Understanding Educational Evaluation and Assessment

Posted on Feb 15, 2025 in Philosophy

1. Concept of Evaluation and Assessment

Two ways to understand evaluation:

Traditionally: Focused on the results that students obtain from the educational process.
Currently: Focused on all the processes taking place across the different elements of the curriculum (objectives, content, methodology, teaching and learning experiences, resources and materials, assessment), the organization of the center, the educational authorities, and both teachers and students.

2. Types of Evaluation

Formative evaluation: Its aim is to correct and to guide the educational process, providing constant information that will improve both the processes and the results of the educational intervention.
Summative evaluation: It is applied not only to processes but also to finished products, and it is not intended to improve the evaluation object, but to determine its worth.
Global evaluation: It is oriented to cover the various dimensions of students’ personal development, the skills set provided in the curriculum, the criteria for the evaluation of the different areas and therefore, to monitor the teaching-learning processes.
Partial evaluation: It is aimed to study specific components or dimensions of the whole (performance in a particular aspect of personality, of a particular element of the curriculum, etc.).

Internal evaluation: It is performed by the members of the teaching-learning program, center, etc. There are several types:
- Self-evaluation: The evaluator and the evaluated are the same person (the teachers evaluate their own program or their own performance; the students evaluate their progress or their interest, etc.).
- Hetero-evaluation: The evaluator and the evaluated are different persons. Thus, a person or a group of people evaluate the work of another or others (for example, the teacher evaluates the student, the student evaluates the teacher, one teacher evaluates another teacher, etc.).
- Peer-evaluation: Some individuals or groups of individuals are evaluated by each other and alternate their roles (students and teachers, students together, etc.).

External evaluation: It is performed by agents who are not directly involved in the teaching-learning process, the program or the facility. Thus, external evaluation is carried out by inspection, media, etc.
Initial evaluation: It is carried out at the beginning of a process. It is based on the collection of information on the baseline (knowledge, attitudes, interests, abilities, etc.) of the students.
Process evaluation: It involves the evaluation through continuous and systematic collection of information. This type of assessment is essential in a procedural conception of formative assessment, because it allows teachers to take appropriate decisions to improve the teaching-learning process based on the information gathered.
Final evaluation: It is referred to the collection and evaluation of some data at the end of the period stipulated for achieving a specific learning, program, etc, or to achieve certain objectives.
Normative evaluation: The benchmark used for comparison is the level of a particular group, such as the class group.
Criteria evaluation: It is one in which the criteria or benchmark for comparison is the student himself or the program or center itself. We need to define the different criteria according to the aims proposed.

3. Evaluation in Infant and Primary Education

Principles for evaluation:

Continuous and formative assessment: Evaluation must be an instrument in the service of the teaching-learning process, by providing the starting point, the journey, and reflection at specific times on the value of the results achieved. It must be integrated into the daily classroom and school.
Global: It refers to the need to consider the skill set provided in the stage and the evaluation criteria of different areas.
Assessment criteria: We have to use the given educational objectives and the evaluation criteria established in the curriculum.
Systematic: Evaluation is a plan previously outlined, and carried out in an organized way. It must be open and receptive to changes that may arise.
Flexible: It refers to the possibility of the evaluation process used to be materialized in a variety of techniques and instruments used for recording data.

4. Assessment Techniques and Instruments

The prescribed curriculum specifies what must be evaluated to determine the objectives and assessment criteria, which constitute the basic reference for the assessment. However, the curriculum does not determine how to evaluate.

4.1. Observation: Concept, Types, and Techniques

Concept of observation: “It’s the careful examination by one person of other people in order to know more about them by obtaining a series of data.”

Types of observation:

Direct observation is performed on the students, who are present, and is focused on their reactions, attitudes, behaviors, etc.
Indirect observation is done on the result or product of the tasks and activities carried out by the student (essays, summaries, drawings, murals, etc.).

Both types are necessary to achieve complete information.

Advantages of observation:

The information collected comes from spontaneous and natural situations.
The observation allows us to evaluate all areas of student development: cognitive, motor, emotional, social, etc.
You can gather information about different types of content: conceptual, procedural and attitudinal.
This technique allows us to collect information throughout the teaching-learning process, which enables to conduct continuous and formative assessment.
It allows us to know each of the students better (their level of development, their schemes of knowledge, etc.) and thus recognizes the differences between them and their different educational needs.
It is a technique that helps us to collect information about the students’ learning process and the teaching process.

Limitations of observation: The need for objectivity on the part of the observer, and the great care, work and dedication that it requires.

Instruments used for observation:

Diary: It describes classroom activities, focusing on the most significant or representative of each day, respecting the chronological order of events. It allows us to assess both the learning process and the learning outcomes.
Anecdotal register: It records the events that are considered significant. Spontaneity is both an advantage and a disadvantage, as it can be easily affected by the subjectivity of the observer. Usually the name of the student and the observer, the date, the incident observed and the context in which it occurs are registered.
Scales of observation: They are also called rating scales, questionnaires, observation scales or descriptive rating scales. In this case, abilities or circumstances are observed and rated using a numeric key (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) or a verbal key (always, sometimes, never). The aspects to be observed should be very specific and must be determined in advance.
Checklists: They are similar to scales, but the frequency or intensity of behavior to be observed is not reported, but it is only reported whether it appears or not (e.g. the attendance register).
Monitoring forms (fichas): These tabs help the teacher to systematize observations of their students. They are very useful because they allow us to make appropriate revisions of the teaching-learning process, adjusting the help of the teacher to the student needs.
Tape or video recordings: They are useful for self-evaluation and for hetero-evaluation and, therefore, for the evaluation of the teaching-learning process.

4.2. Interview

Types of interview: Interviews are usually classified according to their degree of preparation:

Formal interviews refer to those prepared in advance by the interviewer. They can be: structured, semi-structured, free or open.
Informal interviews arise spontaneously.

Advantages of the interview:

Provides information which could not be accessed through other means.
Flexible technique that allows you to change the direction as it develops.
Serves both to obtain and to provide information, and for the joint search for solutions.
In the case of interviews with parents, they enable direct knowledge of themselves, their attitudes, their teaching style, etc. while helping to facilitate collaboration between family and school.

Disadvantages of the interview:

Its flexibility sometimes means the interviewer obtains information that is not valid.
It takes time for preparation and implementation.
The interviewee may answer by seeking what he believes “should be” more than what really is.
It is often difficult to reconcile schedules between parents and teachers.

Requirements for the interview:

To clarify the purpose of the interview, in this case to know what information you want to collect.
Some questions should be developed, which will reflect the different aspects to cover and will guide the interview.
You should determine in advance the degree of structure that the interview will have, especially depending on the intended objective.
Determine the time and place for the interview.
Inform the interviewee of the end of the interview.

4.3. Tests

Sometimes it is necessary to use tests in order to assess specific aspects. Under no circumstances should the exam be the only way to assess.

Types of tests:

Oral: Student presentation on a subject, student-teacher interviews, debates among several students on a topic, etc.
Written: Exams should have objective evidence. They can be based on long or short questions, with limited time or not, with or without consultation materials, etc.

5. Analysis of Data

Once information has been collected for evaluation through instruments and techniques, data should be analyzed carefully and systematically. There are different ways to do so:

Task analysis: It can be defined as the detailed examination that the teacher makes of the activities developed by their students. It should be used to find out why and how the student learns, what the mistakes and difficulties in their learning process are.
Triangulation: It is the process of getting information from different perspectives in order to contrast it. The most common types of triangulation in assessment are:
- Triangulation of observers: the information is obtained through a variety of individuals.
- Triangulation of time or temporary: the information is obtained at different times and circumstances.
- Triangulation of space: the information about the student is collected at different locations.
- Methodological triangulation: the information is obtained through various methods and evaluation techniques.

6. Evaluation of the Teaching-Learning Process

Not only do we have to assess the student’s learning process, but also the teaching process. This should be carried out at different levels:

School center: We should evaluate the Curricular Project, the functioning of the team of teachers, the coordination system, the communication maintained with families, the relationships established with the social environment, etc.
Stage: We should evaluate issues such as the global assessment of students, the inter-cycle coordination, the adequacy of the criteria established for evaluation and promotion, the functioning of the activities scheduled for the entire stage, the functioning of the teaching staff, etc.
Cycle: We should evaluate the Syllabus of the cycle, the criteria for evaluation and for promotion, the global assessment of student performance, the materials used, the personal support available, etc.
Classroom: We should evaluate the design and the development of every teaching unit (objectives, content, methodology, activities, materials, timetable, etc.), the environment (organization of space, materials and time, grouping and interaction of students, etc.), the personal engagement of teachers (with students and families, coordination with other teachers, etc.).