Learning Assessment Tools
Contents
Introduction 2
Case 1: Assessment and Observation 2
Standardized state test scores 2
The decision for choosing the assessment tool 3
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool 3
The validity and reliability of the tool 4
Case 2: Assessment and Observation 4
Authentic performance or role play assessment tool 4
Designing the tool 4
The decision for choosing the tool. 4
Advantages and disadvantages of the assessment tool 5
The validity and reliability of the tool 5
Case 3 Assessment and observation 5
Child behavior checklist 5
The decision for choosing the tool 5
Designing the tool 6
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool 7
Validity and reliability of behavior checklist tool 8
Case 4 Assessment and observation 8
Standardized state test score assessment tool 8
Description and design of the tool 8
Reading Comprehension 8
The decision for choosing the tool 9
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool 9
Reliability and validity of the assessment tool 9
Case 5 Planning and assessment 10
Planning Thematic lesson 10
The design of thematic lesson plan 10
The decision for choosing the plan 12
Case 6 Assessment (Validity and reliability) 12
The challenges associated with the assessment process 12
Conclusions 13
References 14
Introduction
Children’s learning environment plays a crucial role in supporting their successful performance. Therefore, teachers should provide quality educational programmers that support students’ ability to reach their full educational potentials. One such strategy is to assess student’s learning progress towards supporting their learning needs. An instructor can use any of the several learning assessment tools that match explicitly with the student’s curriculum and learning goals. Therefore, the suitability of every assessment tool is largely dependent on the level of students’ learning, the desired educational outcomes, and the knowledge discipline to be taught. As such, identifying several learning case study scenarios helps explain each assessment method that instructors can use to observe and evaluate the learning progress of learners.
Case 1: Assessment and Observation
Standardized state test scores
Standardized state test scores can be used to assess the language learning of (kindergarten level 2) KG2 children. The test is standardized for the entire class and administered to reflect on a child’s mastery of the learning concepts.
A design of standardized test score
An instructor can read out the standardized tests for student’s responses. The following are samples of questions to test student’s learning progress.
Questions Options
Can you tick letter A from the following questions Y
G
H
A
U
Can you state the first letter of your name ……..
How many letters are there in the title of the course book?
Can you list down letter A to Z
The decision for choosing the assessment tool
I chose this assessment tool to assess the learning of KG2 students since it is essential to assess students’ formal learning by assessing the three cored domains of language learning, including reading, listening, and learning. The tool will report the ability of the KG2 children to make marks, engaging in emergent writing, and support children’s writing by writing off memory the letters associated with their names.
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool
Standardized test score assessment tools are beneficial in supporting student’s formal learning. The tool positively influences the motivation of top achievers, thereby encouraging better learning performance. On the contrary, this tool negatively impacts students’ learning, especially on learners scoring low grades (McKown, 2017). The motivation of these students may be reduced, thereby discouraging them from exploiting their potential abilities to learn. Standardized testing is also predictable, and students may only master the test answers prompting the test results non-reflective of the student’s understanding.
The validity and reliability of the tool
A standardized test score tool is a reliable measure of students’ performance by eliminating the local influencers of learning. For instance, it only measures intuitive learning abilities free from environmentally-related factors of teaching (Russo et al., 2019). The assessment tool also validly assesses children’s learning by using computers to grade learners and therefore does not encourage human bias based on value judgments.
Case 2: Assessment and Observation
Authentic performance or role play assessment tool
Authentic performance assessment tools can be used to assess and track children’s performance in reaching mathematics task-related milestones.
Designing the tool
The assessment can start by asking students to engage in math-related tasks. An instructor may then investigate students’ operations in predicting patterns, adding and subtracting numbers using concrete objects, and how they integrate and arrive at mathematical data. For instance, a teacher could ask students learning mathematical fractions to form pairs and show them how to divide ten pencils among two other children.
Assessment Criteria Scoring Guide
An understanding of the problem 0; The problem is completely misunderstood
1; The problem is partially understood
2; The problem is completely understood
Planning the solution 0; No problem planning
1; Problem planning is partially done
2; A well formulated plan
Getting the answer 0; No answer
1; Error in computations
2; Correct answer
The decision for choosing the tool.
I chose this tool since it presents a practical approach to supporting kindergarten children to learn key addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and interpreting data by reinforcing these concepts with real-life situations.
Advantages and disadvantages of the assessment tool
An authentic performance tool provides an opportunity for instructors to easily and quickly evaluate the learning abilities of learners. It further reinforces students’ learning with the use of real-life situations in a learning environment (Herdiawan, 2018). However, this assessment relies on value judgment and may be biased depending on an instructor’s interpretation of the student’s performances.
The validity and reliability of the tool
This assessment tool is reliable since it provides high student engagement and the ability to use classroom skills in other non-class environments. The tool also shows how student performance can be improved by enhancing their competency in engaging in real-life situations, thereby confirming its validity to assess performance.
Case 3 Assessment and observation
Child behavior checklist
This tool assesses the students’ emotional, personal, and social development throughout their learning environment.
The decision for choosing the tool
In my view, choosing this assessment tool helps design checklist questions to screen the child’s disability issues towards generating information to provide evidence of any suspected cases of their anti-social behavior. I consider the checklist helpful in evaluating the student’s initial and ongoing unique behaviors.
Designing the tool
The observation and Assessment of the student’s non-interactive behaviors can be completed by conducting an interview based on a predesigned checklist within one month and the report used in identifying necessary interventions to support the students’ disability needs as presented below.
Period Skill Yes No
1 week The child maintains eye contact with student
Smiles during social conversations
Laughs during play
Frequently cries
Explores learning objects
Week 2 Establishing eye contact with student
Smiles during social conversations
Laughs during play
Frequently cries
Explores learning objects
Week 3 Establishing eye contact with student
Smiles during social conversations
Laughs during play
Frequently cries
Explores learning objects
Week 4 Establishing eye contact with student
Smiles during social conversations
Laughs during play
Frequently cries
Explores learning objects
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool
Using a checklist to assess the student’s behaviors is crucial in enhancing the objectivity of the behavior Assessment process. The student, a respondent, has the opportunity to respond to only the questions of their interests honestly. This assessment approach is also crucial in enhancing the productivity of the investigative by enabling the interviewer to assess their accomplishments and files a report of their findings (Rahman, 2020). However, this approach limits students’ elaborate explanations of their learning issues since the instructor is limited to the provided checklist questions.
Validity and reliability of behavior checklist tool
A checklist assessment tool provides a reliable method of assessing students’ performance. The checklist questions and outcome reports show a strong competency between students’ positive behaviors and learning outcomes. Multiple learners’ behaviors also influences their success factors. A single trait such as students’ non-interactive behavior significantly influences their overall performance, thereby showing a strong validity of the checklist to predict student success.
Case 4 Assessment and observation
Standardized state test score assessment tool
Description and design of the tool
The assessment too adopts tests administered on students to assess their potentials to score class-related questions. The following sample of questions can be used to assess student’s reading abilities.
Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension
Kate loves to bake What does Kate loves doing?
1: Bake
2: Sing
She bakes her cake What does she bake?
1: A ple
2: A cake
She shares them with Jake With whom will she share them?
1: Sam
2: Jake
The decision for choosing the tool
I choose the tool based on its standardized assessment procedures for all learners and motivates better-performing students to remain hardworking into achieving high scores.
Advantages and disadvantages of the tool
This assessment program also relies on the area of scientific approaches of comparing student’s score performances. It is, therefore, free of human bias attributable to human value judgment (alexiou et al., 2019)). On the contrary, the low-grade score is known to be demotivating learning factors, thereby undermining the success of low achievers in class environments. The test scores are also predictable, and students can quickly master answers and obtain high scores that do not reflect their potentials.
Reliability and validity of the assessment tool
The test score reliably measures students’ performance by eliminating external factors affecting the learning outcome of a student and instead focuses on their intrinsic learning abilities. The assessment tool is also a valid measure of learning outcomes using computers to generate learning outcomes, thereby discouraging human value judgment.
Case 5 Planning and assessment
Planning Thematic lesson
The thematic animal learning lesson plan is designed based on pet, zoo, and farm animal features to allow learners to explore animal characteristics and behaviors while noting the similarities and differences between these animals. The lesson is divided into three parts, with the first week’s lesson focusing on pet animals. In the second week, children will learn about farm animals and zoo animals in the third week.
The design of thematic lesson plan
I. Grade level : Kindergarten
II. Unit Tittle: Pets, Zoo and Farm Animals, Different and Same
III. Unit length: 3 weeks
IV. Goals
v. Learners will be able to:
a) Observe the differences and similarities in animals
b) Observe the behaviors of animals
c) Demonstrate an ability to care for different animals
d) Observe and describe the characteristics of animals
vi. The objectives include:
Week 1
Lesson Competency
1.02 Observing and describing similarities in pet animals
1.02 Observing how pet animals interact in their environments.
1.03 Observing the similarities of human and pet animal behaviors
Week 2
Weeks Competency
1.01 Observing and describing similarities in farm animals
1.02 Observing the differences in farm animal
1.03 Observing how farm animals interact in their environment
1.04 Observing the similarities of human and farm animal behaviors
Week 3
Lesson Competency
1.01 Observing and describing similarities in zoo animals
1.02 Observing the differences in zoo animals
1.03 Observing how zoo animals interact in their environment
1.04 Observing the similarities of human and zoo animal behaviors
vii. Materials
a) Notebooks
b) Simulation items: food, bowls, collars etc.
c) Blue, or green construction papers
d) scissors
e) Markers
f) Glue stickers
g) Charts
h) Animal pictures
i) Clip boards
j) Projectors
k) Animal picture cards
l) cardstock
m) Feathers and hairs
n) Plastic animals
viii. Major ideas: Similarities and Differences
The decision for choosing the plan
I chose this plan since it creates an investigative environment for children to observe the similarities and differences in the characteristics and features of pets, farms, zoo animals, and how they relate to their environment. This plan, therefore, effectively meets the exploration and observation needs of children, crucial in reinforcing the theoretical concepts of learning.
Case 6 Assessment (Validity and reliability)
The challenges associated with the assessment process
The teacher’s decision to ask the Helpant instructor to complete the rest of the students’ assessments may undermine the reliability and the validity of the assessment program. For instance, multiple persons conducting the process of student observation may undermine the inter-rater validity of the assessment based on the varying value judgment among different teachers. The interpretation of the observed student abilities may, therefore, be different thereby resulting into inconsistent assessment outcomes. The varying teacher skills may also undermine the reliability of the assessment to reflect on students. Conducting students’ assessments by one professional is likely to eliminate the varying teacher abilities, thereby enhancing the reliability of the outcome potentials (Russo et al., 2019). To improve the reliability and validity of the observation process, I would assign the rest of the assessment processes to a senior instructor instead of an Helpant instructor. The senior teacher is more professionally experienced and is likely to make relevant observations to present consistent results with the already completed first section of the observation process.
Conclusions
The presented learning scenarios, therefore, provide helpful information explaining the need to consider an appropriate assessment method to evaluate the learning progress of learners effectively. Standardized state test scores, for instance, can be used to assess KG2 children’s literacy learning. Authentic performance assessments such as role-play are also effective tools used in assessing and tracking children’s performance in a mathematical class. On the other hand, behavior checklist questions can be used to design lists of questions to screen children’s disability issues in addressing their anti-social behaviors. Trained and experienced teachers should perform these assessment tools to enhance the reliability and validity of these assessment methods.
References
Alexiou, T. H. O. M. A. Ϊ., Roghani, S. H. A. D. A. N., & Milton, J. (2019). Assessing the vocabulary knowledge of preschool language learners. Integrating assessment into early language learning and teaching practice, 207-220.
Herdiawan, R. D. (2018). Authentic Assessment in Efl Teaching and Learning. ETERNAL (English Teaching Journal), 9(1).
McKown, C. (2017). Social-emotional assessment, performance, and standards. The future of children, 157-178.
Rahman, M. S. (2020). The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in language “testing and assessment” research: A literature review.
Russo, Jaclyn M., Amanda P. Williford, Anna J. Markowitz, Virginia E. Vitiello, and Daphna Bassok (2019). “Examining the validity of a widely-used school readiness assessment: Implications for teachers and early childhood programs.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 48, 14-25.
