Winter Education Evaluation

The time in the year 2014 will soon come to an end.  December brings to a close 2014 and as the year ends it presents an ending point from which an evaluation can be extracted.

Now the question is how do we evaluate what students have learned?  How can we set up a formula or function which accurately measures the growth that students have done over a period of time?

To do this winter education evaluation, it is best to set measurable time frame periods over which growth should have taken place.

• Yearly Evaluation: Growth from January to December 2014.
• Current School Year Evaluation: Growth from 1st day of school to last day of 2014.
• Summer Evaluation: Growth from last day of school to 1st day of school.
• Prior School Year Evaluation: Growth from 1st day of school to end of school year

These four time periods allow for specific measurement of learning at different stages throughout this year.  As the year comes to a close, it is worth taking the time to do an evaluation, and reflect on what has been accomplished.  This is something that can even be done, and should be also done, at a personal level.  

There is no need to develop a complex set of standards and guidelines when doing a self evaluation of our educational growth.  Students, teachers, parents, and all who wish should perform each of the four above mentioned evaluations.  Doing this can provide a clearer view of the growth done in all aspects of education if a fair and through assessment takes place.


Author: Manuel R, CortezRodas - Educator

Copyright 2014.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

When to Evaluate Education

A Time for Education Evaluation

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

When to Evaluate Education

As education is learned it should also be evaluated.  Education should be evaluated over time at a constant rate.  Just as time is constant, the time for education evaluation should also be constant.  Time for education evaluation needs to be scheduled so that it is clearly known when education evaluation will take place.  From daily five minute warm-ups to annual 12 hour examinations, we hope that the right time for educational evaluations also coincides with the right time for students to be evaluated on their education.  It is also important that we acknowledge that time limits have a limit, and this will have an effect on the results of the evaluation.

Time

We must set a limit on the time in which students are evaluated, and take into consideration that the evaluation must be collected, counted, and corrected.  Three time frames are of great significance when evaluating education: Administration, Assessment, and Application.  Administration time begins when the need to evaluate is agreed upon, and the process of developing a time-limited evaluation, that is fair, is completed and administer to the learners.  Assessment time includes the preparation of educators and learners on how to execute the evaluation, how to secure the evaluation once it has been administered, and how the results of the evaluation will be presented.  Application time begins with the results of the evaluation, and continues on as these results are studied, analyzed, and apply for the betterment of the educational learning process.

In a limited educational evaluation, the learner has a limited amount of time in which to remember what they know about what they are being evaluated on.  It presents a challenge of knowledge and time.  Students must be able to manage problem solving while being aware of the total time allowed, the time needed to solve problems, and the difficulty level of the problem.  Students who develop the skills of recalling knowledge learned over time, and can apply it to solve problems in the time given, will see the results of their educational evaluation to be at a level that is greater than those who do not develop these skills.

A Time to Evaluate Education

With limited time, we can only achieve a limited evaluation.  With a limited evaluation, can only achieve an incomplete assessment.  With an incomplete assessment, the results of our evaluation will also be incomplete.  When we evaluate education, we must also remember that there is a limit to the evaluation due to time constrains.  This time constrains also set a limit on the knowledge that we can evaluate from the students.  By making sure the knowledge that we evaluate in education is clear, measurable, and balanced, we can make sure that the educational evaluation of our students will be fair and will benefit them in their education.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Where to Evaluate Education

A Place for Education Evaluation

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

Where to Evaluate Education

The location of the place where education evaluation takes place has meaningful significance and must be created for such purpose. The significance of the educational evaluation place expands beyond its physical dimensions.  It signifies a secure, positive, environment where students can perform so they may be evaluated on the learning they have done.  This place should be created as a place where the student feels safe, secure, and confident, and the student knows that fair and equal conditions exist as they are being evaluated on their learning.

Place

Schools, Classrooms, Evaluation Centers&Rooms and many other locations can be places where education evaluation takes place.  These places must have been created as locations where students can demonstrate that they have successfully learn the material they are being evaluated in.  Some variables to consider when creating these places are physical aspects like lighting, temperature, sound, smell, and other aspects that up to a certain point, and with the proper support, can be controlled and provided to satisfy the environmental needs required for students to perform at their best possible educational level.

A Place Where to Evaluate Education

There is a correlation that exits between the place where students are evaluated and the results that are achieved.  In an adverse, challenging, uncomfortable place, while a number of students, who are able to make the needed adaptive adjustments, would be able to achieve some success, to most students, just being placed in such place could cause them to fail without taking one step that allows for them to be evaluated.

The objective a place, where education is to be evaluated, is to provide the best, most comfortable accommodation for educational evaluation to take place.  We must do our best to ensure that our students have access to places where their education is evaluated on how they apply it to a measuring challenge, with fair and equal settings, so they may perform to the highest ability possible.  We should also expect great results from students who are evaluated in places who can provide such supportive, fair, and comfortable places where education can be evaluated.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

What to Evaluate in Education (Part 2)

Evaluate Application of Knowledge

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

There is a constant flow of knowledge that goes in our schools.  This flow of knowledge is diverted through the school, by the teachers, and on to the students.  Knowledge, however, can also flow from the students, like a spring of water in the wilderness, and make its way to the school, and into the community, by having students both apply and demonstrate what they know, to present solutions to the problems that we face. 

APPLICATION
What can the student do with the knowledge?  Knowledge should not remain stagnant as it settles in the student's minds, but rather, the student should be capable of applying their knowledge on a daily basis.  They should demonstrate that they know what they are doing with the knowledge, and how that can help both them and us make improvements to our day to day life.  By allowing students to demonstrate that they can apply the knowledge learned in schools, we, as educators, are also given the opportunity to evaluate the performance of the student's education. One example of evaluation can be done by presenting a problem to the students, and look at the solutions that the students demonstrate, then  evaluate the application of knowledge the students apply to the solutions they present for the problems they have been presented with.

Education needs evaluation to ensure that the flow of information in educational knowledge is allowed to flow like rivers through valleys as our students do when they pass to class on the hallways of our schools.  This flow of information should also be evaluated to ensure that it can continuously cycle from teachers, to students, to the community, to the schools, and back to those whose duty is to present this educational knowledge to the many students that are yet to begin the process of becoming educated.  Education should also be evaluated for efficiency as we have a limited time in which to present to students the educational knowledge we have.  These are but three examples of what should be evaluated in education.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

What to Evaluate in Education

Evaluate Student Knowledge

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

Education must be evaluated.  We need to evaluate education.  It is necessary for the betterment of education that it be evaluated on a regular basis.  The need for education evaluation is demonstrated by the students.  Students benefit from having their education evaluated.  Students should be given the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they have accumulated throughout their learning process so it may be confirmed as true and accurate.

Student Knowledge

What should we evaluate in education?  Primarily, student knowledge.  What the student knows should be evaluated so we may measure the knowledge possessed by the student, and the educational growth they have accomplished.  We must also evaluate what the teacher has presented as knowledge to the students.  In the classroom there is a defined length of time in which the teacher must present the knowledge they are responsible for teaching to the students.  Evaluating what a student knows and what the teacher has presented as  knowledge can then allow us to measure and compare how both factors are related.

As we close this school year, we are once again, reminded of the importance of evaluating education.  We need to measure student knowledge, compare that knowledge to the instruction given by the teacher, and analyze the level of knowledge between the two.  We all benefit from education evaluation, and our student will benefit greatly not just by gaining and growing in  knowledge, but in being reassured by formal confirmation, that their knowledge is both accurate an truthful.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Evaluating Education

Why we need to Evaluate Education

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

FIVE REASONS WHY WE NEED TO EVALUATE EDUCATION.

1) Students

Education evaluation allows students to demonstrate what they have learned.  It is necessary to evaluate what students have learned, in order to confirm to them, that have understood what they learned, and can accurately recall the information they have been instructed on.  Students must be evaluated for their own educational benefit, to build their educational confidence, and to repair educational misunderstandings.

2) Teachers

Education evaluation allows teachers to know the learning comprehension of their students.  It is necessary for teachers to know the learning comprehension of students.  Knowing this will allow teachers to become better educators.  Teachers can implement the information collected through student evaluation in their lesson development, so they may become better educators who are efficient and can reach each student in their classrooms.

3) Administrators

Education evaluation allows administrators to compare student comprehension vs. teacher instruction.  Student comprehension should be directly related to teacher instruction.  Administrators can use the data collected through education evaluation to make sure that both students and teachers are performing above and beyond the established benchmarks of acceptable success.

4) Parents

Education evaluation allows parents to know student comprehension, teacher instruction, and school administration.  Parents should have information available to them which helps them understand how individual students and classmates are learning and growing, the level and quality of the instruction being provided to students by their teachers, and the manner in which schools are being administrated in order for education to successfully take place.

5) Community

Education evaluation allows the community to know that students are being prepared for the future.  In time, the students will become functional members of the community and will have to face the challenges that they will be presented with.  The better educated our communities are, will allow us to make the best possible decisions to improve our way of life, and do good for future generations to develop.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Hike Up

Hiking Up

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

We have sprung into action, seek council, set goals, done path planning, and now it is time to hike up, toward our goal and back.  It is now time to take our place on the road.  It is now time to begin our journey toward that educational goal that we have set and plan to reach.  It is now time to take action, and hike.

As we hike we can begin to see if the path we have planned is  clear and defined.  We can begin to see how good our road-map is.  It is now when the obstacles and challenges that we have and have not prepared for may appear.  We must do what we can to continue hiking up to our goal.

One last chance is presented to us just prior to setting off on a hike.  Do we go?  If we are ready, and we are sure, and we are confident that we have done all that we can to prepare, then we should go on with our hike and toward our goal.

Did we reach our goal?  Were we able to succeed in reaching the goals that we set and planned?  and if we did not, what can we do to reach our goal? do we need to seek more council? do we need to plan another path? As we go on with our hike, these are some of the concerns that we must maintain in mind.  There are many others that we may come across, and some that we cannot anticipate to accurately predict in the future.  But we must hike up to our goal, even if we need to stop.

If we were able to reach our goal, then we must also be able to return back safely to our place of origin, this will consist a successful hike.  We now evaluate our hike and learn from it.  We can now decide if the hike was indeed successful.  Was the hike a good path to reach our goal?  How was our hike? We learn from each individual experience, the experience of the whole, and what we learn, we share again in council, a council in which we can also decide if we are going to hike again, and if so, when.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Evaluating an Education Plan

Education Plan Evaluation

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

An education plan is a good and useful tool that educators should create, obtain, and learn to use.  This education tool, as with any other, has to be evaluated.  To evaluate an education plan one must be able to demonstrate that the plan clearly identifies the following three areas: What is the goal of the plan?  How is the success of the plan measured?  Why is the result of the plan created?  An approach on how to address these three areas is presented next.

What is the goal of the plan?

Every student will be educated, and be able, to successfully demonstrate, that they have become educated.  This is but one example of a goal in an education plan,  the goal you will set for your education plan may be different, but it must be stated clearly.  Establish, with clarity, what the goal for your education plan is.

How is success measured?

Success is measured, by results accumulated over time, which are then compared, to an established measurement, which has been determined to be acceptable.  It will take time to measure success, and it will take time to evaluate the measure of success that has been established for the education plan.

Why is the result created?

The result of executing an education plan, can be affected by a multitude of variables, some which are beyond any control, but should be evaluated, so the plan may be implemented, improved, and executed, to further benefit those who are being educated.

To evaluate an education plan, one should be able to clearly state the goal of the plan, the measure of the success for the plan, and why the plan created such results.  Evaluating an education plan is an important step in the overall creation of the plan by the educator.  We must evaluate the plan if we are to know if the plan succeeded, and if it did not, then learn from the evaluation on how we best can improve the implementation of the plan for future execution.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.