Zeal study shares you the detailed explanation about the steps involved in Teaching learning process and Lesson plan writing . Thus we introduce the topic Assessment. It is very important towards not only students but also teacher.
Assessment is very important for teachers in term of in term of information that is used by them to adjust their teaching strategies and as for students, it is to adjust their learning strategies. Other than that, assessment is a powerful process that can either optimize or inhibit learning, depending on how it applied. Below are the examples of importance of assessment towards students and also teachers;
Assessment for students
Provide students with information and guidance
Students could plan and manage the next steps in their learning
Students uses information to lead from what has been learned to what needs to be learn next
Gain different kinds of creative information to share with others
Assessment for teachers
Helps the teachers to gather information to plan and modify learning for individual students, group of students and the class as a whole
Pinpoint students' strengths so that both teachers and students can build on them
Identify students' learning needs in a clear and constructive way so they be addressed
Involve parents and families in their children's learning in school
In early childhood education, assessment is the process of gathering information about children in order to make decisions. Assessment is often equated with the notion of testing to judge a child’s abilities, but in actuality, it is a four-step cycle that helps teachers individualize learning for every child. Assessment has four primary purposes:
• to support learning
• to identify special needs
• to evaluate programs and monitor trends
• to respond to program and school accountability requirements
Having a process in place for ongoing assessment is essential, as it enables teachers to gather information about each child in order to plan instruction and ensure that every child is making progress.
We attempts to look at the importance of classroom assessment and evaluation advantages. A major concern of teaching English language for teachers has been assessing and evaluating students' progress during their courses of study as well as their classroom achievements at the end of it. Despite the highly useful aspects of tests such as multiple choice test, essay test and paragraph reading, teachers have not been successful in the classroom.
Classroom assessment and evaluation are highly concerned with qualitative judgments that are used to improve students' knowledge and learning. Assessment and evaluation also give teachers useful information about how to improve their teaching methods. Through using appropriate classroom assessment strategies and techniques, teachers can increase their students' motivation and show them how well they have learned the language. Evaluation goes beyond students' achievements and language assessments to consider all aspects of teaching and learning, and to look at how educational decisions can be informed by the results of alternative forms of assessment and evaluation.As we talk about mentoring students and creating equitable learning environments, how does a teacher assessment and evaluation affect a teacher’s ability to respond to minorities?
Glad you asked. Because when a teacher assessment and evaluation is done the right way—I repeat, when it is done the right way—it is an opportunity for teachers to spot areas to improve. Of course that’s not how evaluations are being handled; right now, they are scary tests that depend on someone else’s performance.
Sad experience has taught us how not to perform evaluations. So now let’s look at how teacher assessment and evaluation can actually make a better experience for everyone involved.
If a student makes one grade below a B, the student gets tutoring. Now imagine that your principal or coach comes to you with a few areas noted in your observation/evaluation and said, “I can see that you have what it takes, and you just need some training in these areas. So here’s what we’re going to do….” Unheard of, isn’t it? And yet the ramifications would be immense! If this same model helps 100% of students become college and career ready, then it would certainly have a similar effect on teachers.
If we use teacher assessments and evaluations to actually train our teachers instead of just to scare the wits out of them, then teachers will ask to be observed. They’ll ask for another evaluation. They’ll have the tools they need to do what they love to do best: help students learn.
We suffer under the delusion of treating our teachers like worker bees and expect them to turn around and treat their students with individualized attention. Teacher evaluations and assessments are meant to be classrooms rather than courtrooms. When our teachers become more effective, we will be able to see 100% of students become college and career ready.
A STRATEGY FOR CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
Gensee and Upshur (1996) argue that evaluation involve comparison. More specifically, decisions that result from assessment are arrived at by making comparisons between various components of instruction and the larger instructional context (including input factors, purposes, plans, practices, and outcomes) and then taking action to reduce mismatches between the components so that the desired outcome or match is achieved. If there is no mismatch, then instruction can proceed without changing anything. Another way of viewing classroom assessment and evaluation requires that you look for potential problems and decide on actions to resolve them. Problems take the form of mismatches, inconsistencies between what is actually happening or is likely to happen on the one hand and what you would like to happen on the other. Mismatches indicate that there is a potential problem; decisions about changes that will eliminate or reduce the problems.
EFFECTIVE EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
To be useful and effective, evaluation and assessment requires planning. Preparing for evaluation should be an integral part of planning each lesson or unit as well as general planning at the beginning of the school year or course. Instruction and evaluation should be considered together in order to ensure that instruction provides itself to evaluation and that the results of evaluation can direct ongoing instructional planning. Moreover, if evaluation is not planned along with instruction, the time required for assessment activities will most likely not be
available. As pointed earlier, clearly an important focus of classroom assessment and evaluation is student achievement. Teachers need to know what and how much students have learned in order to monitor the effectiveness of instruction, to plan ongoing instruction, and for accountability purposes.
According to Gensee and Upshur (1996), in order to plan and make instruction that is appropriate for individual students or groups of students, it is necessary to understand the factors that influence student performance in class. This means going beyond the assessment of achievement. Chastain (1988) believes that teachers need to evaluate constantly their teaching on the basis of student reaction, interest, motivation, preparation, participation, perseverance, and achievement. The conclusions drawn from such an evaluation constitute their main source for measuring the effectiveness of selected learning activities. As a matter of fact, testing in language classes is often inadequate. The teacher is so preoccupied with classroom activities that he fails to maintain a comprehensive perspectives of the flow of the language learning sequence from objectives to activities to testing. This is the point where we can give priority to evaluation over tests claiming that the primary aim of evaluation in the classroom is to judge the achievement of both students and the teacher. Evaluation of achievement is the feedback that makes improvement possible. By means of evaluation, strengths and weaknesses are identified. Evaluation, in this sense, is another aspect of learning, one that enables learners to grasp what they missed previously and the teacher to comprehend what can be done in subsequent lessons to improve learning. To do so, alternative methods (e.g. dialogue journals, portfolio conferences, interviews and questionnaires, observation, etc) are available for collecting useful information about language learning and about student related factors which influence the processes of language teaching and learning.
Genesee (cited in Carter and Nunan, 2001) is of opinion that for tests and alternative forms of language assessment to be useful for classroom-based evaluation, they should be: linked to instructional objectives and activities; designed to optimize student performance; developmentally appropriate, relevant and interesting to students; accurate; fair and ongoing.
References
Bridley, G. (1998a) Outcomes- Based Assessment in Second Language Learning Programs. In G. Brindley (ed.) Language Assessment in Action. Sydney: New south Wales Adult Migrant Education Service.
Genesee, F. and J. Upshur (1996) Classroom-Based Evaluation in Second Language Education. Cambridge University Press.
O’Malley, J. M. and L. Valdez- Pierce (1996) Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. Reading. MA: Addison- Wesley.
Rea-Dickins. P. (1994) Evaluation and English Language Teaching. Language Teaching 27, 71-91.
Rea-Dickins. P. and K. Geimanie (1993) Evaluation Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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