Assessment

Assessment: Balanced and Varied (Summary) Assessment is an essential part in the mathematics education of a student’s achievement. Assessment focuses on what students can do and how they and feel about mathematics. It should involve a broad range of mathematical tasks and problems. Assessment should, as far as possible, be integral to the normal teaching and learning programme. If the goal of assessment is to obtain a valid and reliable picture of a student's understanding and achievement, evidence must come from a variety of sources. At the beginning of any course, and the learning objectives for the curriculum become the criteria to assess the student. These objectives may be attainable by the majority of students, but for some students, these objectives may not be attainable. Adaptations to instruction or procedures may be required. There are two types of assessment: formative and summative assessments. Formative assessment is an ongoing classroom process that keeps students and educators informed of students' progress towards program learning objectives. The main purpose of formative evaluation is to improve instruction and student learning. It provides teachers with valuable information upon which instructional modifications can be made. This type of evaluation helps teachers understand the degree to which students are learning the course material and the extent to which their knowledge, understandings, skills, and attitudes are developing. Students are provided direction for future learning and are encouraged to take responsibility for their own progress. Examples of formative assessments are: observations, interviews, journal entries, homework, class exercises, tests and quizzes. These assessments help teachers plan their lessons properly and implement various teaching strategies. • Criteria and goal setting: Engages students in instruction and the learning process by creating clear expectations. Students need to understand and know the learning target/goal and the criteria for reaching it. Establishing and defining quality work together. Using student work, classroom tests, or exemplars of what is expected helps students understand where they are, where they need to be, and an effective process for getting there. • Observations: Observations assist teachers in gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional planning. This evidence can be recorded and used as feedback for students about their learning or as anecdotal data shared with them during conferences. • 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. When students have been involved in criteria and goal setting, self-evaluation is a logical step in the learning process. With peer evaluation, students see each other as resources for understanding and checking for quality work against previously established criteria. • Student record keeping: Helps students better understand their own learning as evidenced by their classroom work. This process of students keeping ongoing records of their work not only engages students, it also helps them, beyond a "grade," to see where they started and the progress they are making toward the learning goal. Summative assessment occurs most often at the end of a unit of study. Its primary purpose is to determine what has been learned over a period of time, to summarize student progress, and to report on progress relative to curriculum objectives to students, parents, and educators. Sometimes assessments are strictly formative or strictly summative. For example, summative assessment can be used formatively to assist teachers in making decisions about changes to instructional strategies or other aspects of students' learning programs. Similarly, formative assessment may be used to assist teachers in making summative judgments about student progress. However, it is important that teachers make clear to students the purpose of assessments and whether they will later be used summatively. Summative assessments include portfolios, unit tests and performance assessments, document progress and growth. • Unit tests: A test that is given at the end of a unit or lesson that indicates the mastery level of students. • Portfolios: Students are asked to collect specific pieces of their work (artifacts) to demonstrate their achievement in a specific subject area at a given time. Portfolios are often comprised of work that specifically addressed the learning target(s). • Performance test: Students are asked to complete a specific activity, typically small in scope that requires them to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. The activity can ask them to perform, apply, analyze, evaluate or create. • Self- assessment: A process in which students collect information about their own learning, analyze what it reveals about their progress toward the intended learning goals and plan the next steps in their learning A teacher must be aware that "graded" teaching resources and standardized tests are built on what is accepted as average for a student of a given age group and segment of society. In using standardized test, a teacher is assessing how a student matches these cultural standards over a very narrow range of skills. The results must be considered in that context. These standards may be unattainable by some students. Alternatively, some students may not reach full potential because they are not challenged but are allowed to remain at the acceptable "average". The needs of all students must be considered for effective teaching and learning to occur. Evaluation is the reflective link between what ought to be and what is, and therefore, it is an essential part of the educational process. The main purposes for evaluating are to facilitate student learning and to improve instruction. By continuously evaluating student progress, school programs, curriculum, and the effectiveness of instruction and evaluation, these purposes will be realized.