Nature, Definition and
Explanation of basic
concepts in Assessment
Assessment, Test, Measurement, & Evaluation
• Assessment
Assessment is a broad term defined as a process for obtaining
information that is used for making decisions about students,
curricula and programmes, and educational policy.
Decisions about students include:
managing classroom instruction,
placing students into different types of educational programmes,
selecting them for educational opportunities,
Cont………..
assigning them to appropriate categories,
guiding and counselling them,
and credentialing and certifying their competence
Assessment method encompass all the strategies and techniques
that might be used to collect information from students about
their progress toward attaining the knowledge, skills, attitudes, or
behaviours to be learned.
These strategies and techniques include, but are not limited to,
observations, paper-and-pencil tests, oral questioning, interviews,
peer-and self-assessments, criterion- referenced and norm-
referenced tests, performance assessments, exhibitions, portfolio
assessment, and project and product assessments.
Assessment methods should be developed or chosen so that
inferences drawn about the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and
behaviours possessed by each student are valid and not open to
misinterpretation
Guidelines for selecting and using
classroom assessment
One needs to be clear about the learning target he/she wants to
assess. Before you can assess a student, you must know the kind(s)
of student knowledge, skill(s), and performance(s) about which
you need information.
One needs to be sure that the assessment technique(s) he/she
selects actually match the learning target.
One needs to be sure that the assessment technique(s) serve the
needs of the learners. You should select assessment technique(s)
that provide meaningful feedback to the learners about how
closely they have approximated the learning targets.
Guidelines for selecting and using
classroom assessment
Whenever possible, be sure to use multiple indicators of
performance for each learning target. This will provide a
better assessment of the extent to which a student has
achieved a given learning target.
One needs to be sure that when you interpret the result
of assessments you take their limitations into account.
Assessment is a means to an end. It is not an end in
itself. Assessment provides information upon which
decision are based
Test
Test connotes the presentation of a standard set of
questions to be answered.
Test is an instrument or systematic procedure for observing
and describing one or more characteristics of a student using
either a numerical scale or a classification scheme (Nitko,
2001).
Test (cont…..)
A test is a formal, systematic, usually paper-and-pencil
procedure for gathering information about pupil’s behaviour
(Airasian, 1991).
In schools, we usually think of a test as a paper-and-pencil
instrument with a series of questions that students must
answer. These tests are usually scored by adding together
the “points” a student earned on each question. Thus they
describe the student using a numerical scale.
Types of test
Tests are classified in different ways using criteria like
purpose, uses and nature.
Using purpose as a criterion test can be classified as
Achievement tests, Diagnostic tests, Aptitude tests,
Intelligence tests, etc.
Using uses as a criterion test can be classified as Norm-
referenced test, and Criterion-referenced tests.
Using nature as a criterion test can be classified as paper-
and-pencil test, oral test, performance test, etc.
Achievement test
It is a test designed to measure formal or “School taught”
learning.
Achievement tests measure the degree of student learning in
specific curricula areas in which instruction has been received.
Achievement tests are measures of previously acquired
knowledge
Achievement tests are designed to measure the extent to
which a person has achieved, gain, attain, mastered certain
skills as a result of specific instruction and learning.
• Achievement tests can be classified into two.
Teacher-made achievement tests
Standardized achievement tests
Measurement
Measurement is the process of quantifying the
degree to which someone or something possesses a
given characteristic, quality or feature.
Most authorities agree that measurement is the
assignment of numbers, numerals or symbols to the
traits or characteristics of persons or events according
to specific rules.
Measurement (cont…..)
Nitko (2001) defined measurement as a procedure
for assigning numbers (usually called scores) to a
specified attribute or characteristics of a person in
such a way that the numbers describe the degree to
which the person possesses the attribute.
Scales of Measurement
Depending upon the traits/attribute/characteristics
and the way they are measured, different kinds of
data result, representing different scales of
measurement.
Variables may be grouped into four categories of
scales depending on the amount of information given
by the data.
Scales of Measurement (cont….)
Different rules apply at each scale of measurement, and
each scale dictates certain types of statistical procedures.
Ratio
Interval
Ordinal
Nominal (or Categorical)
• These scales are hierarchical, with nominal being the lowest and the ratio
being the highest.
Nominal scale
A nominal scale classifies persons or objects into two or
more categories.
Whatever the classification, a person or object can only
be in one category, and members of a given category have
a common set of characteristics.
Numbers may be used to represent the variables but the
numbers do not have numerical value or relationship.
The numbers are only for identification purpose
Nominal scale (cont…..)
Examples are sex, occupation, color of eyes, and
region of residence. We can say Male = 1 and female 2
or Male = 2 and female = 1, it does not make any
change because the numbers are only for
identification purpose.
Ordinal scale
An ordinal scale means our measurement now
contain the property of order.
It provides some information about the order or rank
of the variables, but it does not indicate how much
better one score is than another.
This enables us to make statements using the
phrases “More than” or less than”.
Ordinal scale (cont….)
For example, a secondary school teacher might rank
three students, Kwame, Ama and John, with a score of
1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the trait of sociability.
From this data; we can conclude that Kwame is more
social than Ama, who, in turn, is more social than
John. However, we can not say by how much Ama is
more social than John.
Interval scale
Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know both
the order and the exact differences between the values.
Interval scale have the characteristics of the nominal and
ordinal scales, ie., the ability to classify and to indicate the
direction of the difference.
Using the interval scale the Zero point is arbitrary and does
not mean the absence of the characteristics/trait.
Interval scale (cont….)
An example of an interval scale is the Fahrenheit
temperature scale because of its equality of units. For
instance, the difference between 300 and 340 is the
same as the difference between 720 to 760.
Ratio scale
The ratio scale incorporates all of the
characteristics of the interval scale with one
important addition – an absolute zero.
Examples of ratio scales are height, weight, time
and distance.
With an absolute zero point, you can make
statements involving ratios of two observations
such as “twice as long as” or “half as fast as”
Evaluation
Evaluation is defined as the process of making a value judgement
about the worth of a student’s product or performance (Nitko,
2001).
It is a process by which quantitative and qualitative data are
processed to arrive at a judgement of value and worth of
effectiveness.
The main concern of evaluation in the classroom is to arrive at a
judgement on the worth or effectiveness of teaching and learning.
Evaluation may or may not be based on measurements or tests
results.
Forms of Evaluation
Things may be evaluated during development as well
as after they are completely developed.
The terms formative and summative evaluation are
used to distinguish the roles of evaluation during
these two periods.
Formative evaluation
Formative evaluation is judgement about quality
or worth made during the design or development
of instructional materials, instructional procedures,
curricula, or educational programmes.
The evaluator directs these judgements towards
modifying, forming, or otherwise improving the
product before it is widely used in schools.
Formative evaluation (cont…..)
A teacher also engages in formative evaluation when revising
lessons or learning materials by using information obtained from
their previous use.
Sometimes we speak of formative evaluation of students. This
means we are judging the quality of a student’s achievement of a
learning target while the student is still in the process of learning
it. Such judgement can help us guide a student’s next learning
steps.
No penalty is given to students when they are given formative
evaluation, and it is guidance –oriented in nature.
Summative evaluation
Summative evaluation is judgement about the quality or
worth of already-completed instructional materials,
instructional procedures, curricula, or educational
programmes.
Such evaluation tends to summarize strengths and
weaknesses, it describes the extent to which a properly
implemented programme or procedure has attained its
stated goals and objectives.
Summative evaluation (cont….)
Sometimes we speak of summative evaluation of students.
By this we mean judging the quality or worth of a student’s
achievement after the instructional process is completed.
Giving letter grades on report cards is one example of
reporting your summative evaluation of a student’s
achievement during the preceding marking period.
