Informal Assessment Principles

Assessment plays a significant role in the learning experience of students. It determines their progression through their programmes and enables them to demonstrate that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is assessment that provides the main basis for public recognition of achievement, through the awarding of qualifications and/or credit.

In my point of view assessment is a testing tool by which a teacher or assessor can use to detect the outcomes of teaching, learning or assessment process with the learners by

From the very beginning of the course, teachers should begin to analyse their learners through initial assessment methods. The assessments best suited to guide improvements in student learning are quizzes, tests, writing assignments, and other assessments such as a group activity. These can easily give the teacher/tutor an insight into the learning needs of the learners. Also

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.

There is a large variety of assessment methods available for assessing learners’ achievements. These include observation; questioning the learner; examining product evidence; discussion; witness testimony; looking at learner statements; recognising prior learning; simulated environment; skills tests; oral and written examinations; assignments; case studies and projects. Choosing the most appropriate assessment methods is vitally important, to help and support the learner and to ensure the job of the assessor is as straightforward, reliable and problem-free as possible.

Haydn (2009 cited in Capel et al 2009 page 329) defines assessment as "all those activities which are undertaken by teachers, and others, to measure the effectiveness of teaching and learning".

“Assessments should be a regular process; it might not always be formalised, but you should be observing what your learners are doing, asking questions and reviewing their progress throughout their time with you”.

Assessment is carried out through formative (checks throughout the course), ipsative (to test against previous marks), and/ or summative (at end of course) activities to help the learner see their development whilst allowing the Assessor to give valuable feedback when appropriate. It’s purpose is to measure the learners understanding of the subject against the anticipated outcomes set by the criteria.

I assess my students at regular intervals. Every time I ask a question to an individual or to a class I am assessing their knowledge and understanding.

• Assessment as a process of making judgments of learners’ knowledge, skills and competence against set criteria

The function of assessment in learning and development is to provide a measurable way of planning and supporting students’ progress. Assessment is carried out by means of checks and tests carried out throughout the course. Assessors should provide feedback throughout ensuring that learning is occurring and the learner is at the correct level. It is also important that assessor’s decisions are also consistently reviewed and internally and externally verified.

Within the classroom their needs to be a variety of assessment strategies as not all learners will be able to express their knowledge to the best of their ability in some forms of assessment.

Each session, I observe students being assessed on their behavior; all students attending the alternative program are identified as having emotional/behavior disorders. The teacher uses informal assessment to evaluate student’s ability to express emotions and to complete student’s individual daily behavioral sheets. Students begin the day by completing the “high low” activity; the activity requires students to share their high and low emotions of the day and the reason(s) why. The teacher assesses the student’s ability to identify their feelings (student’s record their feelings on the whiteboard) and their capability to express reason for each of their feelings during class discussion. Both elements of the “high low” activity are assessed through teacher observation and class discussion. In Addition, the daily behavior sheets are individualized for each student, correlating to each student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP); the student’s are assessed on their behavior each hour based on a score of 0-5. Students are aware of all the items on their behavior goal list and the scores they receive each day. The co-teacher evaluates each student on how well they complete the items on their daily behavior sheet (i.e. proper use of coping skills, engagement, on-task, and

Overall, the informal assessment of Student 1 indicates that she lacks in the academic language vocabulary and grammar more than the social language functions. While she was able to converse with me during the interview part smoothly, she struggled with answering the questions after we had read the A-Z passage, and which required more complex language skills than the conversational ones. The assessment also indicates that she is a very bright student who was able to quickly grasp the new language, and who did very well with regards to the SOLOM assessment. It’s also evident that a strong foundation of the first language, and a passion for reading were significant factors facilitating learning of the new language.

In schools, there are two major modes of assessment that are given to students. The first mode is formative assessment which involves an on-going day-to-day process that involves various techniques such as observing student performance, oral questioning, and self and peer assessment. The second mode of assessment is summative assessment which is typically given at the end of a term or school year. Its purpose is to give information about what the students have accomplished within a certain period of time (Education Bureau, 2013). With summative assessment, there are two major methods of administrating assessments. The first method, the pencil-and-paper test, has been used for many years and is the most commonly used. This method involves test takers reading questions that are on paper and responding in writing. The second method, the computer-based test, is a newer method that has increased in use more recently with the advent of better computer technology. Computer-based testing involves any type of assessment that is completed using a computer (Ahluwalia, 2008).