Enabling Learning and Assessment
- Submitted by: janetp
- Views: 1043
- Category: Other
- Date Submitted: 10/14/2011 05:16 AM
- Pages: 8
- Report this Essay
Enabling Learning and Assessment
Assessments are used to plan and enable learning for students. Kathryn Ecclestone’s theory looks at the key characteristics an assessment should have:
“A method of assessment may have to demonstrate one or more of the following characteristics: reliability, validity, consistency, authenticity, dependability, fairness.”
(2003, p33)
I will look at all the assessments used within my current practice, evaluate them and compare then to Ecclestone’s interpretation of what makes a good assessment. I will also make suggestions for improvements which could be made for these assessments.
The first step for all my students is an Initial Assessment. It is a formative assessment, which is a mandatory requirement in my organisation. A formative assessment is always needed to plan a student’s learning. The majority of these Initial assessments are completed on a computer, but there are written versions available if needed. The computer version of the Initial Assessment determines a student’s current level of knowledge in Maths or English by asking a selection of questions. If a student gets questions right then the overall level for the student is higher, and if they are answering questions incorrectly then their level is lower. Looking at Kathryn Ecclestone’s theory of the Key Characteristics of Assessment, I have found that the IA is not always reliable. The results are not always consistent with the learner’s actual level of knowledge, which means a further Diagnostic Assessment very often needs to be taken. I also carry out verbal assessments to try and determine whether the level that the IA has produced is accurate. I believe that to improve the IA and make it a fair assessment, all students should take the paper assessment rather than the computer based one. This would then mean that the results could be looked over in more detail and discussed more precisely with the student. It would then give me a chance to provide more...
Assessments are used to plan and enable learning for students. Kathryn Ecclestone’s theory looks at the key characteristics an assessment should have:
“A method of assessment may have to demonstrate one or more of the following characteristics: reliability, validity, consistency, authenticity, dependability, fairness.”
(2003, p33)
I will look at all the assessments used within my current practice, evaluate them and compare then to Ecclestone’s interpretation of what makes a good assessment. I will also make suggestions for improvements which could be made for these assessments.
The first step for all my students is an Initial Assessment. It is a formative assessment, which is a mandatory requirement in my organisation. A formative assessment is always needed to plan a student’s learning. The majority of these Initial assessments are completed on a computer, but there are written versions available if needed. The computer version of the Initial Assessment determines a student’s current level of knowledge in Maths or English by asking a selection of questions. If a student gets questions right then the overall level for the student is higher, and if they are answering questions incorrectly then their level is lower. Looking at Kathryn Ecclestone’s theory of the Key Characteristics of Assessment, I have found that the IA is not always reliable. The results are not always consistent with the learner’s actual level of knowledge, which means a further Diagnostic Assessment very often needs to be taken. I also carry out verbal assessments to try and determine whether the level that the IA has produced is accurate. I believe that to improve the IA and make it a fair assessment, all students should take the paper assessment rather than the computer based one. This would then mean that the results could be looked over in more detail and discussed more precisely with the student. It would then give me a chance to provide more...