Evaluating The Learning Process

Assessment for learning will help the learning support practitioner because it will inform us of which areas the pupils may need support with. It will give us better judgement on how to question the children and give them feedback on their work and will also show any problem areas that some less able children need to work at.

Assessment is carried out to ensure that learning has taken place. This is used to measures the learner’s knowledge and skills in their chosen area of learning. Assessment can be used to encourage learners to ask questions on anything they have not understood, learners at some point will have to know that they will have to prove their knowledge and understanding to the standards of the awarding body.

Assessment for learning helps to identify strengths, weaknesses and areas in which extra support may be needed. Learning assessments helps teachers create action plans and plan and prepare lessons and activities. It is important to involve the pupil with assessment for learning by asking for feedback, areas in which they may have found difficult and also praising their achievements. Giving feedback to a pupil that has met their targets is important as this helps to build confidence and self esteem. Discussing targets and learning objective with pupils prior to lesson and providing simple demonstration helps them understand gives them a clear understanding on the expectation of their work. Acknowledging the pupils achievements in the form of positive feedback and displaying their work gives a sense of achievement and acknowledgement of their efforts. Peer assessment can be useful as this helps

Assessment is a process through which we gauge a learners level and progression, ensuring learning is taking place and the learner is developing their skills and knowledge. Susan Wallace recognises the importance of assessment as more than a means of determining learner achievement but also “as an indicator of the quality of learning.” (2007: 119) discussing the need for ‘ongoing assessment’ to evaluate how receptive learners are to the lessons.

There are many reasons why students are assessed and this first section summarises some of the key benefits to students, institutions and teachers as suggested by Race et al (2005). In order to gain qualifications or complete a course, students will be required to prove their competence, knowledge or exposition of a skill, usually through the use of assessments to demonstrate that learning has taken place. Students may find assessment useful as it provides information regarding their progress, or identify areas for further development. Comparisons can be made against other students and this can help to

Explain the functions of assessment in learning and development, the key concepts and principles and responsibilities of the assessor

Assessments are a really important part of learning and are an effective strategy in helping teachers focus on the methods they are using and how successful they are on the students and how well they are learning from them and gives them the chance to develop on certain areas that may not be working well, it also gives the teachers a chance to look at individual children and their development and to see which areas they are struggling or excelling so they can determine if using different techniques on them will help them make progress as not all children or young people will learn the same some children may struggle while others the technique really helps so they have to adjust the work and activities to certain children so they all have a chance to develop and grow.

The Assessment for Learning Strategy 2008 explains the importance of assessment in education. It aims to ensure every child is aware of their performance and how to improve allowing them to become independent initiators of their own learning and by informing parents and carers of assessment outcomes, children are also

Gravells (2008) suggests that assessment is a process of determining if learning has taken place. Gravells (2008) adds that assessment enables the assessor to find out if a learner has gained the required skills and knowledge needed at a given point towards a course or qualification. This is important to me as a tutor

Assessment is so important for education because it is, “…crucial for helping people learn. Assessment should mirror good instruction; happen continuously as part of instruction; and provide information about the levels

As Stephanie Ingster outlines (lecture 2, slide 37), explains that teachers need to focus on assessment for learning as students are able to receive feedback and reflect during the unit rather that at the end of teaching. In this way, teachers and students are able to gain a better sense of direction for motivation and improvement in ongoing teaching and

As noted by Carnegie Mellon (n.d), assessment is the process of obtain information about how students are learning and performing in order to improve the quality of education. As suggested by this institution the process of assessment can be divided into formative and summative and in general has the purpose of:

Assessment is used to document learning and to plan our next steps. There is evidence of constructive, specific feedback that is linked to the lesson objectives. Teachers plan assessments to learn what students have knowledge of and what they need to practice on. Assessment use in the classroom allows both the students and teachers to see if goals of education are being met. Assessments affect a variety of things such as the grades students have, instructional needs, and placement in classes. Assessments can reveal more than just if a student knows the material or not, assessments can also reveal a students strengths and weaknesses. The student may be able to answer all questions correctly on a multiple choice test, but then fails an essay questions because they are unable to explain themselves due to the lack of knowledge of the content. Assessments are a great way to receive data on the student’s knowledge, but making sure the teacher is using the right and appropriate assessment can be a major factor.

Assessments are essential within education because the role of assessments is to measure students’ progression. They provide evidence of students’ prior knowledge, thinking, and understanding and should be created to meet the needs of every student because every student is different and learns differently, as well as at a different pace. Assessments should reflect the objectives of the lesson being taught and the frequency of those assessments should be considered. Assessments can also help teachers to improve student learning. How assessments affect students should also be taken into consideration because assessments can create winners and losers, which is not the goal. Everyone should be a winner.

Assessment is an inherent and expected component of the education process designed to ascertain student’s knowledge and understanding via a varied range of assessment tasks, over multiple occasions against the achievement framework of syllabus outcomes (Cumming & Maxwell, 2004). Syllabus outcomes guide teaching and learning activities by directing the content towards tasks that enables the capture of reliable evidence to be used in evaluating achievement of students and teachers, in order to feed the future learning of both (Harlen & James, 1997). For students, judging achievement attainment via carefully constructed assessments, identifies their current understanding, learning and skills level, where improvement could be made plus strategies to get there while additionally informing teaching practice to further future learning by adjusting lesson instruction (Shepard, 2000).