is formal and systematic instrument, usually paper and

pencil procedure designed to assess the quality, ability, skill
or knowledge of the students.

Testing is one of the different methods used to measure the

level of performance or achievement of the learners. It also
refers to the administration,scoring and interpretation of the
procedures designed to get information about the extent of
the performance of the students.
Measurement is a process of quantifying or
assigning number to the individual’s intelligence,
personality, attitudes and values, and achievement
of the students. In other words, express the
assessment data in terms of numerical values and
answer the question “how much”
Evaluation refers to the process of judging the
quality of what is good and what is desirable. It is
the comparison of data to a set of standard or
learning criteria for the purpose of judging the
worth or quality.
 TYPES OF ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES

1. Nature of Assessment
• Maximum Performance
It is used to determine what individuals can do
when performing at their best. Examples of intruments
using maximum performance are aptitude tests and
achievement tests.
• Typical Performance
It is used to determine what individuals will do
under natural conditions. Examples of instruments
using typical performance are attitude, interest and
personality inventories, observational techniques and
peer appraisal.
2. Format of Assessment

• Fixed-choice Test
An assessment used to measure knowledge
and skills effectively and efficiently. Standard
multiple-choice test is an example of instrument
used in fixed-choice test.
• Complex-performance Assessment
An assessment procedure used to measure the
performance of the learner in contexts and on
problems values in their own right. Examples of
instruments used in complex-performance
assessments are hands-on-laboratory
experiment,projects,essays,oral presentation.