Test: Education & Leadership (Assessment and Evaluation) - Software Development MCQ

Attitude is the “mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.”

Key PointsSelf-progress index or attitude scale: In this condition before introducing intervention (guidance and counseling activity or program), pre-testing through questionnaire, rating scale, attitude scale or psychometric test is administered to find out the initial level of the group about certain concepts or behavior or information.

• In education, attitude forms part of the affective domain and includes students' interests, values, and feelings.
• For a teacher, it is essential to identify the student's attitude and assess it.
• To assess the attitude of the students the teacher can interview the students by asking them certain questions related to their interests and opinions.
• Asking questions will give a direct view of their opinions and will provide insight into their attitudes.

Hence, we conclude that the most popular method of evaluating the attitude of students is Self-progress index or attitude scale.

Assessment serves to promote learning by reinforcing the efficacy of teaching-learning when teachers can customize their teaching plans through relevant information on students’ interests, abilities, and learning progress with constant involvement and input from students.

• It is the last stage in the teaching-learning process in which the teacher intends to know whether the learning objectives formulated have been achieved by students or not.

Key Points Assessment can be classified into four types on the basis of their purposes:

• Placement Assessment -  It is conducted before the organization of teaching-learning activities to measure the entry behavior or previous knowledge of learners.
• Formative Assessment/ Continuous Evaluation - It is carried out from the very beginning of instruction and continues till the end of the course. It provides the teacher feedback about the progress of learners in the program and about the effectiveness of the program.
• Diagnostic Assessment- Diagnostic assessment is specially conducted for removing the learning difficulties of the learner. It identifies and provides remedies for personal and psychological problems
• Summative Assessment/Achievement Assessment - It is conducted to know the terminal behavior of the learner. In this assessment, the earners get a certificate or are promoted to the higher class based on a summative assessment.

Hence, clinical assessment is not a type of assessment in teaching.

Hint

• Remedial Teaching is an integral part of the teaching-learning program, also known as compensatory or corrective teaching.​ The objective of remedial teaching is to give additional help to learners who have fallen behind the rest of the class in any topic or subject.

Important Points

• Clinical assessment refers to the assessment of mental health by psychologists to prevent or cure mental health issues.
• It is also used in medicine and dentistry.
• Methods employed in clinical assessment involve collecting, evaluating, and interpreting data from multiple sources.

Continuous and Cumulative evaluation refers to a school-based evaluation, which covers all aspects of school activities related to a child’s development.

It emphasizes two-fold objectives such as continuity of evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes in a comprehensive manner.

Key Points

• It covers all the learning domains, i.e. cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
• It assesses the student’s performance in both scholastic and co-scholastic activities.
• It reduces the stress and anxiety of students as they don't have to prepare for so many examinations and be assessed on the basis of their continous class performance.
• The purpose of continuous evaluation is improvement in learning. For this, the learning gaps and weaknesses are diagnosed so that feedback can be provided.

Hence we conclude that the most important objective of the continuous and cumulative evaluation is Reducing stress and anxiety.

Additional Information

• Reducing school dropout rates- This was the objective of the RTE Act 2010.
• More focus on getting an education - It was a provision of the government of India after acquiring independence.
• Attracting students to come to the school - This was emphasized under the right to education Act 2009.

Evaluation is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data to determine whether, and to what degree, objectives have been, or are being, achieved.

Key Points

• Partiality means leaning in favor of a person.
• One of the students accuses of bias for evaluation in answer sheets, a teacher should try to show his real status.
• Students should get rid of their illusions by making them aware of reality.
• When the student will come to know about the real situation, then such confusion will automatically go away.

Hence, we can conclude that if one of the students accuses of bias for evaluation in answer sheets, a teacher should try to show his real status.

An objective type test item is characterized by its total objectivity and unambiguity in scoring. It has one and only one correct response. Full marks are given for the correct response, which is unique, and no mark is given for an incorrect response.

Key PointsValidity and Reliability represent the properties of objective type test items of assessment:

• Validity: According to Anastasi (1988) the validity of a test concerns what the test measures and how well it does so. Validity is the main property of objective-type test items of assessment. 
• Reliability: Reliability is the consistency of measurement or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same condition with the same subjects. Reliability is the proportion of the true variance in obtained test scores. Reliability is also a major property of objective-type test items of assessment. 

Hence, we can conclude that validity and Reliability represent the properties of objective type test items of assessment.

Assessment serves to promote learning by reinforcing the efficacy of teaching-learning when teachers can customize their teaching plans through relevant information on students’ interests, abilities, and learning progress with constant involvement and input from students.

Key Points 

There are three major purposes of assessment, which include ‘Assessment for Learning’, ‘Assessment as Learning’, and ‘Assessment of Learning’.

Assessment for Learning:

• It occurs during, and after, the teaching-learning process as it has its primary focus on the ongoing improvement of learning for all students.
• It is also known as Assessment for Learning, used to evaluate student learning progress and achievement.
• It helps teachers to identify problem-facing areas and to understand the learning needs of students to ensure their academic growth. 
• It also helps students to actively think about where they are, where they are going, and how to get there.
• This is feedback on the learning of the students, there is no judgemental decision taken after formative assessment.
• It is considered a formal and Informal Method of assessment as it can be conducted at any time or during teaching also.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that assessment for learning consists of (i) (iii) (iv) points given in the question.

Important Points  

Assessment of Learning: 

• It is used for labeling children and reporting it to their guardians, which makes the process tiresome for teachers and students.
• Its emphasis is entirely on data compilation, calculation of marks/ grades, and cumulative achievement.

Assessment as Learning:​

• Assessment as a learning provides a variety of opportunities for the student to reflect on his/her learning through the processes of meta-cognition. This can be facilitated through brainstorming, group discussion, collaborative learning situations, and through peer and self-assessment.
• As a teacher, the best thing that you can do is to convince your students for self-assessment and peer assessment which in turn help them to use assessment as learning. 

Achievement tests are universally used in the classroom to measure whether students possess the pre-requisite skills needed to succeed in any unit or whether the students have achieved the objective of the planned instruction.

• They monitor the students learning and identify learning difficulties among students.

Key Points There are several characteristics involved in the construction of Achievement Tests - 

• Reliability - A test is reliable if it gives consistent results of measurement on its administration on different occasions. Pupils should score similar scores if the test is repeated. Its administration maybe after some gap of time and the condition is that pupils do not receive any further training on related test content.
• Validity- A test is said to be valid if it measures what it is supposed to measure.
• Objectivity- It is the absence of biasness from a test. An objective has only one correct answer to a particular question.
• Usability - It refers to practicability - ease and economic in terms of energy, time, and money. It means a test should be easy to construct, easy in administrating, easy in scoring, easy in interpreting, and economic in terms of money and time.

Hence, evaluation is not a characteristic of the construction of tests.

Hint

•  Evaluation: Evaluation is a systematic way to assess learners’ abilities, analyze performance, provide appropriate feedback to each learner, and help them to progress. High-quality evaluation is required in teaching for successful learning. Evaluation needs to be integrated with the process of teaching and learning.

Evaluation refers to a process of making value judgments based on both qualitative and quantitative data collected over a period of time. There are several methods that teachers use to evaluate the learning progress and skills of students or the need for any academic assistance.

Key Points 

Formative Evaluation:

• Formative evaluation is used to evaluate student learning progress and achievement. It provides scope for the use of variety of activities, and various tools and techniques for promoting holistic development of the learners.
• It helps teachers to identify problem-facing areas and to understand the learning needs of students to ensure their academic growth. It ensures learning in a non-threatening and supportive environment.
• It provides a chance to the learners to reflect on their performance, as it realises the role of motivation and self-esteem of students learning. It helps learners to actively and continuously engage in learning. 
• It gives regular feedback and a chance for students to reflect on their performance, take advice and improve upon it. It helps teachers to plan better and provide supportive, non - evaluative feedback to students.

Hence, it is clear that the above-mentioned type of evalaution is known as formative evaluation.

Additional Information 

• Diagnostic Evaluation helps the teachers to identify the learning difficulties or gaps in the learners' understanding and to know learners' individual strengths, weaknesses, skills, etc.
• Summative Evaluation evaluates student learning by comparing it against some standard or level. It ‘Sums-up’ how much a student has learned over a period of time. Example: Term-end exam, Written tests, Unit tests, Final projects, etc.

A measurement is an act of assigning a numerical index (i.e. quantification) to what is being assessed in some meaningful and consistent manner. The purpose is to have information in a form in which variables can be related to each other. Their measurement is one of the vital stages in the research process. The measurement of social and psychological variables is a complex and demanding task.

For example, Suresh scored 32 out of 50 in an English test. When we assign a score 32/50 to a given test performed by Suresh, we are performing an act of measurement. Measurement only qualifies the data obtained through observations, rating scales, tests, or any other devices. Importance of Measurement:

• Measurement is a purely descriptive process.
• Measurement implies that the attributes of persons or objects are possessed in varying degrees and the degree of variation can be measured and represented.
• Measurement, in essence, is a numerical process.
• The measurement implies that general mental ability, or intelligence, has played a preeminent role in psychological testing.
• It attempts to measure general mental development rather than separate mental faculties. It gives a fair-minded and true appreciation about the person's abilities.
• The basic assumption in measurement is that every event or object in a set of events or an object possesses a specific quantity of the property under observation. This quantity of the property can be compared directly against a standard scale or can be evaluated fairly accurately by trained observers.

Hence, we conclude that an attitude of fair-minded appreciation of its value can be obtained through a consideration of mental measurement.

Evaluation refers to the value judgment made on the phenomena taking into consideration the quantitative and qualitative information collected on it over a particular period of time.

Key Points

Functions of evaluation: 

• Guidance: The purpose of the guidance is served when evaluation enables a learner to know his or her pace of learning or lapses made while learning. On the basis of achievement in various subjects or other abilities, students can be helped to plan for educational courses or jobs for the future.
• Feedback: Evaluation results provide feedback to students and educational programs in order to bring about an improvement in the system. Feedback enables learners to rectify their errors and improve their learning strategies effectively.
• Diagnosis: The purpose of the evaluation is to help us identify the learning difficulties experienced by individuals or groups. This might help us in producing suitable materials for a given group of learners.
• Motivation: It is only the evaluation of learning which motivates the students to learn. if there is no evaluation in the classroom perhaps the students would not study at all. It promotes a healthy competitive spirit in children and stimulates them to show their excellence. ​​

Hence, we conclude that ideological indoctrination is not a function of evaluation.

Hint

• Ideological indoctrination refers to a collection of ideas that serve as the foundation for political action and represent the values and goals of a society, political system, etc. 

Assessment is a process of gaining information about the learning of a student and making value judgments on their learning progress. It includes a qualitative and quantitative description of the learning process of students. 

Key Points

•  The purpose of Formative Assessment is to know the progress of students and teachers during the instructional process.
• It helps teachers and students monitor their progress in the teaching-learning process.
• Any type of strategies and techniques like asking questions, unit tests, class tests, observations, filling work-sheet, etc. can be used for formative assessment by a teacher.
• Continuous feedback on students’ performance will help them encourage or strengthen their learning process and remove or correct their misconceptions.
• It is equally important in their success and failure.
• Based on the assessment a teacher can modify or change their instructional strategy that enhances the performance of the students.
• Since formative assessments are for improving the teaching-learning process, the results usually are not included in the final grade.

Thus, it is concluded that formative assessments are in-process evaluations of student learning that are typically administered multiple times during a unit, course, or academic program.

Additional Information

Constructivism is basically a theory-based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

Key Points

• Constructivist approach to assessment is formative rather than summative.
• Its purpose is to improve the quality of student learning, not to provide evidence for evaluating or grading students.
• In the context of the constructivist approach, assessments need to gauge the progress of students in achieving the three major learning outcomes of the constructivist approach: conceptual understanding in science, abilities to perform scientific inquiry, and understanding of inquiry.
• Assessments have to respond to the particular needs and characteristics of the teachers, students, and science content.
• Assessment is context-specific: what works well in one class will not necessarily work in another.
• Assessment is an ongoing process. Teachers get feedback from students on their learning.

Thus, it is concluded that the constructivist approach to assessment is formative rather than summative.

Additional Information

Rubrics can be simple, with a few criteria, or complex, with several criteria adding up to a score. Rubrics can be holistic (simplistic) or analytic (detailed). It can be general or task-specific. In other words, rubrics are usually categorized based on two different aspects – assessment criteria and performance tasks.

Key Points

• A rubric is a multi-purpose scoring guide for assessing student products and performances.
• Rubrics help improve teaching, contribute to sound assessment, and serve as a source of information for program improvement.
• A rubric for assessment, usually in the form of a matrix or grid, is a tool used to interpret and grade students’ work against criteria and standards.
• A rubric makes explicit a range of assessment criteria and expected performance standards.
• Rubrics are sometimes called “criteria sheets”, “grading schemes”, or “scoring guides”.
• Rubrics serve as a guide to both students and teachers.
• For students, for example, it serves as a guide for self-assessment of their performance and also knowing what to expect on how a teacher will be grading their assignment.
• It also guides them to complete their assignments.
• On the other hand, teachers can use it to assess student’s work in an assignment or in a course and ensure objectivity in their grading. 

Thus, it is concluded that the rubric is a multi-purpose scoring guide for assessing student products and performances.      

Remedial education is given to pupils to help them meet expectations in fundamental academic abilities like reading and numeracy.

Key Points

• Remedial teaching is the teaching or instructional work carried out to provide remedial measures to help the pupils to get rid of their common or specific weaknesses.
• The ultimate goal of remedial teaching is to assist students who have fallen behind in their learning and to help them return as much as possible to the regular classrooms.
• Remedial education advantages can help students acquire broad knowledge that can be used across all academic areas. Also, the training could help in lowering emotions of inadequacy, which can cause issues with motivation or conduct.

Hence, it is concluded that instructional is the correct option.

An exam is a formal test you take to demonstrate your expertise in a particular field or to get a certificate.

Key Points 

• If the results of two or more test takers are comparable, the exam is considered to be objective. 
• Objectivity examination has no place for discrimination.
• Recognizing and remembering topic knowledge is necessary for objective examinations.
• Questions of fact, sentence completion, true-false, analogy, multiple-choice, and matching are some of the different formats.
• They often cover a wider range of topics than essay examinations.
• Each question has a single, unchanging right response.

Hence, it is concluded that objectivity examination has no place for discrimination.

The term 'assessment' usually refers to the process of allotting a quantitative value to students' achievements. As you already know, all types of achievements cannot be assessed by only a single method. You are to use several tools to assess different kinds of achievement which are technically called 'tools of assessment'. 

Key PointsThe term ‘Portfolio’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Portare’, which means ‘to carry’ and ‘foglio’, which means a ‘sheet’.

• Portfolio assessment emphasizes evaluation of student's progress, processes, and performance over time.
• Portfolios are systematic, purposeful and meaningful collections of student's work in one or more subject areas. 
• Portfolios help teachers to access the students' individual learning styles and to communicate in a better way with parents of students about their learning.
• Portfolios are valued as an assessment tool because as representations of classroom based performance, they can be fully integrated into the curriculum.
• A portfolio culture supports an interactive community of learners who takes responsibility for demonstrating what they know and what they can do i.e. students learn to assess their own progress as learners. 

Hence, we can conclude that portfolio assessment emphasizes evaluation of student's progress, processes, and performance over time.

Important Points

• Evaluation is “a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data in order to determine whether, and to what degree, objectives have been, or are being, achieved (Gay, 1991)”. It leads to decision making. 

Tests may be of different forms, such as psychological test used to measure mental and behavioral traits, achievement test to assess performances of students, etc. They can be used to assess both the scholastic and co-scholastic abilities of the students.

Key Points

• The anecdotal records provide a means for the observation of one’s behavior
• The anecdotal records are used to record specific observations of individual student behaviours, skills and attitudes as they relate to the outcomes in the program of studies.
• Anecdotal records should be factual report of an event in a child’s life reported with adequate details so that it is a meaningful evidence of his/her behavior.
• A good Anecdotal record has the following features:
  • It provides an accurate description of any event.
  • It describes a setting sufficiently to give the events meaning.
  • If it includes interpretations or evaluation by the recorder, this interpretation is separated from the description and its different status is clearly identified.
  • The event relates to the child’s personal development or social interactions. 

Hence, we can conclude that the anecdotal records are used to record specific observations of individual student behaviours, skills and attitudes as they relate to the outcomes in the program of studies.

Additional Information

Educational drama is defined as “drama in which there is no external audience, no prepared script, and in which the teacher frequently takes on roles with students” (Wihelm & Edmiston, 1998, p.4).

Key Points

• Metaxis is a pedagogical approach used in character formation where the student is encouraged to perform a character while simultaneously retaining a sense of themselves: in essence, maintaining their own identity while playing another.
• Researchers in drama education have claimed that metaxis grows and deepens empathic engagement in learning in this art form.
• For example, a student playing the role of a scientist is metaaxically engaging in the character of scientist but simultaneously reflecting on that process as a student.
•  character of scientist but simultaneously reflecting on that process as a student. This is a kind of reflection-in-action in which the student draws from their own dramatic skills while reflecting on the identities of other characters.
• Through metaxis, identity becomes critical as an exploration of the ‘other’, including other characters and other student identities within the class. 

Hence, we can conclude that metaxis is a pedagogical approach used in character formation where the student is encouraged to perform a character while simultaneously retaining a sense of themselves: in essence, maintaining their own identity while playing another.

Achievement tests are generally classified as standardized tests and teacher-made tests. Normally in schools, teacher-made tests are used.

• The teacher-made achievement tests assess student achievement in relation to the instruction provided in a school.
• Standardized tests are constructed by test construction specialists, usually with the assistance of curriculum experts, teachers, and school administrators.

Key Points

• Standardized Achievement Tests are used to evaluate outcomes and content that have been determined irrespective of what has been taught.
• They are pre-tested and selected on the basis of difficulty and discrimination power.
• Reliability is usually high. 
• The procedure of its administration is standardized and specific instructions for its administration and scoring are provided.
• Standardized procedures are used for the submission, scoring, and interpretation of test results.
• Scores can be compared to norm groups, test manuals, and other guides for interpretation and use.
• Standardized tests are useful when the purpose of testing is to compare a student's performance in different content areas.
• To find the status of an individual student, class, or school system in a wider population.
• To compare classes or schools among themselves.
• To measure growth over a period of years.

Thus, it is concluded that the tasks used are deliberately designed to measure clearly defined areas of performance, and standardized procedures are used for the submission, scoring, and interpretation of test results.

Peer assessment is a set of activities through which individuals make judgments about the work of others. It provides a structured learning process for students to critique and provide feedback to each other on their work.

Key Points

• Peer assessment help students by organizing their learning by talking and interacting with their classmates.
• Learn how to give and receive constructive, specific feedback based on clear criteria.
• Empower students to take responsibility for and manage their own learning. 
• Enable students to learn to assess and give others constructive feedback to develop lifelong assessment skills. 
•  It helps students develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, and also equips them with skills to self-assess and improve their own work.
• Enhance students' learning through knowledge diffusion and exchange of ideas. 
• Motivate students to engage with course material more deeply. 

Thus, it is concluded that the peer assessment help students by organizing their learning by talking and interacting with their classmates, and learning how to give and receive constructive, specific feedback based on clear criteria.