- The date and time when the assessment will be given.
- The conditions under which it will be given. For instance, how long they have to take it; whether the exam will be in-class or take-home; whether it will be a “speed test” exam, and so forth.
- The content areas the assessment covers.
- The emphasis or weighting (point value) of content areas to be included on the assessment.
- The types of performance the student will have to demonstrate (the kinds of items on the test, the degree to which memory will be required.)
- The way the assessment will be scored and graded (e.g., will partial credit be given?).
- The importance of the particular assessment result in relation to decision about the students (e.g., it will count for 20% of the marking period grade) (Nitko, 2011).
According to Dr. Nitko's “Educational Assessment of Students” there exists necessary test-taking skills and how they should be taught to students. He outlines nine necessary skills:
- 1. Paying attention to oral and written directions and finding out the consequences of failing to follow them.
- 2. Asking how the assessment will be scores, how the individual tasks will be weighted into the total, and how many points will be deducted for wrong answers, misspellings, or poor grammar.
- 3. Writing their responses or marking answers neatly to avoid lowered scored because of poor penmanship or mismarked answers.
- 4. Studying throughout the course and in paced reviewing to reduce cramming and fatigue.
- 5. Using assessment time wisely so that all tasks are completed within the given time.
- 6. Using their partial knowledge and guessing appropriately
- 7. Reflecting, outlining, and organizing answers to essays before writing; using an appropriate amount of time for each essay.
- 8. Checking the marks they make on the separate answer sheets to avoid mismatching or losing one's place when an item is omitted.
- 9. Reviewing their answers to the tasks and changing answers if they can make a better response. (Nitko, 2011).
Schools that use standardized educational survey tests that have been developed using empirical research benefit from a high level of standardization and usually reliability and validity. Multilevel survey batteries will assess the assessment for content and learning targets covered, reliability data, and bias screenings. These assessments will have two equivalent forms and permit both in-level and out-of-level testing. That is, the assessment is given to students who are both in and out of the grade level appropriate for the assessment. A student Is measured best when a test is tailored to the student's functioning level (Nitko, 2011).
There is a certain benefit to using the tests that come with curriculum materials. Namely, the topics in the tests closely match the material that is being taught. They are convenient and little alteration needs to be done to have them ready for student use. Unfortunately the quality of assessments that come with curriculum material is usually poor (Nitko, 2011). Dr. Nitko states that text-series authors are seldom proficient in assessment development and that the editorial staff probably do not edit the questions for technical correctness or appropriate rigor (Nitko, 2011). Accompanying assessments must be looked over carefully and checked for completeness, to be sure the questions make sense, and to adjust tasks that may be too hard or too easy. Do not forget to make sure the sure the questions match the objectives you are teaching!
Teachers can write their own assessments, of course, but this also has pros and cons. The obvious benefits of writing one's own questions is knowing that the tasks match the objectives and what is being taught in class. Tests teachers write for themselves risk poor reliability however. Unless the teacher has had time to try the assessment previously and assess the item difficulties and consistency of scores the teacher risks giving an assessment they may have to adjust for later depending on the students' overall performance.
Personally, I support standardized testing to a large degree and yet wish it was not such a large part of student assessment. I feel it is hard enough on students to struggle in a national economy and global job market when the schools cannot agree on even content standards. Standardized tests represent the baseline that students must meet or exceed in order to, supposedly, do well after they have graduated a certain grade level. However, there are so many failings in standardized tests. They cannot possibly assess all the cognitive levels and reach students of all different learning styles. They test largely fact retention; training hordes of academic Trivial Pursuit players who are terrified when confronted with public speaking, mathematicians who do not understand the question unless a formula has been provided, and historians who know which battles were certainly NOT fought at a particular time but not quite which ones were.
I dream of those project based curricula that guide students in the ways of the real world. Students completing projects and applying knowledge drawn from more than one class to solve problems and never again complain “I will never ever use what I learned in this class again!” Alas, it cannot be. Even those schools who use performance based assessment still must adhere to standardization in order to prove the objectives have been met. I am rather okay with that. Until all schools are created equal, standardization is the tool that ensures they at least pretend to be.
References:
Coleman-Ferrell, T. (2013). Standardized Achievement Tests in the Era of High-Stakes Assessment (Slides). Retrieved from www.Blackboard.com.
Ellis, K. (2002). Comprehensive Assessment: An Overview. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-overview-video
Nitko, A. J. (2011). Educational Assessment of Students. (6th Ed). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Microsoft Free Clipart. Retrieved from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=exam&ex=1#ai:MP900402266|
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