Classroom Based Assessment

1. Classroom Based
Assessment
By
Dr. Nasir Mahmood

2. STUDENTS NEVER FAIL- IT IS
THE TEACHER OR SYSTEM
WHICH FAILS TO MAKE A
STUDENT SUCCESSFUL

3. What is Educational Assessment?
• is the systematic process of documenting and
using empirical data on the knowledge, skill,
attitudes, and beliefs to refine programs and
improve student learning.

4. Types of Assessments
• Achievement Test
• Psychological Tests
• Performance Tests
• Intelligence Tests

5. Basic Terminology Used in Assessment
Test
An instrument for measuring a sample of
behavior by posing a set of questions in a
uniform manner
Typically a test is a set of tasks
administered to a group of persons for some
purpose

6. Measurement
• The process of obtaining a numerical
description of the degree to which an
individual possesses a particular
characteristic.
• Measurement answers the question how
much?

7. Contd:
Assessment
Any of a variety of procedures used to obtain
information about student performance.

8. Contd:
Evaluation
To make a judgment about the quality or
worth of something-educational program or
proficiency.

9. ‘ASSESSMENT IS FOR LEARNING’
CURRICULUM:
What is to be learned
ASSESSMENT:
Knowing about learning
LEARNING AND TEACHING:
How it is to be learned
Assessment FOR Learning:
Supporting classroom
learning and teaching
Assessment OF Learning:
Gathering and interpreting
the evidence
Assessment AS Learning:
Learning how to learn

10. Why Do Teachers Assess Their Students
Purposes of assessment
• Ascertain the extent to which they have
learned
• Selection of current and future
instructional objectives
• Placement of students
• Evaluation of teachers own performance

11. Outcomes Requiring Assessment
Procedures Beyond Paper-Pencil Test
• Skills: speaking, social
• Work habits: use of time, equipment
• Social attitude: respect of law, welfare others
• Scientific attitude: open mindedness, inquiring mind
• Interests: feelings toward educational.
Social, and
scientific attitudes
• Appreciations: feelings of satisfaction and
encouragement toward nature,
art, physical skills
• Adjustment: relationship to peers, reaction to
praise and
criticism, emotional stability and
social adoptability

12. What Is A Good Measurement Tool?
A good measurement tool yields scores that:
• describe some meaningful characteristic of an
individual;
• distinguishes clearly between individuals with
more and less of that characteristic;
• have adequate precision;
• do not vary in random or chance manner;
• possess meaningful content of the instrument.

13. 13
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Taxonomy” simply means “classification”,
to classify forms and levels of learning
(
Based on Bloom,1956)

14. Assessment of Learning – or for Learning?
• Assessment of learning (summative assessment) involves
judging pupils' performance against national standards (level
descriptions), either on a specific task or at the conclusion of a
unit of teaching and learning. It is used to determine a
student's level of performance. The information from this kind
of assessment is often used in reporting.
• Assessment for learning (formative assessment) is a regular
part of teaching and learning; the information from
assessment is used to shape the teaching and learning
process .
Assessment for learning is not the same as assessment of
learning:

15. Characteristics of AfL
• sharing learning goals with pupils
• helping pupils know and recognise the standards to aim for
• providing feedback that helps pupils to identify how to improve
• believing that every pupil can improve in comparison with previous achievements
• both the teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on pupils' performance and
progress
• pupils learning self-assessment techniques to discover areas they need to improve
• recognising that both motivation and self-esteem, crucial for effective learning and
progress, can be increased by effective assessment techniques.
Research has shown that participating in the assessment process raises standards
and empowers pupils to take action to improve their performance. Therefore,
effective AfL involves:

16. Purposes of Continuous Assessment
Continuous assessment allows you to…
• Determine current strengths, needs and interests
• Monitor growth over time
• Determine how a child solves problems
• Celebrate learning/ achievements
• Identify and document achievement of
curriculum expectations in order to plan,
implement, and revise the program (e.g., modify
or extend)

17. Contd.
• Diagnose specific difficulties
• Provide information for parents, support
personnel, and other teachers
• Evaluate curriculum and methodology (
formative evaluation)
• Enhance teaching

18. Key Techniques of AfL
Key AfL techniques include:
• using effective questioning techniques
• using marking and feedback strategies
• sharing learning goals
• peer and self-assessment.

19. Concerns About Continuous
Assessment
• If students are under too much pressure, the
want to learn is damaged.
• The range of learning-by-doing may be too
narrow.
• Feedback may be eclipsed by marks or grades.
• Students may not have the opportunity to
make sense of the feedback they receive.
• It may be hard to detect unwanted
collaboration.
• Too much time may be involved in marking.

20. Concerns About Continuous
Assessment
• Students may not be aware of the criteria
used to assess their work.
• Students may get the balance wrong
between continuous assessment and exams.
• Learning may become driven by assessment,
and students may only do those things that
are assessed.
• Too little use may be made of the learning
that can be achieved when students assess
their own, and each other’s work.

21. Formative assessment
Explain the
learning
task
Tell the
students
your
expectatio
ns
Adjust the
lesson and
future
plans
Carry out
the task
Give
feedback

22. Supports children to learn Helps teachers improve
teaching
Reflective conversations with
students about understanding,
progress and performance
Adjusting teaching and level of work
to scaffold learning
Adjusting the pace of the curriculum
to suit the needs of the learners
Answering questions and
completing set work that is at an
appropriate level
Discussing what they can do with
the teacher and peers
Identifying where they need help
and getting support to progress
What Formative Assessment is – Key Pillars

23. A special test or examination which leads to a grade or mark
A collection of data about performance
Monitoring or evaluation of teaching
What Formative Assessment is NOT

24. 1. On going assessments and takes place during instruction.
2. Process evaluation of students learning that are typically
administered
multiple times during a unit course or academic program
3. Usually a “low stakes” or non-graded type of assessment
4. Assessment-based feedback to instructors and students.
5. Feedback is to help instructors and students make adjustments
that will improve students' achievement of intended learning
outcomes.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

25. • Class discussions: offer students opportunities to test their ideas and opinions
against the ideas and opinions of their peers.
• Checklists: is a list of all the things that you need to do, information that you want
to find out.
• Questionnaires: usually printed, submitted for replies that can be analyzed for
usable information:
• Observations: The action or process of closely observing or monitoring something
or someone. For example "she was brought into hospital for observation
• Conferences: A formal meeting of people with a shared interest, typically one that
takes place over several days.
• Interview: An interview is a formal meeting at which someone is asked questions in
order to find out if they are suitable for a job or a course of study
• Home woks: Homework refers to the tasks assigned to students by teachers that
are meant to be completed during non-school hours or independent study time
during the school day.
• Activities: The teacher's fundamental task is to get students to engage in learning
activities that are likely to result in achieving the intended learning outcomes.
Meaningful activities engage students in active, constructive, intentional, authentic,
and cooperative ways
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TYPES

26. Tools and Techniques Used for Classroom
Based Assessment
Interview
In-depth Interviews:
• Interviews are typically conducted in person or on the phone and can
vary in duration and scope. Interviews range on a continuum from
completely closed-ended (structured with prepared responses for the
interviewee to choose from) to completely open-ended (unstructured with
no prepared responses)
• As with focus groups, it helps to have a prepared, skilled facilitator who
can successfully relate to the interviewees without prejudicing their
responses.
• Primary advantages:
– The format allows for the ability to receive in-depth responses to
questions.
– As with focus groups, these narrative answers can be recorded
verbatim.
• Primary disadvantages:
– Like focus groups, this technique can be rather time-consuming and
expensive in regards to resources.
– Results are from too small a sample to be statistically significant;

27. Case Studies
• Case Studies/Descriptions:
• Case descriptions are an in-depth look at a specific individual (or group)
situation, institution, incident or phenomena,.
• Case descriptions can be anecdotal, the primary focus of a case
description is to select individual and his/her experiences with the outside
world.
• Case descriptions can also be obtained through more empirically rigorous
means (longitudinal data).
Primary advantages:
– This technique allows for in-depth exploration of a particular person or
group over time.
– For empirical rigor in a case study, a variety of quantitative and statistical
measures can be used at different data collection points to supplement
qualitatively obtained information.
– Having multiple observers in a classroom over time or several persons
reporting on events and experiences from different perspectives allows for
cross-comparison and corroboration of common observations and findings,
thus enhancing validity of the results.
• Primary disadvantages:
– As with other qualitative techniques, this method can be rather time
consuming and expensive.
– Generalizability to other populations is limited.
– Repeated access to a particular setting may be difficult to obtain

28. Participant Observation
• Participant Observation
• One of the most common methods for qualitative
data collection, participant observation is also one of
the most demanding.
• It requires that the researcher become a participant
in the culture or context being observed.
• The literature on participant observation discusses
how to enter the context, the role of the researcher
as a participant, the collection and storage of field
notes, and the analysis of field data.
• Participant observation often requires months or
years of intensive work because the researcher needs
to become accepted as a natural part of the culture
in order to assure that the observations are of the
natural phenomenon.

29. Direct Observation
• Direct Observation
• Direct observation is distinguished from participant
observation in a number of ways. First, a direct observer
doesn't typically try to become a participant in the context.
However, the direct observer does strive to be as unobtrusive
as possible so as not to bias the observations.
• Second, direct observation suggests a more detached
perspective. The researcher is watching rather than taking
part. Consequently, technology can be a useful part of direct
observation. For instance, one can videotape the phenomenon
or observe from behind one-way mirrors. Third, direct
observation tends to be more focused than participant
observation. The researcher is observing certain sampled
situations or people rather than trying to become immersed
in the entire context.
• Finally, direct observation tends not to take as long as
participant observation. For instance, one might observe
child-mother interactions under specific circumstances in a
laboratory setting from behind a one-way mirror, looking
especially for the nonverbal cues being used

30. Interest Inventories
• Definition & Description
– Instruments designed to reveal a student’s interests, not only in school subjects but also in
outside activities
– Often meant to assess attitudes
– For emergent readers and writers, the teacher may read items aloud and have the children
mark pictures that indicate a scale
– More competent readers and writers can read the items themselves and respond on a scale
or in writing
• Purposes:
– To determine each child’s interest
– To help plan instruction: to build your classroom library and also help steer children to
appropriate sections in the media center or on the Internet.
• Procedures:
– Three procedures that are useful for children who are too young for a written interest
inventory are: interview, collage, and all-about-me books.
– Don’t generalize about children’s interests. Model a wide range of interests that are not
gender specific.
– Help children become interested in new things by sharing your own interests, reading aloud
about a wide range of topics, and inviting children with unique interests to share.

31. Attitude/Self-Concept Checks
• Definition & Description:
– Include those that you administer as well as students’ self-evaluations (ways children
assess themselves in terms of attitude toward a given task and self-concept related to
that task)
• Purposes:
– To learn about a child’s attitude toward himself or herself (the self-concept)
– To learn a child’s attitudes toward school, learning, and literacy
– To plan instruction
• Procedures:
– Be sure children understand the purpose of the assessment.
– Be sure there are clear ways for children to keep their places.
– Some children may not read well, and they may need arrows or symbols.
– Tell children not to mark until you have read each item twice. Then state how they are to
respond.
– Read each item without inflection, expression, or any verbal or facial clue as to which
response might please you.
– Children must feel free to respond honestly about their feelings, and to know there are
no right or wrong answers/Attitude/self-concept checks are only samples of how a child
felt on a particular day.

32. Quizz/Questioning
Through effective questioning, teachers can:
• use questions to find out what pupils know,
understand and can do
• analyse pupils' responses and their questions to find
out what they know, understand and can do
• use questions to identify pupils' specific
misunderstandings to target teaching more
effectively
• use pupils' questions to assess understanding.

33. Examples of Effective Questioning
Examples of effective assessment questions are:
• 'Why is x an example of y?'
• How can we be sure that...?
• What is the same and what is different about...?
• Is it ever/always true/false that...?
• How do you...?
• How would you explain...?
• What does that tell us about...?
• What is wrong with...?
• Why is...true?

34. Using Marking and Feedback
• move away from giving marks out of (e.g.) 10 with comments
that may not be related to the learning intention of the task
(e.g. 'try harder' or 'join up your writing')
• move towards giving feedback to help the pupil improve in
the specific activity. This will help to close the learning gap
and move pupils forward in their understanding.
Effective feedback promotes a culture of success in which
every pupil can achieve by building on previous
performance rather than being compared with others.
Effective feedback informs pupils about the strengths and
weaknesses in their work and what their next steps should
be. When using feedback for AfL, teachers need to:

35. Characteristics of effective feedback
• Effective feedback focuses on the learning intention of the task and is
given immediately while it is still relevant.
• Effective feedback confirms that pupils are on the right track or stimulates
correction or improvement of a piece of work.
• Pupils should not be given the complete solutions as soon as they get
stuck, but should be given as much help as they need to use their
knowledge. They should learn to think things through for themselves.
• Pupils should be helped to find alternative solutions if simply repeating an
explanation continues to lead to failure.
• Feedback on progress over a number of attempts is more effective than
feedback on one attempt treated in isolation.
• The quality of dialogue in feedback is important and most research
indicates that oral feedback is more effective than written feedback.
• Pupils need to have the skills to ask for help and the ethos of the school
should encourage them to do so.

36. Sharing learning goals
The learning objectives for each lesson should be clearly specified.
Teachers should recognise the difference between the task and its learning intention
Teachers should ensure that ensure that pupils understand this difference (i.e.,
separating what they have to do from what they will learn).
Assessment criteria or learning outcomes are often defined in formal language that
pupils may not understand. To involve pupils fully in their learning teachers should:
• explain clearly the reasons for the lesson or activity in terms of the learning
objectives
• share the specific assessment criteria with pupils
• help pupils to understand what they have done well and what they need to
develop.
Looking at a range of other pupils' responses to the task set can help pupils
understand how to use the assessment criteria to assess their own learning.

37. Peer and self-assessment
This happens if pupils:
• know what they need to learn and why; and
• use this knowledge to actively assess their understanding,
gaps in their own knowledge and areas they need to work on
It does not happen if pupils:
• sit passively in a classroom working through exercises with no
real comprehension either of the learning intention of the
exercise or of why it might be important.
Research has shown that pupils will achieve more if they
are fully engaged in their own learning process.

38. Peer assessment
• Peer assessment can be effective because pupils can
clarify their own ideas and understanding of both the
learning intention and the assessment criteria while
marking other pupils' work.
• Peer assessment must be managed carefully. It is not
for the purpose of ranking because if pupils compare
themselves with others rather than their own
previous attainment, those performing better than
their peers will not be challenged and those
performing worse will be demotivated.

39. Self-assessment
In addition, pupils need to:
• reflect on their own work
• be supported to admit problems without risk to self-esteem
• be given time to work problems out.
Asking pupils to look at examples of other pupils' work that does and
does not meet the assessment criteria can help them understand what is
required from a task and assess the next steps they might need to take.
Looking at different responses can also help pupils understand the
different approaches they could have taken to the task. It is often helpful
if the work is from pupils they do not know.
Self-assessment is an important tool for learning. Pupils who know how
to assess their knowledge and the gaps in it have a clearer idea of how
they can help themselves to make progress.
Teachers and pupils can set targets based on specific goals rather than
national curriculum levels. The pupils will then be able to guide their own
learning, with the teacher providing help where necessary or appropriate.

40. Tests
Purposes of Tests
Tests may be administered for many reasons:
• to motivate children
• to select among applicants for a position
• to assist a teacher in planning a program of teaching
• to certify students as having qualified to enter a
profession.
Not all of these purposes require that the test be a
good measurement instrument.

44. Thanks