In education, assessment is collecting, analysing, and interpreting data related to the student to determine learning progress. The assessment tools are the instruments and techniques that are used for evaluation and measurement to inform on the progress of knowledge acquisition.
The competency-based education system comes with many tools that can be used to assess learners’ knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes for real-life application.
The assessment tools can be formal or informal, they can be used to measure qualitatively or quantitively.
The main assessment tools that are used include tests, checklists, rubrics, portfolios, oral questions, projects, learner profiles, and journals among others. In this article, we will expound more on these tools.
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Importance of assessment tools in teaching and learning
The tools are administered and used for specific purposes depending on the types of assessment used and their objectives. The general purpose of an assessment can be to check progress on knowledge and skill acquisition and determine the weaknesses and strengths of students, teachers, or even the education system as a whole. Other purposes of assessment include
- Assessing learner’s course content mastery and skills. During the learning process, a teacher can administer an assessment to determine how learners have mastered the skill or knowledge. This can be done continually side by side with learning.
- Give feedback to the teacher on what to improve and learners who need help. Assessment can be used by teachers to get feedback on areas learners have not understood so that they can either repeat the content or get a better delivery method.
- Feedback to the learner on their weakness and strengths. After the assessment, the learner can use that to assess their weakness and strengths to determine what to focus more on.
- Monitor learner progress over time. Continuous assessments are used to monitor learner progress from one level to the next.
- Assessments are used for certification awarding after the learning level or competency is completed.
- Used to check how effective a teaching method and curriculum is. After using a specific teaching method the teacher can assess his/her student to test if it is the best delivery method.
- Each education system has goals and standards that should be followed. An assessment can be used to test whether the educational goals and standards are met.
- Used to assess prior knowledge to inform on the next instruction. Assessment can be used to test the prior knowledge of a learner either for certification or to determine which learning level they will be placed in.
- Provide feedback to education stakeholders. This is the overall purpose of assessment is to provide feedback to all parties involved in the education system. The stakeholder includes learners, teacher, administrators, education regulators, parents, government agencies, and sponsors among others.
Types of assessment tools used in the CBC curriculum
The new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) employs several tools that were not previously used in the 8-4-4 education system. Some of the main tools used are.
Written tests
This is the most common type of tool used in assessing learning. It involves learners responding to questions in written form. The questions can be in the form of multiple choice, short-answers, extended, or essay questions.
The advantage of written tests is that it is standard for all learners and they are objective reducing biases. They can also cover more content in one assessment and can be administered to many learners at the same time hence efficient.
The downside of using written tests is that they may not be able to cover high-level skills mostly for multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Again learners may perform poorly due to examination anxiety. Written tests encourage rote learning instead of content understanding.
Observation schedules/checklist
This is a testing tool that involves a teacher observing a learner perform a specific task over a given period and recording the findings. The teacher prepares a checklist of activities that will be observed as the learner conducts a task and evaluates it
An observation checklist as a tool is good for providing insight into how the learner will perform the activity in real life or a given situation. It can be used to test a wide range of skills and give immediate feedback to both the teacher and the learner. They are more flexible than written tests since they can be customized for different learners or situations.
However, the tools can be subjective, in that different observers may view things differently from the same case. It is time-consuming to conduct and it cannot cover a wide content area compared to written tests. The leaner may feel intimidated by knowing that someone is observing them which may interfere with how they conduct the task. Again for the observer to be objective and reduce bias they may require prior training on evaluating the checklist.
Questions and answers (Q&A)
The tools can be used either as written but the most common is oral question and answer. The Q&A can be used in class to test understanding of content and critical thinking.
When effectively used the tool can give immediate feedback to students and can be more engaging. The Q&A tool can be used to test the higher-order levels of knowledge such as critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis.
The main drawback of the oral Q&A technique is that it is time-consuming when dealing with a larger class. It also may be subjective if the criteria of responses are not defined and it can give student anxiety which can affect their performance.
Rubrics
These tools give a guide on how a specific assessment will be evaluated. It offers the criteria for assessing the student’s task, allowing more objectivity during evaluation.
The rubric as an assessment tool offers clear guidelines on what to score and can even be used by learners for self-assessment. They offer consistent grading across all learners and transparency on what criteria were used for scoring.
However, rubrics can be too rigid and do not allow for creativity in the responses given. It is time-consuming to develop a detailed tool and it is more complex than other assessment tools.