Continued from prior post "An Overview of Assessment"
3 Examples of Assessment:
The following examples of assessment can be implemented at various stages in the educational process that students become a part of as they acquire the skills and knowledge required to succeed in college and career. Educators can modify the assessments to measure a variety of metrics and to accommodate student specific needs.
EDUCATION ASSESSMENT
-Which school did you go to?
-What recognition did you earn?
-How well did you do?
These are some of the principal questions which Education Assessment is best for. It serves as a reminder that education is good and valuable. That schools provide the best education possible and grant students, who meet the requirements, diplomas, degrees, certificates, and awards. Education Assessment is best designed to inform how well educated the student is, who earned the recognition from the attended school. It is a useful tool for higher education and employers to evaluate possible candidates.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
-Is Continuous.
-Is Cumulative.
-Is Incremental.
Formative Assessment is carried out in a continuous manner, is accumulated over time as the student grows and develops in skill and knowledge, and it is incremental throughout the length of time a student spends in a set educational environment. By ensuring that education is of the greatest quality early on in the student's path, educators can prevent the student from future downfalls which can be demanding, frustrating, and time-consuming. Formative Assessment is a great tool for educators to gain insight into the student's abilities, skills, and knowledge, and do so in real time.
STANDARD ASSESSMENT.
-What is the Objective being measured?
-How Much Range do students have?
-How Accurate are their responses?
Say we want to assess the student's ability to draw a circle. The students are taught what a circle is. They are given time to study and do research. We have them practice drawing circular shapes, and instruct them on how they will be assessed. Finally, they are presented with the materials needed (a dry erasable board, marker, and eraser) and are asked to draw a circle. Standard Assessment is best suited to measure specific education objectives. It can be modified by presenting a limited number of acceptable responses or by having the student decide how best to respond. This type of assessment can also be designed to cover an assorted amount of information and collect multiple responses in the least possible time.
Manuel R. CortezRodas - Chief Educator/Founder
Copyright 2015. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
ASSESSMENT
To set or judge worth using an established value.
DEFINITION
Assessment is the result of an evaluative process during which the individual or object being assessed is judged based on an established set of values.
Educational assessment should be administered by a team of trained educators, in an appropriate environment, and its purpose for implementation be clearly communicated to those who would be assessed.
EXAMPLES
Education assessment, standard assessment, formative assessment,... there is a diverse variety of assessments that can be created, designed, and modified. Assessments are questions and inquires made in quizzes, tests, and exams, as well as challenges and projects.
Manuel R. CortezRodas - Chief Educator/Founder
Copyright 2015. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
Once we have done a self-assessment of our education, we can now take to the task of doing an assessment which gives value to education.
As students, the teacher presents to us education through their instruction. As students, we are to learn from the instruction of our teachers, so we can become educated. As students, our learning must be assessed, to provide a measurable value to our education.
- If we receive instruction, but no assessment, we will be unable to ensure that the instruction was received with clarity and understanding.
- If we are assessed without instruction, we will be unable to measure any learning.
- If our instruction is greater than our assessment, we will limit how much learning we have achieved.
- If our assessment is greater than our instruction, we will limit how much education we have achieved.
To evaluate education we need assessment, and the assessment must be equal to the instruction, if we are to be able to measure how our learning is leading us toward the achievement of education.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
An overview of education assessment, from what most of us recall since our early years in school, could be summed up in four steps as follows:
1) Teacher makes the test.
2) Student takes the test.
3) Teacher grades the test.
4) Student receives the grade.
It was, and continues to be, the responsibility of the student to decide what step should be taken next. The student should look at the grade they got on the test, learn from any mistakes made, correct those mistakes, and become better prepared for the next test.
To be able to do this, the student should be given access to the test, after it has been corrected, so they can have the time to study from it. This is one critical element that is missing from most current methods of educational assessment. If a student is to fully understand the importance of having their education assessed, then students should be given access to the assessment they have taken.
Students ought to have the right to access the educational assessment tool which has been implemented to measure their growth. After all, it is the student who takes the test, provides the answers, and is evaluated. Let us think back at how much we could have grown educationally if we had been given access to all the standardized tests that we took as students, instead of just having been given an abstract number.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
Assessment is a measuring tool which is used in education. One of the purposes of assessing education is to measure what has been learned. Educational assessment has limitations, but it can be useful when measuring factual and specific data. When educational assessment is used for the measurement of either non-factual or non-specific information, it is beneficial to define and develop a measuring guideline which clearly states what is acceptable. Assessment guidelines can then be refined further into different ranges, degrees, and/or scales.
Educational assessment should be applied to measure the growth that a student has achieved. Care should be taken not to use educational assessment as the only measuring tool by which the whole education of a student is evaluated. The limits of educational assessment makes it ineffective as the one and only measuring tool to use in education. What students learn is ample and diverse. It takes many different forms of measurement to capture an overall assessment of an individual's education.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
There are limits to both the quantity and quality of education which can be assessed. The greatest of these limitations is the amount of time that is allocated to assess what has been learned in a given time on a specific subject. Further limitations include limits in language and learning which the student must overcome by developing skills and abilities in each of these areas.
Although there are limitations to educational assessment, educators can and have develop various methods by which to assess, the quality and quantity of education, that students should have learned at the conclusion of the instruction period. Some of these forms are familiar as they are known as quizzes, tests, exams, and finals, but it is worth taking into consideration other methods of educational assessment such as collaborative, creativity, and presentations.
By developing a multitude of variations to how students are assessed, we can expand our ability to truly understand what it is that our students have learned throughout the the course of our instruction and guidance. Developing diverse assessment methods also gives students different chances to express what they have learned in their own unique way, which may, in turn, allow others to learn from each other.
It is important that educators take the time to analyze and understand the importance of assessing education, and that they be supportive of the current methodology under implementation, while working toward the development of future methods of assessment which are fair and balanced while maintaining the rigor that is needed to measure academic achievement.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
We begin our monthly theme for May with an introduction to educational assessment by focusing on two key issues: How do we assess education and who's education are we assessing. At first look, the how may bring to mind quizzes, assignments, tests, projects, exams, and presentations, in addition to many other similar methods which have become a part of education. As for the who, well that should be quite clear, we asses the student's education. After all, students attend our schools to become educated. However, a closer look at each of these two key issues reveal to us that there is more to assessing education than just testing the student.
While it is true that quizzes, tests, and exams are valuable tools to assess education, we must also be aware that there are limitations for each one. One of the limits which must be imposed is that of time, for example, a 20 minute quiz versus a 2-hour exam. It only makes sense that more educational knowledge can be assessed in two hours than it can in 20 minutes. It is because of these and other limitations that we must take care when implementing an educational assessment.
Education can be acquired by students through good instruction and perseverance. This should make our assessment process to be focused on individual achievement. We cannot, however, ignore the fact that education can also be acquired by students through collaboration and cooperation with each other. This is why we must also look at assessment beyond the individual achievement, and try to include groups of students, classrooms, schools, and districts.
How we assess education and who's education we are assessing are two key issues that we must take a close look at if we are to fully understand the importance of assessing education.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
May is known, through most of the world, for Mother's Day. For us in the U.S. It is also known for its Memorial Day holiday, the last holiday of the school year. Long ago, it seems, we were returning from Winter Break to start the first school day of 2014. Even longer than this was that first day of school which followed last year's summer. May is the last full month of academic instruction.
It is in this month of May that we, as educators, and those of us who are involved in education (Students, Assistants, Teachers, Parents, Principals, Administrators, etc.) should begin the process of assessing education. A good educational assessment provides accountability. It allows us to check for a balance of equality and fairness of quality in the instruction which we have provided for our students throughout this past school year.
MRCR Education dedicates the month of May to educational assessment. Throughout this month, various topics related to educational assessment will be presented in our posts. We hope that you find them informational and useful, and welcome your feedback too.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2014. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
