Types of Assessment || Practice based assessment ||Evidence based assessment ||Performance based assessment ||Examination based assessment

 

In education, assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process. It requires for the teacher to make use of different evaluation methods and tests to assess student’s knowledge, understandings, skills, attitudes developed as result of teaching.

Different forms of assessment methods are involved in evaluating various aspects of student learning, such as the development of cognitive abilities, physical and social skills, attitudes and values.

Of these different types of assessment, the following 4 are important.

• Practice based assessment.
• Evidence based assessment.
• Performance based assessment.
• Examination based assessment.

Practice based assessment.

• Practice based assessment is - evaluating how far students apply efficiently the knowledge and skills they have learned in the true professional setting.
• Examples: Teacher Education, Nurse training, Medical education, etc.
• The important feature or basis of practice based assessment is providing for practice with feedback, so as to improve the learning achievement
• Practice based assessment focuses on communication and interpersonal skills, decision making, leadership management and team working.

In classroom environment undertaking practice based assessment follows a cycle 

 

• Providing opportunity for students to improve their learning through practice with feedback, and then assessing the best for performance expressed is the correct approach in assessment.
• Apart from assessing students knowledge and skills, the attitude towards rectifying mistakes based on feedback, striving for improvement through persistent efforts are also encouraged.
• The apparent truth is any learner could be made to achieve his or her learning goal;
• more intelligent students may require less practice, 
• while those with less intelligence need more amount of practice.

Evidence based assessment

• Evaluating student achievement of expected learning outcomes is referred towards evidence based achievement.
• Example: oral test, quiz, practical works illustrated, charts, diagrams, models prepared...(formative assessments)
• It involves.
• Determining the Expected Learning Outcomes (ELOs) of teaching a content area of a subject
• Then arranging the teaching- learning process based on the ELOs selected.
• Gathering evidences for the realization of ELOs during teaching and assessing them.
• Based on the assessment of evidences gathered, during the teaching- learning process, the teacher can incorporate necessary changes in it.
• Gathering formative evidences can be made through different ways, like interaction with students, observing how students carry out their tasks, activities like participation in class discussions, oral test, quiz, practical works illustrated, charts, diagrams. models prepared, etc.
• This kind of assessment of student learning is essentially formative assessment
• Briefly stating evidence based assessment is not assessing students learning achievement at end of teaching learning; it involves assessing student learning during the period of instruction.
• The learning evidences created by a student in an academic year may turn to be his or her learning portfolio.

The following table illustrates the method of gathering and assessing direct and indirect evidences of student learning.

Assessing direct evidences for student - learning	Assessing indirect evidences for student - learning
Assessing student learning by  conducting oral tests and quiz in the class  making them undertake project, field study etc…  observing his/her direct participation in the classroom activities  Using criterion reference tests, assessing the level of learning achievement of students in terms of grades	Assessing student learning by  assessing student participation in group discussions & brainstorming sessions  Assessing skills & attitudes through lab works and field investigations  observing their involvement and interest in co curricular activities  by comparing each student’s learning achievement with the average performance of class; assessing student learning portfolio of each student

 

Performance based assessment.

• Performance assessment is a dynamic process calling for students to be active participants, who are learning while they are being assessed.
• The purpose of assessment is to find out what each student is able to do with knowledge, in context.
• Example: analysis of essay, laboratory investigation, completing a research paper, skits, role play……
• It is defined as evaluating student’s ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit of study to complete a given task.
• The task challenges students to use their higher order thinking skills to create a product or complete the process.
•  In performance based assessment tasks can range from a simple constructed response to complex design proposal.

Traditional assessment	Performance assessment
Written and oral tests and exams	Performance in authentic context
Select a response- “know what”	Perform a task “know how”
Recalling lower – order knowledge & skills	Applying higher –order knowledge and skills
Knowledge is determined first	Tasks are determined first
The curriculum drives the assessment	Assessment drives the curriculum

 

Examination based assessment.

• The tests that assess the subject knowledge and skills acquired by the students at the end of the instructional period is known as ‘Examination’.
• The one who is subjected to the tests called ‘Examinee’.
• Example: Examination may be in the form of written test, on screen test or a practical test.
• It is an assessment, intended to measure a test takers knowledge, skill, attitude, etc.

Guidelines to improve examination.

•  Assessment should reflect the curriculum.
• Though it is not possible to assess everything in a curriculum, the areas that are assessed should be the ones that are considered important.
• Test items that find place in an examination, besides measuring student’s ability to recall and recognize the information learned, should also attempt to measure high order learning outcomes like ‘application’, ‘analysis’, ‘synthesis’, etc.
• Examination should assess student’s ability to apply their knowledge, not only in academic context but also the real life situation outside the school.
•  The content and form of items found in examination should be free from gender, ethnic group and location biases.
• Care should be taken to see the question paper for examination contains different types of test items.
•  60% of examination items should be of average difficulty level, 20% of items should be easy and 20% of items be ‘very difficult’.
•  As a blueprint is prepared before developing an examination question paper; preparing the ‘scoring scheme’ for question paper is also equally important.
•  It is essential to ensure the ‘content validity’ of the question paper to be used in examination.

 

Conclusion:

Assessments can range from simply asking questions during a lesson to class presentations after a unit of study. Assessment is not only a way we can measure student performance, but it is also a way for teachers to plan instruction and reflect on their own methods of teaching