Formative assessment is used in the first attempt of developing instruction. When leaving the house in the morning, for example, one does not know with certainty that it is going to rain, but may reasonably decide to take an umbrella on the basis of such evidence as the morning weather report and the clouds in the sky. Assessment is widely agreed to be of great importance, but that is where agreement ends and contestation over what it is begins. Although assessment can provide valuable information about a student’s competence, scores may nevertheless vary for reasons unrelated to achievement, such as the specific content being assessed, the particular format of the assessment items, the timing and conditions for administering the assessment, or the health of the student on that particular day. Ideally, teachers’ goals for learning should be consistent with those of large-scale assessments and vice versa. Assessments serve a vital role in providing information to help students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers reach decisions. Assessment programs are being used to focus public attention on educational concerns; to change curriculum, instruction, and teaching practices; and to motivate educators and students to work harder and achieve at higher levels (Haertel, 1999; Linn, 2000). In the context of large-scale assessment, the interpretation method is usually a statistical model, which is a characterization or summarization of patterns one would expect to see in the data given varying levels of student, BOX 2–2 Methods for Observing Children’s Rules for Solving Balance-Scale Problems. Like all teaching and learning, assessment needs to be inclusive in its approach to assessing learners‟ For example, statistics teachers need to know more than the fact that a student does not understand probability; they need to know the details of this misunderstanding, such as the student’s tendency to confuse conditional and compound probability. Using multiple measures rather than relying on a single test score provides a richer picture of what students know and are able to do. Page 43. Also known as “the nation’s report card,” NAEP is administered periodically in core academic subjects to students at certain ages. Functions of Student-centred Approaches to Assessment in Teacher Education, Revisiting the Teaching Practicum: Effecting Innovation or Entrenching the Status Quo? nents, that provide a variety of evidence to inform and support educational decision making. For instance, on the basis of research with learners, developmental psychologist Robert Siegler (1998) has identified rules (both correct and erroneous) learners appear to use to solve problems in various mathematical and scientific domains. I must again express my appreciation for the very positive and constructive response there has been to the Review from across Wales. There are 3 main and primary purpose for continuous assessment: Enhancing the student’s learning. They called me “Dodo” because they thought I was stupid. Using questionnaires, observations and interviews, data were obtained from Grade 1, 2 and 3 teachers from a school each in quintile 2, 3 and 5. You are currently offline. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. In general, however, the more purposes a single assessment aims to serve, the more. Instead, what is being proposed in this report is that assessment design be based on a representation or approximation of cognition that is both consistent with a richer psychological perspective and at a level of detail sufficient to accomplish the job of assessment. Assessment in the Foundation Phase is aimed at teachers and student teachers. Three foundational elements, comprising what is referred to in this report as the “assessment triangle,” underlie all assessments. The purpose of an assessment determines priorities, and the context of use imposes constraints on the design. Such discussions may appear to lack relevance and come across as tedious and uninteresting when in fact the history of assessment and testing practices may shed light on how assessment practices evolved and why specific procedures, which may appear foreign or confusing, are used today ( Greg-ory, 2007 ). In this report, this is referred to as assessment of individual achievement, or summative assessment.1, Some of the most familiar forms of summative assessment are those used by classroom teachers, such as end-of-unit tests and letter grades assigned when a course is finished. This finding may reflect an intermediate or transitional state of responding, which would not be unexpected in children’s development. 25 October 2018. Ideally, an assessment should measure what students are actually being taught, and what is actually being taught should parallel the curriculum one wants students to learn. In light of these considerations, Siegler formulated an observation method that he called the rule assessment method to determine which rule a given child is using (see Box 2–2). Reda Davin was a senior lecturer and programme manager in BEd (ECD), PGCE (ECD) and Foundation Phase progammes for 31 years. The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3 to 7-year-old children) in Wales. Assessment users always reason in the presence of uncertainty; as a result, the information produced by an assessment is typically incomplete, inconclusive, and amenable to more than one explanation. competency. Finally, if the goal of basing assessment on an appropriate model of learning is to be realized, cognitive models will need to be developed for a broader range of the curriculum. These findings should derive from cognitive and educational research about how people learn, as well as the experience of expert teachers (Webb, 1992). The purpose of an assessment determines priorities, and the context of use imposes constraints on the design. Every assessment, regardless of its purpose, rests on three pillars: a model of how students represent knowledge and develop competence in the subject domain, tasks or situations that allow one to observe students’ performance, and an interpretation method for drawing inferences from the performance evidence thus obtained. Statutory guidance; Guidance. Evaluating the Foundation Phase: The outcomes of Foundation Phase pupils up to 2011/12 (Report 2) The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3 to 7-year-old children) in Wales. Depending on the purpose for an assessment, one might distinguish from one to hundreds of aspects of student competence to be sampled. This report describes ways in which substantially more valid and useful inferences could be drawn from largescale assessments. Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes. This type of assessment is not the focus of this report, although many of the theoretical underpinnings discussed here apply to assessments used for any purpose. Curriculum consists of the knowledge and skills in subject areas that teachers teach and students learn. Table of Contents. One such principle is that assessment is always a process of reasoning from evidence. However, a lever (not shown in the figure) is typically set to hold the arm motionless. For example, a school whose students have higher test scores is not necessarily better than one whose students have lower test scores. One familiar type of classroom assessment is a teacher-made quiz, but assessment also includes more informal methods for determining how students are progressing in their learning, such as classroom projects. Looking at models of assessment, the book draws heavily on examples of real assessments from practice, and the relevant theory is explained in context. But we must stop and ask a crucial question: What kind of assessment is most effective? Alignment is difficult to achieve, however. Black and Wiliam (1998, p. 59) emphasize that a major problem to be addressed relates to “the possible confusions and tensions, both for teachers and learners, between the formative and summative purposes which their work might have to serve…if an optimum balance is not sought, formative work will always be insecure because of the threat of renewed dominance by the summative.” The contrast between classroom and large-scale assessments arises from the different purposes they serve and contexts in which they are used. This report addresses assessments used in both classroom and largescale contexts for three broad purposes: to assist learning, to measure individual achievement, and to evaluate programs. In terms of absenteeism, the available evidence to date suggests that the introduction of the Foundation Phase, among Final Roll-out schools, has been associated with … at Year 6). A cognitive model of learning should serve as the cornerstone of the assessment design process. Often what is lacking is a central theory around which the three functions can be coordinated. Rule III—If both weight and distance are equal, predict that the scale will balance. When deciding which activity to be used, both the intended learning outcomes and the learning activities need to be I am pleased to present the report arising from that Review for your consideration. Knowing What Students Know essentially explains how expanding knowledge in the scientific fields of human learning and educational measurement can form the foundations of an improved approach to assessment. This is your chance to get to know the new curriculum and make your contribution. As in judging teacher performance, the quality of inputs—such as the entry characteristics of students or educational resources available—must also be considered. In that case, calculate torques by multiplying weight times distance on each side. To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter. The following subsections address issues of purpose and use by examining three broad purposes served by assessments in classroom and large-scale contexts: assisting learning, measuring individual student achievement, and evaluating programs. Several important points should be made about the purposes of assessment. What is measured and how the information is used depend to a great extent on the curriculum that is taught and the instructional methods used. However, there is no certainty that teachers in the foundation phase of schools in poor environments have the skills to teach literacy in the Assessment in the Foundation Phase sets out recommended techniques and tools to assess learners’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, and applies these to all subjects prescribed by CAPS. Ask students to reflect on the group work process. For example, on the basis of the cognitive model presented in Box 2–1, Siegler (1976) designed situations to observe which rules, if any, describe how a child is solving balance-scale problems. According to the results of this review, students learn more when they receive feedback about particular qualities of their work, along with advice on what they can do to improve. each purpose will be compromised. Advances in the sciences of how people learn and how to measure such learning offer the hope of developing new kinds of assessments-assessments that help students succeed in school by making as clear as possible the nature of their accomplishments and the progress of their learning. Wales from Foundation Phase to Key Stage 4. Foundation Phase: Learner Activity and/or Assessment Task 5 Learning Area: Literacy Grades R-3 Dodo I am a Dodo, a large bird from Mauritius that couldn’t fly. Most would agree that there is a need for both classroom and large-scale assessments in the educational system; one challenge is to make stronger connections between the two so they work together to support a common set of learning goals. R - 12 . Foundation Phase in order to highlight the impact it has on their morale and general classroom management. New technologies and software applications are also changing the nature and use of assessments in innumerable ways, given that digital-assessment systems typically offer an array of features that traditional paper-based tests and assignments cannot. It expresses how the observations derived from a set of assessment tasks constitute evidence about the knowledge and skills being assessed. Each also plays a role in making decisions and setting policies for assessment, curriculum, and instruction, although the locus of power shifts depending on the type of decision involved. The first question in the assessment reasoning process is “evidence about what?” Data become evidence in an analytic problem only when one has established their relevance to a conjecture being considered (Schum, 1987, p. 16). Cognitive researchers, for example, would seek evidence about how learners approach problems, including what they understand about why they are being asked to solve these problems, as well as the strategies they then use for solution. Third, there is a need for better alignment among the various purposes of assessment. As shown in Figure 2–1, the corners of the triangle represent the three key elements underlying any assessment noted earlier: a model of student cognition and learning in the domain, a set of beliefs about the kinds of observations that will provide evidence of students’ competencies, and an interpretation process for making sense of the evidence. Assessment In this section you will find tasks to support the various roles of assessment (diagnostic, formative, summative). The Foundation Phase Profile was introduced in September 2015 and it is statutory for schools to use the Profile to undertake baseline assessments of children at the start of Reception Year. Also emphasized is the significant potential for advances in the cognitive and measurement sciences to improve classroom assessment. Moreover, even when these criteria for assessment are met, care must be taken not to extend the results to reach conclusions not supported by the evidence. Teachers can use information from these types of assessment to adapt their instruction to meet students’ needs, which may be difficult to anticipate and are likely to vary from one student to another. This study explores foundation phase teachers’ assessment literacy, and their understanding and use of formative and summative assessment. I develop an assessment schedule to help me plan out how I will gather the appropriate information in the remaining time. Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name. The Review Team has visited schools across the country and seen at first hand many examples of excellent work. Although assessments used in various contexts and for differing purposes often look quite different, they share certain common principles. Reliability denotes the consistency of an assessment’s results when the assessment procedure is repeated on a population of individuals or groups. As with evaluating teachers, care must be taken not to extend the results of assessments at a particular school to reach conclusions not supported by the evidence. … Foundation Phase child development assessment profile 3 How to assess and record assessments using the record form Each of the six Developmental Areas span seven ‘Steps’ and each ‘Step’ is represented by two or three Descriptions of Behaviour. In reality, however, this is often not the case. One must therefore draw inferences about what students know and can do on the basis of what one sees them say, do, or make in a handful of particular situations. In this case, the purpose is to rank order examinees in relation to their general verbal and quantitative abilities, so a more detailed theory may not be necessary. In addition, qualifying graduates will be guided to understand … Foundation Phase teachers alluded to a number of opinions on implementing IE but in particular indicated more support for teachers so that they could help learners experiencing barriers to learning and development. In this report, the process of collecting evidence to support the types of inferences one wants to draw is referred to as reasoning from. BOX 2–3 Interpreting Observations of Student Performance on Balance-Scale Problems. Too often, high-stakes assessments are used to make decisions that are inappropriate in light of the limitations discussed above. Carpet Child was sitting on carpet. Viewed from the other perspective, assessment has a strong effect on both curriculum and instruction. It is intended to provide a starting point from An assessment is a tool designed to observe students’ behavior and produce data that can be used to draw reasonable inferences about what students know. Weight problems—Unequal amounts of weights, equidistant from the fulcrum. They may do so either orally or in writing. At the time when this research was conducted, the revised curriculum statement (South Africa, DoE 2002) was in use. But these practices are rare, and classroom assessment is often weak. Note that all of the issues introduced briefly below are discussed more fully in Chapter 6. The chain of reasoning determines what to look for in what students say, do, or produce and why it constitutes evidence about what they know and can do. End of Foundation Phase assessment: Exemplifications of outcomes . 1.7 ASSESSMENT 15 1.7.1 Nature of Assessment 15 1.7.2 Planning for Assessment 16 1.7.3 Assessment Strategies 17. This is also your chance to adjust the overall lesson plan to overcome any unexpected challenges that may have arisen, preparing you for the next time you teach this lesson. In reality, however, these two forms of assessment are often out of alignment. These targets of inference for a given assessment will be a subset of the larger theory of how people learn the subject matter. 2020 Revised Curriculum . nature and purpose of assessment, and to gain confidence in their assessment practices. The tasks selected for observation should be developed with the purpose of the assessment in mind. We look to these assessment tools when documenting whether students and institutions are truly meeting education goals. The different forms of bullying, such as disruptive behavior, physical violence, namecalling, teasing and disrespect to teachers, form part - of the aspects to be discussed in this study. Some of these actions emanate from the top down, while others arise from the bottom up. Standardized assessments do communicate efficiently across time and place— but by so constraining the content and timeliness of the message that they often have little utility in the classroom. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding. This statement contained two documents that made reference to the foundation phase. A precept of educational practice is the need for alignment among curriculum, instruction, and assessment (e.g., NCTM, 1995; Webb, 1997). Summative assessment This is not necessarily a problem as long as the assessment designers and users recognize the compromises and trade-offs involved. The quality of inputs—such as the entry characteristics of students or educational resources available—must also be considered. : a guide nature of assessment in the foundation phase learning should be developed with the greater torque go. 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