Characteristics Of Assessments Applying Understanding Yield Results

There is so much to consider when talking about assessments. There are all kinds of different types of assessments. There are assessments that happen on a daily basis in the classroom and then there are the tests that everyone knows about; the state mandated assessments, map test, and some know about DIBLES tests. These are the types of tests that parents, teachers, and administrators debate about. The debate is whether or not these test are doing students any good or harming them. It is good to have data on student and school’s progress, it keeps everyone accountable however, some believe that schools are testing too much. That all this time focused on testing is actually taking away from learning time. Each type of assessment has it’s own set of challenges.

Content validity is achieved when the content of the assessment matches the educational objectives. Criterion validity is demonstrated by the ability of the test to relate to external requirements. Construct validity takes into account the educational variables, such as the native language of the students, to predict the test outcomes. Reliable assessments have consistent results; Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result repeatedly.

Hargreaves (2007) as well as Quinn and Hughes (2007, p270) propose that assessment tool should be both valid (assess what it claims to assess) and reliable (perform in a consistent and stable manner). It is of the opinion now following the assessment that our assessment tool cannot be considered valid and reliable for the following reasons. Learning outcome was not part of the criteria so it was impossible to make a judgement about the quality of the students' presentation and thus could not be penalized. Hinchliff (1999) suggests that learning outcomes should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed (SMART). It should include an indication of the evidence required to demonstrate that learning has been achieved (Dix and Hughes, 2004), but Welsh and Swann (2002) caution that too many may create unreasonable expectations. Moreover, the ambiguity of the tool and individuals' subjectivity in terms of attitudes, beliefs and values (the ‘halo’ effect) resulted in perceived bias which affected the reliability. Bias however, remains an issue to overcome and as such I felt

Assessment, both formative and summative, plays a significant part in the learning experience as it determines progression and enables learners to demonstrate that they have achieved their desired learning outcomes.

Assessment is a valuable tool to measure students learning and achievement. It is an essential element for teacher to reflect on what and how they teach. To assess students is to collect evidence of their learning. Teachers use the information to modify their lesson plans and adjust their instructional methods; students need feedback on their performance to concentrate on their vulnerable areas. Assessment is necessary for parents to reinforce their children strength and assist them where extra attention is required. The data collected will inform school

The major emphasis in education for the 21st century is on data driven accountability measured by student performance on standardized testing. National and state expectations require students to demonstrate mastery of curriculum objectives. Instructional objectives are the focus of the building principals to show measurable student progress. The improvements are evaluated based on data and monitoring of the curriculum.

Assessments should contribute to a student’s education and learning by including students in the learning process educators are able to assist and extend students learning (SCSA, 2014).

Assessing the children understanding is considered to be a good indicator of their learning and development process (Reys et al., 2012). Stiggins (2002) discussed the difference between the children’s assessment for learning and assessment of learning. Teachers need to be familiar with both. Assessment for learning (or as we call it the formative assessment) helps the students to learn more about different concepts and increase the opportunity to develop various skills. On the other side, assessment of learning (summative assessment) is to give the teacher an evidence of students’ achievements for purposes of accountability and reporting. For example, assessment for learning can include the teacher’s observations, in-class assignments,

It is made up of four major parts: standards for particular applications, technical standards for test construction and evaluation, professional standards for test use, and standards for administrative procedures. A test that is technically adequate meets the criteria for validity, reliability, and norms. Validity is “the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the specific inferences” that can be made from the test results. (American Psychological Association 9) Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it is intended to measure. Reliability is the extent to which the test results are dependable and consistent. Unrelated to the purpose of the test, errors in measurement can be viewed through inconsistencies in the performance, motivation, or interests of students being tested. Norms can be shown in age or grade equivalence, standard scores, and percentiles. They are generally shown in charts showing the performance groups of students who have taken the test. Norms show the comparison of the performance of new groups of test takers with the samples of students on whom the test was standardized. Goodwin and Driscoll (59-60) note that standardized tests have the following qualities: They provide a “systematic procedure for describing behaviors, whether in terms of numbers or categories.” They have an established format and set materials. Also, they present the same tasks and

In assessment, validity and reliability are two major factors. “Validity is the soundness of your interpretations and uses of students’ assessment results” (Brookhart & Nitko, 2015, p. 38). This basically means, does the assessment measure what it was intended to measure? Validity has four principles: interpretations, uses, values, and consequences. An example of a valid assessment is the SAT. The SAT is valid, because it provides the assessor evidence to make appropriate interpretations and uses. The assessor is able to make meaningful judgments and actions based on the scores of the SAT (Brookhart & Nitko, 2015, p. 38-40). The other important factor is reliability. “Reliability is the degree to which students’ results remain consistent over replications of assessment procedure” (Brookhart & Nitko, 2015, p.67). For example, if a test is valid, the student should score consistently with no intervention. However, if a treatment or invention occurs, the score should be altered. An

Additionally, I have also learned from the class discussion that there are other alternative assessments or assessment options in having students realize meaningful objectives about not only what they have learned from what is being taught, but also how they can investigate deeper into pursuing from the opportunities from what they have learned. One example was with the group that I participated in doing a test analysis of the Brigance Transition Skills Activities. From analyzing this set of materials, our group uncovered that this assessment (if one was to call it that) served not so much in having students demonstrate what they have learned in translating to various measurements academic achievement or status of learning comprehension so much as to have available for the instructor an organized curriculum designed to help

367, 2012). This particular validity is important when it comes to legal defensibility. Construct validity explains how what is being studied matches the actual measure. Criterion validity answers the question of whether a test reflects a certain set of abilities. One way to assess criterion validity is to compare it to a known standard. A reference is needed to determine an instrument’s criterion-related validity. Criterion-related validity predicts the future. If a nursing program designed a measure to assess student learning throughout the program, a test such as the NCLEX would measure student’s ability in this discipline. If the instrument produces the same result as the superior test the instrument has a high criterion-related validity. The higher the results the more faith stakeholders will have in the assessment tool. “A criterion-related validity study is conducted by statistically correlating scores with some measure of job performance” (Biddle, p.308, 2010). Criterion-related validity is most important when it comes to predicting performance in a specific job, and predicting future

Validity is the degree to which the test measures what it is set out to measure (Reshow & Rosenthal, 2008).The types of validity includes “construct, content, convergent or discriminant, criterion, external, face, internal, and statistical” (Rosenthal & Rosnow, 2008, p. 125). It is important to distinguish the validity of the research outcome because it cannot contain any room for error, nor pending variable without an applicable explanation. Validity is not verified by a statistic; rather by a uniform of examiner that reflects exemplify knowledge, and relationship among the test, and the performance it is projected to measure. Therefore, it is important for a test to be applicable in order for the product to securely, and correctly apply, and translated.

Chapter 4 of the book, Classroom Assessment, written by W.J. Popham, is titled: “Validity”. Validity is one of the most important aspect of assessment to use in the classroom. The focus in Chapter 4 is discussing the three forms of validity including; content-related evidence, criterion-related evidence, and construct-related evidence. The content-related evidence concentrates on the assessment that is being measured towards the curriculum. The content given can consist of prior knowledge, skills, or concepts learned.

Another important criterion, though it is not touched upon, is the validity of the tests. If reliability is how consistent a score is, validity is how accurate the score is. That is to say, do the tests measure what they are supposed to be measuring for. There are numerous ways to access the validity of a test, but for this we will look at the content validity. Simply, do the tested variables factor into what is being tested