Educational Assessment: Key Concepts and Practices
Posted on Mar 12, 2025 in Other subjects
Key Aspects of Educational Assessment
What to Evaluate and Why?
- Students: Assess needs, interests, expectations, and prior experience of students as active participants in learning.
- Components of Educational Activity: Evaluate all aspects, from planning and programming to outcomes.
- Individualized Support: Determine necessary support measures for optimal student development.
Elements of Evaluation
- Goals: Understand the purposes of educational activities, expressed as capacity building.
- Content: Utilize content as a *means* to achieve objectives. This includes:
- Information (concepts)
- Strategies, skills, and thinking activities (procedures)
- Attitudes
- Activities: Tasks performed by students and teachers to achieve learning objectives.
Evaluation Steps
- Planning: Define the evaluation model, study the context, and establish a starting point.
- Application: Implement procedures and apply assessment instruments.
- Rating: Analyze information and form value judgments.
- Communication: Share feedback with involved individuals and groups.
- Meta-evaluation: Critically reflect on the process and results.
Types of Evaluation
- Initial/Diagnostic: Predict and inform on student capabilities.
- Processual/Formative: Improve the learning process through constant feedback.
- Term/Summative: Determine the degree of student mastery at the end of a learning process.
Variables to Assess
- Self-discipline or area and different types of content.
- Student age and developmental stage.
- Learning style: Consider student preferences and personality.
- Teaching style: Ensure alignment between teaching and assessment methods.
- Educational needs of students: Adapt procedures to address learning difficulties.
Evaluation Perspectives
- Evaluation and Opinion: Teacher judgment based on observation of student work.
- Evaluation and Measurement: Quantifiable aspects of learning expressed through student performance.
- Evaluation and Congruence: Determining the extent to which objectives are achieved (curriculum-related).
- Evaluation as Information for Decision-Making: Gathering and providing information to guide choices.
Evaluation Procedures and Mechanisms
- Testing Procedures: Techniques to obtain information on relevant aspects of learning.
- Observation Procedures: Direct information gathering about relationships, behaviors, and events. Includes:
- Anecdotal records
- Checklists
- Assessment scales
Phases of a Test
- Planning and administration
- Analysis and correction
- Assignment of qualification
Types of Objective Test Questions
- Multiple choice
- Multi-item (common basis)
- Completions
- True/False
- Matching terms
Qualities of a Scientific Test
- Validity and relevance
- Reliability/consistency
- Practicality
- Discrimination
- Difficulty
Processual Evaluation Criteria
- Content
- Cognitive processes
- Skills
- Learning to learn
