Characteristics of classroom assessment

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF
CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT
By
Dr. Shazia Zamir

2. Characteristics of Classroom Assessment
• Assessment should be well-aligned with educational standards intended for
learners
• Formative assessment needs to support students in the summative
assessment
• Assessment results needs to be used by teachers to help students learn better.
• Assessment is not used to threaten and intimidate students.
• Assessment is a technical competency

3. Characteristics of Classroom Assessment
• Learner centered
• Teacher directed
• Mutually beneficial
• Formative
• Context specific
• Content Validity
• Rooted in good teaching practice

4. Characteristics of Classroom Assessment
• Learner-Centered- its focus is on observing and improving
learning more than on observing and improving teaching.
• • Teacher-Directed- the individual teacher is free to decide
what to assess, how to assess, and how to respond to the
information gained through the assessment
• • Mutually Beneficial- students reinforce course content and
strengthen their self-assessment skills

5. • • its purpose is to improve the quality of student learning ,not
to provide evidence for evaluating or grading students; it
provides information on what, how much , and how well
students are learning.
• • Context – Specific : the assessment technique is chosen to
fit the subject matter, nature of students and the needs of the
particular class
• • Ongoing – the creation and maintenance of a classroom
“feedback loop” that starts improving different skills and
learning and keeps on moving in circular manner.

6. 1.EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING
BEGINS WITH EDUCATIONAL GOALS
• Assessment is not an end in itself but a source for educational
improvement. .
• Educational values/ goals should drive not only what we choose to assess
but also how we do so.
• Where questions about educational mission and values are skipped over,
assessment threatens to be an exercise in measuring what's easy, rather
than a process of improving what we really care about.

7. 2. ASSESSMENT IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN IT REFLECTS
LEARNING AS MULTIDIMESNIONAL
• Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what
they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities
but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and
performance beyond the classroom.
• Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of
methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time
so as to reveal change, growth, and increasing degrees of integration.
• Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of learning, and
therefore, firm base for improving our students' educational experience.

8. 2. ASSESSMENT IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN IT REFLECTS
LEARNING AS MULTIDIMESNIONAL
• Assessment drives instruction. ...
• Assessment drives learning. ...
• Assessment informs students of their progress. ...
• Assessment informs teaching practice. ..

9. 3. ASSESSMENT WORK BEST WHEN IT HAS A CLEAR,
EXPLICITLY STATED PURPOSES
• Assessment is a goal-oriented process. It entails comparing educational
performance with educational purposes and expectations -- those derived from
the institution's mission, from faculty intentions in program and course design,
and from knowledge of students' own goals.
• Where program purposes lack specificity or agreement, assessment as a process
pushes a campus towards clarity about where to aim and what standards to apply;
assessment also prompts attention to where and how program goals will be
taught and learned.
• Clear, shared, implementable goals are the cornerstone for assessment that is
focused and useful.

10. 4. SPECIFIC
• The instructor’s comments and recommendations should be specific.
Students cannot act on recommendations unless they know specifically
what the recommendations are. A statement such as, “Your second weld
wasn’t as good as your first,” has little constructive value. Instead, the
instructor should say why it was not as good, and offer suggestions on
how to improve the weld. If the instructor has a clear, well-founded, and
supportable idea in mind, it should be expressed with firmness and
authority, and in terms that cannot be misunderstood. At the conclusion of
an assessment, students should have no doubt about what they did well
and what they did poorly and, most importantly, specifically how they can
improve.

11. 5.OBJECTIVE
• The effective assessment is objective, and focused on student
performance. It should not reflect the personal opinions, likes, dislikes, or
biases of the instructor. Instructors must not permit judgment of student
performance to be influenced by their personal views of the student,
favorable or unfavorable. Sympathy or over-identification with a student,
to such a degree that it influences objectivity, is known as “halo error.” A
conflict of personalities can also distort an opinion. If an assessment is to
be objective, it must be honest; it must be based on the performance.

12. 6. FLEXIBLE
• The instructor must evaluate the entire performance of a student in the
context in which it is accomplished. Sometimes a good student turns in a
poor performance, and a poor student turns in a good one. A friendly
student may suddenly become hostile, or a hostile student may suddenly
become friendly and cooperative. The instructor must fit the tone,
technique, and content of the assessment to the occasion, as well as to the
student. An assessment should be designed and executed so that the
instructor can allow for variables. The ongoing challenge for the instructor
is deciding what to say, what to omit, what to stress, and what to minimize
at the proper moment.

13. 7. COMPREHENSIVE
• A comprehensive assessment is not necessarily a long one, nor must it
treat every aspect of the performance in detail. The instructor must decide
whether the greater benefit comes from a discussion of a few major points
or a number of minor points. The instructor might assess what most needs
improvement, or only what the student can reasonably be expected to
improve. An effective assessment covers strengths as well as weaknesses.
The instructor’s task is to determine how to balance the two.

14. 8. CONSTRUCTIVE
• An assessment is pointless unless the student benefits from it. Praise for its
own sake is of no value, but praise can be very effective in reinforcing and
capitalizing on things that are done well, in order to inspire the student to
improve in areas of lesser accomplishment. When identifying a mistake or
weakness, the instructor must give positive guidance for correction.
Negative comments that do not point toward improvement or a higher
level of performance should be omitted from an assessment altogether.

15. ACTIVITY
• ASSESSMENT WORK BEST WHEN IT HAS A CLEAR, EXPLICITLY
STATED PURPOSES: DISCUSS

16. Role of teachers in effective classroom
assessment
• Classrooms are busy places. Every day in every classroom, teachers make
decisions about their pupils, the success of their instruction and perform a
number of other tasks. Teachers continually observe, monitor, and review
learners’ performance to obtain evidence for decision. Evidence gathering
and classroom marking are necessary and ongoing aspects of teaches’ lives in
classroom. And decisions based on this evidence serve to establish, organize,
and monitor classroom qualities such as pupil learning, interpersonal
relations, social adjustment, instructional content and classroom climate.