The Process of Developing Assessment

Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.
Assessment should be valid and reliable. A valid assessment is one which measures what it is intended to measure. For example, it would not be valid to assess driving skills through a written test (alone); the most valid way of assessing driving skills would be through a combination of practical assessment and written test. Teachers frequently complain that some examinations do not properly assess the syllabus upon which the examination is based; they are, effectively, questioning the validity of the exam.
Reliability relates to the consistency of an assessment. A reliable assessment is one which consistently achieves the same results with the same (or similar) cohort of students. Various factors affect reliability -- including ambiguous questions, too many options within a question paper, vague marking instructions and poorly trained markers.
A good assessment is valid and reliable. Note that an assessment may be reliable but invalid or unreliable and invalid, but an assessment can not be unreliable and valid. In practice, an assessment is rarely completely valid or entirely reliable.
The teaching and learning cycle represents the four stages that occur in the design and delivery of classroom tasks that incorporate an outcomes-based approach. The cycle has no start or end point, with each step informing the next. It is the process of gathering data and reflection that dictates where in the cycle you need to be operating.

What does the teaching and learning cycle look like?

 

Planning and Teaching

Effective planning leads to focused teaching.  Using the analysis of the sample, the teacher plans for the teaching event.  The teacher’s understandings of the reading process and writing process guide her in selecting a teaching objective.

Instruction can be whole group, small group, or individual.  The teacher will often group children with similar needs.  She chooses a resource that will help her achieve her objective and then determines the approach based on the amount of support needed by the learner(s).  Students of all ages experience being read to, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading, and writing demonstrations, shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing on a daily basis. 

The teacher’s careful planning provides an experience for the student that scaffolds new learning, that lifts the learner to the next level of understanding, and that in the process provides a new assessment sample for the teacher to evaluate.

Specifications

A specification is a detailed description of exactly what is being assessed and how it is being done. An assessment instrument built on specifications is coherent and cohesive. Specifications might include:

• general description of the assessment
• list of skills to be tested
• teciques for assessing
• expected level of performance  

Assessment is important because of all the decisions you will make about children when teaching and caring for them. The decisions facing our three teachers at the beginning of this chapter all involve how best to educate children. Like them, you will be called upon every day to make decisions before, during, and after your teaching. Whereas some of these decisions will seem small and inconsequential, others will be “high stakes,” influencing the life course of children. All of your assessment decisions taken as a whole will direct and alter children’s learning outcomes.