It is the gathering, analysis and interpretation of information about how well students are learning. It plays an important role in the learning, but it allows us to know about our students needs, areas of opportunity and progress.
Types of Assessment
Formative Assessment — It is an ongoing assessment that provides feedback to the teacher and to the student so both parties can act accordingly. It allows teachers to recognize where students might require extra support or a greater challenge.
Summative Assessment — this assesses the student learning at both the end of a unit, course or in some cases an academic year. A common use is to assign grades, or to assess program effectiveness.
Diagnostic Assessment: This assessment is to detect what students already know and can do, It enables teachers to plan instruction that is tailored specifically to the student’s needs.
Best Practices in Assessment
Validity: Tests should assess what they are intended to and nothing else.
Reliability: The assessments should yield comparable results time and again, as well as among vary raters.
Fairness — The assessments should be unbiased, and all students should get equal opportunities to showcase their knowledge and skills.
Real-world Tasks — Assessments must enable students to process and solve problems as they would in the real world.
Purposeful: Assessments are meaningful and guide instruction.
Examination Technology Role
Technology has changed the manner in which we assess our student learning. Following are the advantages of technology use in assessment:
Auto Grading (saves time and increases grading accuracy)
Instant Feedback: Learners are able to get instant feedback on what they do, funneling their learning process in an enhanced way.
Customized Testing: Assessments made for students, by technology.
The Importance of Assessment
Assessment is particularly important in:
Student Learning: It aids students to recognize their weaknesses and strengths, providing them an insight on how and where they need to work on.
