UNIT I- Introduction to Assessment in

Learning 1

Lesson 2: Principles in Assessment

Introduction

The dictionary defines principle as a kind of rule, belief, or idea

that guides us in our actions or way of doing things.
Good and effective assessment practice has to be based on
sound principles. This lesson will provide you with these principles.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this Lesson, you should have:

1. discussed the principles of assessment;

2. pointed out the good practices when assessing students.

Activity
Recall some of the assessment practices done by your previous
mentors. List down as many as you can.

Analysis

Based on what you had listed down in the activity, classify whether the
assessment practice is good or not. Reflect your decision by putting a check
(/) on the corresponding column on the table below. Give reasons for your
decision. Put this on the Remarks Column.
 Assessment Good Bad Remarks
Practice
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Abstraction

Principles of Assessment (Bandiola, 2003)

1. Assessment should be valid. It should assess what it is that teachers really
want to measure.
2. Assessment should be reliable. All assessments should be marked to the
same standard.
3. Assessment should be fair. Students should have equal opportunities in
order to succeed even if their experiences are not identical.
4. Assessment should be equitable. Assessment practices should not
discriminate between students and should disadvantage no individual or
group.
5. Assessment should be formative. It should be used as a means of letting
students know how they are doing, and how they can improve.
6. Assessment should be timely. Even where there is only end-point formal
assessment, earlier opportunities should be provided for rehearsal and
feedback.
7. Assessment should be incremental. Feedback to students should be
continuous.
8. Assessment should be redeemable. Assessment systems contain within
them opportunities for the redemption of failure when things go wrong.
9. Assessment should be demanding. A good assessment should permit all
students considered capable of undertaking a course of study to have a
chance to succeed in the assessment, provided they learn effectively and
work hard.
10. Assessment should be efficient. Brilliant systems of assessment
can be designed but may become completely unmanageable because of
ineffective use of staff time and resources.
What Makes a Good Assessment?
By Abdao, (2015)
To ensure that formal, summative and traditional assessments as well as informal-
formative and alternative assessments are good and effective assessments, they
need to:

 be well-aligned with learning objectives and outcomes

 be valid (accurate; should measure what it’s supposed to measure)
 be reliable (consistent)
 be fair; free from any biases and distortions
 be guided by clearly defined rubrics/criteria/standards
 enable students and teachers to provide and use feedback effectively, reflect
and improve their teaching and learning
 enable students to successfully demonstrate what they have learned
 effectively measure whether or not the students have learned the content

Assessment and Evaluation principles (Go & Posecion, 2010)

1. Assessment and evaluation are essential components of the teaching-

learning process.
2. A variety of assessment and evaluation techniques should be used.
3. Teachers should communicate assessment and evaluation strategies
and paln in advance, informing the students of the objectives and the
assessment procedures relative to the objectives.
4. Assessment and evaluation should be fair and equitable.
5. Assessment and evaluation should help students.
6. Assessment and evaluation data and results should be communicated
to students and parents/guardians regularly, in meaningful ways.
7. Assessment and evaluation should use a variety of techniques and
tools.

Principles of Good Practice in Assessing Learning Outcomes (Navarro,

Santos & Corpuz, 2019)
1. The assessment of student learning starts with the institution’s vision,
mission and core values. There should be a clear statement on the kinds of
learning that the institution values most for its students.

2. Assessment works best when the program has clear statement of objectives
aligned with the institutional vision, mission and core values. Such
alignment ensures clear, shared and implementable objectives.

3. Outcomes-based assessment focuses on the student activities that will still

be relevant after formal schooling concludes.
 4. Assessment requires attention not only to outcomes but also and equally to
the activities and experiences that lead to the attainment of learning
outcomes. These are supporting student activities.

5. Assessment works best when it is continuous, ongoing and not episodic

(sporadic).

6. Begin assessment by specifying clearly and exactly what you want to

assess.

7. The intended learning outcome/lesson objective NOT CONTENT is the basis

of the assessment task.

8. Set your criterion of success or acceptable standard of success.

9. Make use of varied tools for assessment data-gathering and multiple

sources of assessment data.

10.Learners must be given feedback about their performance.

11.Assessment should be on real-world application and not on out-of-context

drills.

12.Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

Choosing the Right Time for Assessment and Reducing its Burden
To find some alternatives in choosing the right time to assess and how to
reduce its burden, spread assessment throughout the semester or year. Assess a
little rather than a lot. Ask students to decide on agreed hand-in dates. This helps
students to feel a sense of ownership of the spread of assessment.
Remember that students have a social life too. Giving a test on the last day
before vacation is not the most effective time to plan assessment, and is certainly
not popular with students. Think creatively. Many assessed tasks can be set early
on, including literature searches, book reviews, reflective logs and action plans.
Design assignments on topics that students have not yet covered. This can
be a very effective way of alerting students to what they need to learn in due
course. It helps students to become more receptive when the topics are addressed
later in the teaching program. Adhere to deadlines firmly. Try to time your
assignments to prevent the week from becoming a nightmare. Get ahead of your
colleagues and choose hand-end deadlines on Tuesdays. This allows late-running
students a weekend to catch up in, and allows students who are weekending away a
Monday to travel back on.
Here are some strategies to reduce the burden of assessment. Reduce the
number of assignments and reduce word length on assignments. Use assignment
return sheets. These can be forms which contain the assessment criteria for an
assignment, with spaces for ticks, crosses, grades, marks and brief comments. They
enable rapid feedback on routine assessment matters, providing more time for
individual comment to students, when necessary, on deeper aspects of their work.
Consider using statement banks. These are means whereby frequently-
repeated comments can be listed on a sheet of paper to be stapled to student work,
or put onto overhead transparencies for discussion in a subsequent lecture. Think
about different kinds of assignments. Perhaps some essays or long reports could be
replaced by shorter reviews, articles, memorandum reports or summaries. Projects
could be assessed by poster displays instead of reports, and exam papers could
include some sections of multiple-choice questions particularly where these could
be marked by optical mark scanners.
Involve students in peer-assessment. Start small, and explain what you are
doing and why. Peer-assessment can provide students with very positive learning
experiences. Encourage student self-assessment. This is a very valuable skill for
students to acquire. It is important to give students some feedback on how well
they have done self-assessment. It is quicker to monitor student self-assessment
than to do all the assessment yourself. Mark some exercises in class using self- and
peer-marking. This is sometimes useful when students have prepared work
expecting tutor-assessment, and have therefore prepared it to the standards that
they wish to be seen by you.
Don’t count all assessments. For example, give students the option that their
best five out of eight assignments will count as their course work mark. Students
satisfied with their first five need not undertake the other three at all then. Don’t
measure the same thing time and time again. Collaborate with colleagues on other
courses, and look for overlaps between assignments and agree where these can be
cancelled out.

Keeping Good Records of Assessment

Though assessment is one of the most important tasks, it is important that
we do not forget to keep good record of this aspect of our work.
The following suggestions may help you organize your record-keeping.
1. Be meticulous. However tired you are at the end of a marking session,
record all marks immediately then put the marks in a different place.
2. Be systematic. Use class lists, when available, as the basis of your
records. Otherwise, make your own class lists as you go along. File all
records of assessment in places where you can find them again.
3. Use technology to produce assessment records. Keep marks on a
grid, on a computer, and save the grid by date as a new file every time
you add to it, so you are always confident that you are working with the
most recent version. The use of computer spreadsheet programs can
 allow the machine to do all the sub-totaling, averaging, and data handling.
Keep backup copies of all assessment data.
4. Keep files, not piles. Post ongoing assessment grids on your door or on
a student notice board.
5. Use other people. Involve students in checking their classmates’ work.

Coping with Big Piles

Having big piles after assessing students forms the bulk of work that teachers
have to cope with. To cope with huge piles, here are some suggested solutions.
1. Put the great unmarked pile under your desk. It is very discouraging to be
continually reminded of the magnitude of the task. Put only a handful of
scripts or assignments in sight- about as many as you might expect to
deal with in about an hour.

2. Remember how to eat an elephant. The only way is one bite at a time.
Don’t overload yourself, break up the big task into lots of manageable
elements. Build yourself a reward strategy. You can celebrate after
accomplishing some of your assessment work.

3. Set yourself progressive targets. Plan to accomplish a bit more at each

stage than you need. Build-in safety margins. Make an even better
marking scheme. Put the marking scheme where you can see it easily.

4. Mark one question at a time through all the scripts, at first. This allows
you to become quickly skilled on that question, without the agenda of all
the rest of the questions on your mind. It also helps to ensure reliability
and objectivity of marking. When you’ve completely mastered your
marking scheme for all questions, start marking whole scripts and build up
a re-marking agenda.

Making Assessment Less Boring

1. Build-in diversity. Try to build up a range of methods of assessment to
provide variety.
2. Involve students. Using self- and peer-assessment can encourage a
greater degree of commitment and involvement.
3. Involve other colleagues. Bringing in colleagues from other disciplines
on assignments can be broadening, and can make for a more collegial
approach to assessment.
 4. Have a short assessment sometimes. Very short in-class assessments
marked on the spot, and counting for small proportion of marks can
form part of an assessment program.
5. Consider using technology. Computer-based assessments may help
make assessment fun and enjoyable.
6. Give students chances to assess you in informal sessions. They can
learn a lot by being given the chance to frame questions, devise mark
schemes, and test you out.
7. Add a couple of marks for fun. For example, in formative assessments
such as essays or reports, invite students to provide an additional 20-
word fun postscript, for example a non-serious definition of a jargon
term.

Giving Feedback on Assessment

Giving feedback on assessed work is essential to both students and teachers.
How feedback is given matters much. Feedback should be aimed at enhancing
learning and improving all concerned.
How should feedback be given?
1. Feedback should be timely. When marked worked is returned to students
months after submission, feedback is often totally ignored because it bears
little relevance to current student needs. Work should be returned within two
or three weeks, enabling students to derive greater benefit from feedback.
Think about how students feel when they get back marked work.

2. Try to do more than put ticks. Ticks don’t give much real feedback. It takes a
little longer to add short phrases such as “good point,” “I agree with this,”
“yes, this is it,” “spot on,” and so on. Avoid putting crosses if possible.
Students often have negative feelings about crosses on their work. Short
phrases such as “no, not quite,” “but this wouldn’t work,’ and so on, can be
much better ways of alerting students to things that are wrong.

3. Try to make your writing legible. Feedback can be very quick, instantaneous
and can be given before work is assessed. For example, as soon as a class
hands in a piece of work, you can issue handouts of model answers and
discussions of the main things that may have caused problems.

4. Feedback should be positive, detailed, efficient, participative, realistic, fair,

motivating, honest and can be given before scores or grades. Think whether
audiotapes may be the best way of giving feedback, consider giving feedback
by e-mail, and think about making a video.

Choosing the Most Appropriate Method of Assessment

 The range of assessment methods to choose from is much wider than is often
realized. Yet a lot of schools use assessment methods which comprise essays,
reports and traditional time-constrained exams. Assessment that fits the purpose
uses the best method.
The following questions may help teachers choose the most appropriate
assessment method to use:
1. Should the method be constrained? Exams, phase tests and in-class
activities might well be the most appropriate for the occasion. Time-
constrained tests put students under pressure, but are usually fairly good
at preventing cheating.

2. Is it important that the methods you choose include cooperative activity?

You might choose to assess students in groups, perhaps on group
projects, poster displays or presentations. Is a visual component
important? When it is important, you might choose portfolios or poster
displays.

3. Is it important that students use information technology? When it is

important, computer-based assessments may be best, getting students to
answer multiple-choice questions, write their own programs, etc.

4. Do you wish to try to assess innovation or creativity? Some assessment

methods that allow students to demonstrate their talents include
performances. Exhibitions, poster displays, presentations, projects,
student-led assessed seminars, simulations and games.

5. Are you keen to encourage students to develop oral skills? If so, you might
choose to assess presentations, recorded elements of audio and
videotapes made by students, discussions, seminars, interviews or
simulations.

6. Do you want to assess the ways in which students interact? You might
then assess negotiations, debates, role plays, interviews, selection panels,
and case studies.

7. Is the assessment of learning undertaken away from the institution

important? For example, you may wish to assess learning done in the
workplace, in professional contexts or on field courses. You may choose to
assess logs, reflective journals, field studies, case studies or portfolios.

Preparing Students to Succeed in Assessment

Teachers have the responsibility to let students understand whatever
transpires in the classroom. Part of it is assessing learning. Letting them know its
importance helps them give their best during assessment.
 The following suggestions may help bridge the gap between learning and
assessment.
1. Help students to understand assessment. Help them think about why
assessment is needed, what is being measured and how the measurements
are being approached.

2. Make assessment criteria clear. Take the mystery away. Reveal the hidden
agenda. Help students know exactly what they should be able to do to
succeed, however hard or complex it may seem at first.

3. Give students confidence. The more we can help students to see how
assessment works, the more confident they are that they can prepare
themselves to give their best.

4. Help students to realize that assessors are human. Share openly what it feels
like to mark big piles of essays, reports or exam scripts and how difficult it is
to sound off assessment decisions unless the criteria are really explicit. Let
them know that there is no magic involved.

5. Give students safe opportunities for practice. Provide chances for students to
rehearse the skills which they will need to fare well in forthcoming
assessments. Do this for each kind of assessment they will meet.

6. Give students feedback on their techniques. Encourage students to help each

other prepare for assessment. Help students to manage their time. Explain
different forms of assessment. Help students to see why different processes
are used, and what each type of assessment is intended to measure and be
ready to talk openly about assessment.

Application
Ba Based on what you have learned from this lesson, complete the
paragraph
below:
When I assess my students, I should observe the following principles:

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________.

Assessment

I.Multiple-Choice. Choose the best answer from the given choices. Write
the letter only of your choice on the answer sheet. Number right x 3.
1. Assessment should be marked to the same standard in order for it to be
_____.
a.Timely b. efficient reliable d. demanding
2. Feedback to students should be incremental. It should be ______.
a. redeemable b. demanding c. continuous d. equitable
3. Assessment should be valid. This means that the test _______.
a. measures competencies in one setting
b. assesses what are intended to be measured
c. lets students know how they are doing
d. should be marked to the same standard
4. Assessment systems should allow students to rectify their earlier mistakes and
in the end pass the test given. This allows the provision of ______.
a. reliability b. validity c. redemption d. timeliness
5. Assessment should provide students with the opportunity to learn effectively
and work hard in order to succeed. This implies the need for assessment to be
_______.
a.efficient b. demanding c. incremental d. equitable
II. Answer the following questions:
1. Discuss the ways of reducing the burden of assessment. 15 pts.
2. Discuss the ways of keeping good record of assessment. 10 pts.
3. How should assessment feedback be given? Discuss. 10 pts.

References

Abdao, D. (2015). What makes a good assessment. Retrieved from

 https://abdao.wordpress.com/
Bandiola, E. (2003). Assessing student learning. Quezon City: Great Books
Trading.
Go & Posecion (2010). Language and literature assessment.
Navarro, R. L., Santos, R. G., & Corpuz, B. B. (2019). Assessment of learning
1.

Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Lorimar Publishing, Inc.