Assessment and Evaluation

The measurement of impart of knowledge is needed for several reasons, 

Ø  To report students’ performance to concerned authorities; school management, ministry of education, parents etc.

Ø  To measure the effectives of one’s teaching strategies is parallel comparison with performance o f students

Ø  To provide additional help and guidance for poor performance students

Ø  For planning lessons to suite learners’ needs

Ø  For further research and statistical analysis need.

The importance of assessment and evaluation is itself attached to student’s progress. It provides a signaling mechanism to stakeholders to take educational decisions. Commonly summative and formative assessments are used. Sometimes, we refer this as assessment for learning and assessment of learning.

Continuous assessment (formative/ assessment for learning) aims to determine and evaluate students performance continuously with planned schedule of assessment grids. Common methods used in continuous assessment involve the following;

1.       Products : a piece of writing, drawing, a project, a model etc produced by child.

2.       Observation: teacher watches child’s doing

3.       Discussion/ Questioning: talk based on the predetermined questions.

Assessment in the cognitive domain is associated with the process of knowledge and understanding (Faleyalo, 1986)

Continuous assessment of learners’ progress could be defined as a mechanism whereby the final grading of learners in the cognitive, effective and psychomotor domains of learning systematically takes account of all their performances during a given period of schooling (Faleyalo, 1986)

Continuous assessment can be organized and implemented in a large number of different ways, and the actual assessment procedures can take many different forms. These incude;

Ø  Tests (Essay test, Objective Test)

Ø  Project/ Assignment Techniques

Ø  Socio-metric Techniques

Ø  Interviews

Ø  Class attedence

Ø  Rating Scale

Ø  Check List

Ø  Inventory etc

I   I may talk more about Summative assessment in my next post.