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A. Answer as required. Review your readings.
1. Discuss the importance of assessment in teaching and learning. Why the need to vary our way of
assessing learning?
The term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate,
measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs
of students. Assessment is essential in teaching and learning process because it determines whether or not
the students have met the curriculum outcomes or the learning goals. Through assessment, the teachers
can identify the strength and weaknesses of students in a particular learning area thus they can provide
feedback on students’ performance. Without using assessment in learning process, the teacher may fail to
improve students’ performance because he/she does not know which part of the curriculum that a student
needs improvement. The teacher will never know if the goals and objectives were achieved or not.
A well-designed assessment provides valuable information about students learning. It tells what
students have learned, how well they learned it, and where they struggled. Moreover, assessment can be
used to evaluate teaching approaches and learning experiences. It will help teachers to improve their
teaching techniques and the curriculum too. For instance, if the assessment shows low performance of
students, the teacher will reflect and think that his/her teaching is not effective so there’s a need to innovate
and use other strategy.
Students are unique. They differ from each other in terms of thinking and learning styles, and
multiple intelligences. Therefore, the teacher should use a variety of ways of assessing learning. A teacher
should vary their way of assessing learning to cater to all learners.
2. What is meant by performance assessment? Give examples.
A performance assessment values application of knowledge and skills. It requires students to
demonstrate what they have learned rather than recalling facts or information. In a performance
assessment, students should produce something that is useful for evaluating their progress and
development. Portfolio assessment is more on practical application. It encourages students to use higher-
order thinking skills. It engages students to different activities which are relevant in real world. It helps
learners to acquire and develop knowledge, skills, abilities or competencies to solve real life problems. One
of the examples is writing an action paper. Students should identify some issues in their community,
analyze it, and suggest or recommend ways on how to address the problem.
Examples:
Role playing
Writing movie analysis
Doing science experiments
Composing a song
Writing essays
Laboratory tests
3. Cite one strength of portfolio assessment.
A portfolio assessment is important in assessing students’ growth and development in learning. It is
done through collecting students’ work that shows their competencies, exemplary work, achievement, and
progress in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the
criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit and evidence of student self-reflection. Portfolio
assessment is an authentic evaluation tool that allows students to reflect on their learning.
One of the strengths of a portfolio assessment is that it develops active and independent learners.
Portfolio assessment enables students to select and justify portfolio choices; monitor progress and set
learning goals. Students become independent and active learners because portfolio assessment
encourages them to take responsibilities for their own learning. Students use skills and think creatively to
show uniqueness of their work. Moreover, portfolio assessment caters to different types of learners.
Therefore, it is possible that all students will become active and independent.
4. What is the best way to evaluate progress in developing values and attitudes?
To evaluate students’ progress in developing values and attitudes, students should write a self-
report. Self-report, also called as “written reflection” is the most common measurement tool in the affective
domain. It essentially contains student’s account of what he/she feels towards a particular concept, idea, or
people. In writing self-reports, the teacher asks his or her students to write their thoughts on the subject
matter. The students will write whether they like the subject or not and state the reasons. The teacher
ensures that the students write something which would demonstrate the various levels of the taxonomy in
the affective domain.
With self-report, the teacher will know if the students like or dislike the subject matter. The teacher
will know whether or not the students enjoy the activities and working with their peers or classmates.
Through self-report, the teacher will be able to assess and evaluate the values, attitudes and feelings of the
students.
1. Emphasize on self-assessment.
A teacher should select an appropriate assessment which aligns to the learning objectives or
relates to the instruction and curriculum. Significantly, the teacher should use an assessment that helps
students to accept and take control of their own learning and assessment. Self-assessment is a type of
assessment that enables learners to reflect on their own learning. As a teacher, it is our goal to help
students become independent and develop skills and competencies that are essential for successful
learning. One of the ways to make them independent and develop skills such as critical thinking and
creative thinking is through self-assessment.
Self-assessment encourages students to critically evaluate their own learning and progress. It
promotes self-centered learning because it allows student to manage their own learning. Self-assessment
enables students to examine their own strengths and weaknesses. When students identify or find out their
weaknesses, they will seek for improvement and they will define their own goals and objectives in learning.
Then, the students will strive harder to acquire and develop skills and competencies that are essential for
their academic growth and learning.
Self-assessment is essential and efficient tool to evaluate students’ progress and learning. It
should be emphasized in every assessment because it motivates and teaches students to accept their
responsibility of their own learning. Through self-assessment, the students can monitor and evaluate their
own progress and development. Therefore, there is a greater chance that they can improve and achieve
learning competencies.
