This document provides information about an assessment unit on didactic assessment. It includes an introduction to assessment, objectives of the unit which are to develop understanding of assessment methods and apply assessment principles for effective lesson planning. It also describes different types of assessment including formative, summative, and continuous assessment. Various assessment techniques are explained such as open-ended questions, short answer questions, and examples of each. The roles and importance of assessment in the teaching and learning process are highlighted.

1. Module Title (Code): Theory &
Practice of Teaching (EDC1201)
UNIT 4: DIDACTIC ASSESSMENT
BY : NYIRAHABIMANA Astérie
Assistant Lecturer of Education

2. • Session 1: Getting started: Introduction to
assessment: collective brainstorming using
KWL chart about assessment
• Session 2: Assessment functions/purposes,
forms and sources of feedback
– Start with (Individual and then collective)
brainstorming exercises about some words ----
then and mainly about and feedback

3. KWL
• What do you think you KNOW about assessment?
– Mention all assessment practices used at Rukara Campus
– What other assessment practices do you know?
• What are some of the assessment practices
– You like most? Why?
– Don’t help you learn?
– What changes should be made to the practices at Rukara
Campus so that assessment helps improve students’ learning?
• What do you WANT to know about assessment?
• What have you LEARNT about assessment?

4. Unit objectives–learning outcomes
• By the end of this unit, student-teachers should
• Develop a deep understanding of the basic
methods, principles and techniques of classroom
assessment including:
– types of assessment,
– functions of assessment,
– techniques of assessment,
– Principles/precautions for a valid and reliable
assessment.
• To apply the assessment principles for effective
lesson planning and delivery (transferrable skills)

5. Introduction
• Assessment is an essential stage in didactic
planning and constitutes one of the most
demanding tasks of the teacher.

6. • One thing is to define the objectives and to
organise the teaching/learning activities,
another is to check if these objectives have
been achieved.
• Until the assessment is complete, the
teaching activity is not complete.

7. • This block offers an overview of the concept
of assessment, its importance and
characteristics.
• It also provides the techniques commonly
used by the teacher and the rules to follow in
order to prepare a good assessment

8. What is in this block?
This block comprises 4 sections:
• Section 1: Types of assessment
• Section 2: Importance and levels of
assessment
• Section 3: Assessment techniques
• Section 4: Rules to set a good assessment

9. Section 1:Key concepts related to
assessment
Some of the concepts related to assessment that need to
be clearly understood include:
• Measurement,
• testing,
• evaluation,
• validity,
• reliability,
• monitoring,
• standardization, and
• Fairness

10. • In a broader sense, to assess is to attribute a
value to an object. In the school field, we
assess the learners’ performance in different
subjects.

11. Assessment
• Assessment is the process of collecting,
synthesizing and interpreting information to
aid in decision-making in the classroom.
Assessment can be done through tests,
observation, oral questions and projects.

12. Evaluation
• Evaluation is the process of making judgments on the
quality or value of a performance or course of action. It
is the process of determining the extent to which
performance is desirable.
• It is the process of making judgments about what is
good or desirable of a particular instructional activity.
Evaluation occurs after assessment.
• For example when a student scores 90% in a test based
on ten test items from a particular topic, the teacher
may conclude that the student has done well and
therefore should proceed to the next topic.

13. Measurement
• Measurement is the process of quantifying or
assigning a number to performance. In education
measurement instruments are tests and
examinations which if well constructed can
successfully measure learners’ performance on a
percentage scale.
• Measurement is the process of quantifying or
assigning a numerical value to performance. For
example when a teacher scores a biology test and
assigns a learner a score of 90%. Scoring a test
produce a numerical description of performance

14. TESTING
• A test is a formal, systematic procedure used
to gather information about learners’
performance. Tests are an important tool for
gathering assessment information though there
are other many information gathering tools
such as projects, and portfolios.

15. VALIDATION
• Validation is the process by which a test is
itself tested as an effective instrument for
measuring what it claims to measure.
• Validity involves the extent to which a test
measures what it is intended to measure
and whether inferences about the test
scores are accurate and appropriate.

16. Reliability
• The extent to which a test produces a consistent,
reproducible score is its reliability. To be called
reliable, scores must be stable, dependable, and
relatively free from errors of measurement.
• Test-retest reliability: is the extent to which a test
yields the same performance when a student is given
the same test on two occasions.
• Alternate-forms reliability: is determined by giving
different forms of the same test on two different
occasions to the same group of students and
observing how consistent the scores are.
• Split-half reliability involves dividing the test items
into two halves, such as the odd-numbered and even-
numbered items.

17. MONITARING
• Monitoring is the focusing of attention on a
process or performance with the object of
drawing attention to particular features that
may require corrective action. Evaluators
regularly practice monitoring. Teachers should
also monitor performance of learners.

18. STANDADIZATION
• Standardization is the process of making tests
accurate and reliable.

19. Fairness and Bias
• A fair assessment is one in which students are given
equitable opportunities to demonstrate what they know
and can do.
• Fairness and Bias Fair tests are unbiased and
nondiscriminatory (McMillan, 2011).
– They are not influenced by factors such as
– gender, ethnicity, or subjective factors such as the bias
of a scorer.
– When tests are fair, students have the opportunity to
demonstrate their learning so that their performance is
not affected by their gender, ethnicity, disability, or other
factors unrelated to the purpose of the test.

20. Types of assessment
We normally distinguish between formative
(continuous) assessment and summative
assessment.

21. Summative assessment
• Summative assessment marks the successful
conclusion of a learning activity in preparation
for grading or selection purposes.
• Nearly all teachers know this type of
assessment, which they evaluate out of 20 or
100. They sum up the total marks (hence the
word “summative”) and determine whether a
learner has succeeded in such subject.

22. • Summative assessment is done at the end of
a course and it aims at verifying if the
objectives are achieved.
• It refers to information and judgement made
when a programme or activity is completed.
• It can occur at the end of a part of the course,
at the end of a term or a year or at the end of
primary, senior 3 or 6

23. • In the latter cases, examinations determine
whether the learner has achieved the required
level, if he/she can follow such or such school
and be prepared for such or such career.
• It occurs after a relatively long period of
training and it aims at assessment what the
learner has learned.

24. Continuous assessment
• Continuous assessment is done all along the
learning process.
• It refers to information and judgement made
while a programme or activity is taking place
leading to improvement of that programme or
activity.

25. • It shows precisely and thoroughly the aspects
where the learner encounters problems and
the efforts he/she has to make in order to
achieve the learning objectives.
• Through formative assessment, the teacher
can see how the learners receive his/her
teaching and how he/she can adapt it.

26. • Therefore, formative assessment is part of the
teaching-learning process in which the teacher
and the learner take part. Feedback occurs at
this stage as an essential element in didactic
communication.

27. NB
• Currently, specialists consider assessment as a
three-stage process, which performs three
main tasks

28. 1. At the beginning of the
learning: Predictive assessment.
• This first stage is devoted to the assessment of
the prior knowledge (mastered skills or not
but essential to tackle a new subject/content)
and previously acquired knowledge
(representations, learners’ past education).

29. • Previously acquired knowledge is not
necessarily an entry requirement. They refer
to the learners’ past education (age, marital
status, physical state, previous results, etc...)
and the way they perceive or understand the
new subjects/contents to be studied.

30. 2. During the learning: Continuous
assessment
• People tend to think that formative
assessment to this second stage only is valid .
Actually, it is also valid at the beginning and at
the end of the training process.

31. 3. At the end of the learning:
Summative assessment.
• Many people involved in the training tend to
think that this 3rd stage is the only true
moment of assessment. Of course, the
certificate or diploma is a guarantee, a kind of
passport for life; people refer to it to get a job
or other allowances.

32. Difference between summative
assessment (evaluation) and
formative assessment

34. Section 2: Importance and levels
of assessment

35. Assessment is a crucial stage in the
teaching/learning process. It plays several roles
on the side of the learners, teachers as well as
the methods and teaching aids. It allows:
• To find out what the students know
(knowledge)
• To find out what the students can do, and how
well they can do it (skill; performance)
• To find out how students go about the task of
doing their work (process)
• To find out how students feel about their work
(motivation, effort)

36. Assessment allows the teacher to:
• Change the organisation of the
teaching/learning activities
• Determine if the teaching aids were adequate
• Determine if the methods were effective
• Determine if the learning environment was
suitable
• Determine the number of students who have
succeeded or failed
• Follow the learners’ progress and give them
feedback

37. • Identify the positive and negative aspects of
the teaching/learning process
• Classify the learners according to the levels of
their performance in order to give them
certificates, diplomas or degree award.

38. There is a relationship between the
taxonomic levels and the
assessment tools. This relationship
does not allow you to evaluate
many things at the same time and
to adapt the questions to the skills
learners are expected to acquire.

39. • The following examples, applied to Bloom’s
taxonomy, will help us to clarify this
relationship.

40. To assess knowledge
• To assess knowledge (the information stored
in the brain), the teacher could use the
following verbs: to define, describe, identify,
indicate, list, name, draw, reformulate,
choose etc... in the learning objectives.

41. To assess understanding
• To assess the level of understanding (establish
the relationship between various information,
transform the information), the teacher could
use the following verbs: to differentiate,
explain, give an example, ect...

42. To assess application
• To assess the extent to which learners can
apply the theories that have been taught in
order to solve problems, to apply concepts
and principles in new situations (Application
level), the teacher could use the following
verbs: to show, modify, solve, use, etc...

43. To assess analysis
• To assess the extent to which learners can
carry out analysis (to be able to recognize
unspecified assumptions or rational errors,
show the difference between the facts and
draw logical conclusions), the teacher could
use the verbs: to separate, classify, illustrate,
draw the conclusions, show the relationship
between, etc...

44. To assess synthesis
• To assess learners’ capacity to make a
synthesis (skills acquired in various fields or
problem solving using creative way of
thinking), the teacher will use the following
verbs: to classify into various categories,
combine, develop, imagine, organise, plan,
rebuild, summarise, revise, etc...

45. To assess evaluation
• To assess the level of evaluation (to judge,
evaluate and consider the amount of
information), the teacher could use the verbs:
to evaluate, compare, bring closer, interpret,
make a criticism, justify, etc...

46. NB:
• In practice, the 6 levels of this taxonomy are not
appropriate for some secondary school teachers
and lecturers in institutions of higher learning;
they prefer to use a simplified version
summarised in 3 parts:
• “Knowledge” (recognition of specific information)
• “Understanding and application”
• “Problem solving, transmission of acquired
knowledge and facts in new contexts”

47. Relationship between the learning
objectives and assessment tools

48. Section 3: Assessment techniques

49. There are many different types of questions
regrouped in two main categories namely
• Open-ended questions known as essay
questions for some authors.
• Objective-type questions or short answers
questions.
We will now look at them in more detail.

50. A. Open-ended questions
• The learner must design his/her answer.
• The number of answers for an open-ended
question is not limited because it varies from
one learner to the other.
• In other words open-ended questions are
called Essay questions. In an essay question, a
written response ranges from one sentence to
several pages.

51. • The most notable characteristics of the essay
question is the freedom of response it
provides. Students are free to decide how to
approach the problem, what factual
information to use, how to organise the
answer and what degree of emphasis to give
each aspect of the response.

52. Open-ended questions are
recommended:
• To carry out a quick assessment as teaching is
going on;
• To assess complex and difficult learning which
needs to be summarised;
• To assess a portion of a wide course which need
to be summarised;
• To assess the operational objectives with high
taxonomic level. These operational objectives
imply automatically the learner’s commitment.

53. NB:
• The freedom of response permitted by essay
questions varies considerably depending on
the type of essay question (Open-ended
questions).
• For this reason, there are two kinds of open-
ended questions:

54. Restricted-response type
• The student is more limited in the form and
the scope of his answer because he is told
specifically the context and even the length of
the answer desired. These questions require
students to give a brief and precise response
(short answers)

55. Extended-response type
• No bounds are placed on the student as to the
points he will discuss the type of organisation
he will use. These questions give students a
lot of freedom in determining the form and
scope of their answers (long answers)

56. Open-ended questions which require
long answers are formulated as
follows:
• What do you think about....?
• Tell me about...?
• Discuss...
• What is your opinion about...?
• Etc.

57. Example of long answer questions
(Extended-response item)
• Discuss the socio-economic factors which have
led to the development of tourism in Rwanda.
• Write an essay on manufacture of ammonia
gas.

58. Example of open-ended questions
which require short answers
(Restricted-response item)
Write an essay on manufacture of ammonia gas
under the following sub-headings:
• Source of raw materials
• Effect of temperature and pressure
• Role of catalyst

59. Essay questions present the
following advantages:
• They are easy to set
• Learners are free to express themselves
• Teachers have the opportunity to make
comments on learners’ progress, on the
quality of their thinking, the depth of their
understanding and the difficulties they
encounter from time to time.

60. In general
• In general, examinations with open-ended
questions which require long answers allow
the teacher to evaluate learners’ capacity to
organise, to integrate and to interpret the
content in his/her own words.

61. • Research has shown that students are more
motivated when they prepare the
examinations which require long answers than
when they prepare the examinations with
multiple-choice questions.

62. Essay questions present the following
disadvantages:
• They require much time to mark the scripts
• It is not easy to set the marking scheme
• The tendency towards subjectivity is always
there because there is no single correct
answer; the person who is marking the scripts
tends to compare learners’ answers
• The validity of the contents can be neglected
since the number of questions is very limited.

63. B. Short answer questions
(Objective-type questions)
• These are questions to which correct
responses may be set up in advance and the
scoring is done objectively in the light of the
present responses.
• Short answer questions have limited number
of answers, that is, only one answer in
general.

64. Types
• Among these are:
- the multiple-choice questions,
- the short-answer questions,
- the matching questions,
- the alternative-choice or True/False
questions, and
- the completion type questions.

65. 1. The multiple-type questions
• The multiple-choice question consists of the
item stem (an introductory question or
incomplete statement) and three or more
responses (the suggested answers to the
question or completion of the statement).

66. • The correct response or answer is called the
KEY and the incorrect responses are called the
DISTRACTERS or FOILS.
• The distracters together with the key are
called OPTIONS.

67. Example of a multiple question
The winner of 2010 world cup was:
• German
• France
• Spain
• Brazil

68. Tips on how to construct Multiple-
choice questions

69. • Each of the distracters should be plausible
and attractive to the student and yet
incorrect.
• The options should be made simple and short
• Avoid the use of negatively stated stem
• Avoid giving some clues to the answers by
using some articles or words that suggest the
possible correct answer.
• Avoid the use of “all of the above” or “ none
of the above”
• There should be one and only one correct
answer to a question.

70. 2. The short-answer questions
• The short-answer questions are characterized
by the presence of blanks on which the
examinee writes the kind of answer called for
in the directions.
• The problem can be presented in question
form (question variety) or as an incomplete
statement (the completion variety).

71. 3. The matching or pairing questions
• The matching questions consists of a list of
premises and responses and directions for
matching one the responses to each of the
premises.
• Names, dates, terms, phrases, statements and
portions of diagrams among other things, are
used as premises.

72. Two chief varieties of matching form are in
common use:
• Simple matching: This asks for straight pairing
of premises with responses
• The classification matching: Asks the
examinee to classify given statements

73. Guidelines for constructing
Matching/Pairing questions:

74. • Each stem should have one and one response
that is associated or related to it.
• Responses should be arranged in a logical or
sequential order like alphabetical.
• The sets of statements or words to be
matched should be homogenous.
• The longer phrases should serve as stems
while shorter ones should be responses.
• Endeavour to have more alternatives than the
stems.

75. 4. Alternative or True/False questions
• The alternative choice questions involve a
two-choice item in which only one of the
possible alternatives is explicitly stated.
• A common variety is the “true/false” item
which consists of statements to be judged as
either “true” or “false”. In this case, there are
only two options of the answer, which could
be true or false, yes or no, right or wrong.

76. Guidelines for constructing
alternative questions

77. • Statement should be clearly true or false and
not partially true or false.
• Avoid the use of double negatives.
• Avoid the use of ambiguous and indefinite
words like usually, always, in most cases, etc.
• Endeavour to set equal number of true and
false statements.

78. 5. The completion type questions
• This refers to a question involving incomplete
statement and the examinee is expected to
supply the missing word or phrase. It is
commonly known as the fill in the blank
spaces.

79. • In some cases, it may be an incomplete
statement but a question that can be
answered by supplying the correct response.
• The examinee has to think out the answers
unlike in the other cases where he has to
select or identify the correct answer from
many alternatives.

80. Examples
• .................... is the president of Burundi
• The headquarter University of Rwanda is
located at.............

81. Some guidelines for construction
completion type questions:
• Provide enough space in the blank for the
answer.
• Ask questions that can be answered by a
word, phrase or sentence.
• Items should have only one possible answer
each.
• Only the important or keywords should be
omitted.
• Avoid having too many blanks in a single item.

82. Advantages of objective-type
questions
• Readily administered and easy to handle.
• Simple and quick to mark.
• Permit rapid turn-round and personalised
feedback.
• Remove subjective bias from marker-more
reliable.
• Allow comprehensive coverage of topic areas.
• Can focus on detailed parts of the course.
• Reduce reliance on writing self expression.
• Able to build up bank of items.

83. Disadvantages of objective-type
questions
• Generating questions takes time and efforts.
• Items should be tried out to ensure they
perform as intended and so takes more time.
• Potential problems of confidentiality with re-
used questions.
• May measure what is “easy” to measure
rather than more demanding/complex
aspects.

84. • Answers could be right for wrong reasons.
• Simply guessing could get correct answers.
• The items may be inappropriate for the
objectives specified for the course.
• The items often concentrate in testing lower
order cognitive objectives like recall of
knowledge.

85. Oral examination
• Oral examination take much time, they
frighten learner and they are difficult to assess
unless you record the answers on a magnetic
tape.

86. The open-book examination
• The open-book examinations should not be
recommended unless the aim of the course is
to show the facts or to acquire specific skills,
when learners are expected to develop
complex concepts or skills.
• Sometimes, during an open-book
examination, the students who do not have
basic knowledge tend to spend more time
consulting their notes instead of answering.

87. • Even if open-book exams do not cause much
stress, research has shown that students do
not perform better in this type of
examinations.
• Moreover, these types of examinations
demotivate the students.
• Teachers are advised to organise open-book
exams together with other exams where
learners will not be allowed to resort to any
written document by allowing them to use a
synoptic table or a page full of notes.

88. Section 4: Rules to set a good
assessment

89. • Setting quizzes and examinations will be one
of your daily activities as teachers.
• Here are some precautions you will have to
take before you begin to set a quiz or exam:

90. 1. Take your time to set the
questions of the exam:

91. • The teachers must bear the learning
objectives in mind as he sets the questions.
He/she also must take into account the
number of questions, the distribution of the
difficulties, the length, the duration and the
format of the examination and he/she must
set the marking scheme.

92. • Teachers should set new questions for each
course every year, even if it takes time. An
old examination cannot reflect the changes
made in contents. As the teacher sets the new
questions, he/she can give out the old version
to the learners. The latter can use it to revise
the content or use it as an exercise.

93. • Teachers are advised to set questions as they
teach instead of waiting one week before the
examinations start. The teacher can check if
the questions cover all the topics taught in the
course by asking many questions at the end of
each course and keeping the questions in a
computer file for future use.

94. • The examination questionnaires must have
clear and adequate instructions. Teachers are
advised to test the quality of their instructions
by asking a colleague to proofread them.

95. • Assessment specialists recommended
teachers to add some advice and words of
encouragement in the examination paper.
For example, the teacher will advise the
learners on how to allocate time to the
various parts of the questionnaire. He/she will
also add some useful indications before
asking a question or he/she will wish good
luck to the learners.

96. • Assessment specialists also suggest teachers
to ask easy questions at the beginning of the
examination paper.
• Indeed, simple questions help the learners to
overcome their stress and to be reassured that
they will do the test successfully.
• The teacher can even use the first questions to
identify the students with serious learning
difficulties.

97. Concerning the duration of the
examination
• Assessment specialists request teachers to
pay more attention on this aspect. There is no
need of setting an examination which even
bright students will not be able to finish and
proofread in the allocated time.

98. • Specialists foresee:
- 1 minute per a true or false question,
- 1 minute per a multiple-choice question,
- 2 minutes per short answer question which
require few words,
- 10 to 15 minutes per question which
requires fairly long answers and
- 30 minutes per question which require long
answers.

99. • The teacher will add 5 to 10 minutes to allow
the learners to proofread their work.
• He will also foresee some time for the
distribution and the collection of answer
booklets.
• Another rule suggests that teachers should
multiply 4 times the duration they (teachers)
need to carry out the same task.

100. • Finally, the teacher will try their best to
present readable questions. For example, the
margins and spaces must be large enough.
• The teacher will indicate the marks allocated
to each question; he/she will gather all the
questions of the same type (for example, all
the multiple-choice questions) in a same
series

101. • He/she will also check if the space provided
after the short answers is sufficient.
• He/she will also foresee a blank space where
the learner will write his/her name and
his/her number.

102. 2. Adapt the questions to the
course contents

103. • Ideally, the tests and examinations should
help the teacher to measure the impact of the
course and know to what extent the learners
have reached their learning objectives.
• The examination questions must be related to
the contents and the aspects learners should
necessarily know.

104. • To check if the examinations reflect accurately
the teaching objectives, the teacher must
prepare a table with two columns: one for
the objectives and the other for the contents.
Then, for each aspect of the examination, the
teacher will tick an objective and the
corresponding course contents on the table.

105. 3. Ensure the examinations are
Valid, Reliable and Fair

106. Valid exam

107. • An examination is Valid when its results are
adapted to the level of learners.
• A valid examination determines whether the
learners have achieved the objectives.

108. • A pragmatic way of checking the validity of the
examinations consists in focusing on valid
contents, that is, to check whether all the
skills (knowledge, know-how and know how
to behave) taught during the course are
included.

109. • In general, valid examinations include
information drawn from talks, practical work
and laboratories, personal readings.
• An examination with difficult questions only
does not allow good assessment of the
various skills taught during the course.

110. Reliable exam

111. • An examination is Reliable when it assesses
more accurately and in a consistent way
learners’ newly acquired skills.

112. • The most “perfect” way of measuring
Reliability is to ask a group of learners to
pass the same examination twice and to get
the same results (supposing that it is possible
to erase the first examination from their
memory). Naturally, this is not possible.

113. • Quite often, examinations are not reliable
because questions are confusing, the
instructions are not very clear and criteria of
appreciation are not accurate.
• Tests with very few questions do not ensure
the reliability of an assessment.

114. • An examination should cover the ideas and
main concepts and they should be distributed
in the same proportion among the questions
of a same exam.

115. 4. Use various assessment
techniques

116. • Research has proven that the learners prefer
various formats of examination.
• Using various techniques allows the teacher to
get better result from the learners.
• Multiple-choice and short answer questions
are used to check whether the details have
been assimilated.

117. • Long answer questions are used in order to
check the learner’s capacity to understand
and summarize the acquired knowledge.
• They also allow checking whether learners are
able to apply the newly acquired knowledge
in a new context.

118. • An examination can thus have various
formats.
• Teachers should avoid introducing new
formats during a final examination: if he/she
used only multiple-choice questions during
the continuous assessment, he/she will avoid
long answer questions in the final
examination.

119. 5. Write questions that go beyond
what has been taught:

120. • Quite often, teachers tend to prepare
examinations which require the rendering of
the content taught in the classroom.
• Bloom supports the idea of testing higher
skills that have been acquired. In this context,
many authors tried their best to adapt
Bloom’s taxonomy in setting the
examinations.

121. Summary of Module

122. • Teaching is complex and demanding at the
same time. Teaching must also be planned.
Teaching, as well as medicine or architecture,
is a job whose skills are required gradually.
You cannot improvise yourself as a teacher.

123. • Time is over where people’s efficiency in
teaching was judged according to their gift,
the art and vocation. Time is also over where
people improvised themselves as teachers
simply because they knew the contents and
the subject to be taught.

124. • Those who want to become teachers must
acquire the necessary skills.
• They must learn how to define their didactic
objectives.
• They must also try out the teaching methods
and various tools, taking into account special
contexts.
• Finally, they must be acquainted to
assessment techniques in teaching.

125. Assignments
Assignment one:
• What are the benefits of assessment at different
moments of the teaching and learning process
– (a) for the students
– (b) for the teacher
– © for the parents?
• Which of the three best helps improve students’
learning
• What questions can be asked at each level?

126. • Assignment two:
In your respective combinations, form groups of
not more than 5 members and do the following:
- Chose one subject of your combination,
- Formulate two objectives of any topic in that
subject,
- Compose five questions of multiple choice and
two open-restricted questions to assess those
objectives,
- N.B.: Remember to provide the marking
scheme