What Is The Role Of School Based Assessment To Students And Teachers

What is the Role of School Based Assessment to Students and Teacher

Assessment has become a critical part of the teaching and learning process in the modern era. They can be regarded as decision making efforts that are purely data driven. There are two main types of assessments which are assessment for learning and assessment of learning. Both of these types of assessments are significant because they each serve a distinct purpose which is highly necessary. They both are critical to enhancing and making the teaching learning process more effective. Implementing the same will improve intervention, instruction, as well as the student performance and achievement.

Characteristics of School Based Assessment

The characteristics of school based assessment are as follows:

1. Gradations of quality:

The gradations should be of good quality and clear based on the criterion that is to be met. Descriptions relating to what is Excellent, Good, Fair, Average, or Below Average must also be included. A lot of descriptive language is also used in good rubrics.

2. Criteria:

A list of specific criteria that is to be used for rating is also included in the rubric. It should be of a unidimensional nature so that the expectations can be clear to both the raters as well as the students.

3. Levels of Performance:

3-5 levels of performance such as Excellent, good, fair, satisfactory, poor, and the like must be included. For common usage, a 4 point rating scale is considered effective.

4. Reliability:

The feature of inter-rater reliability must be present in all rubrics for its efficiency.

5. Validity:

The rubric must rate for what it has been developed and the score should be based on the quality of the assignment rather than a casual scanning of the assignment.

Rubrics of Assessment

Rubrics refers to an assessment technique or a scoring scale which is used for the assessment of student performance based on a criteria which is task-specific. The achievement criteria is indicated clearly across all the elements of any form of student task be it written, visual, or oral. Its usage can be included in class participation, overall grades, as well as for marking assignments. The two main types of rubrics are holistic and analytical. A rubric also includes gradations of quality which is the main feature that separates it from an observation protocol or checklist.

Advantages of Rubrics in Assessment

The various advantages of rubrics in assessment are as follows:

1. Metacognition Development:

Rubrics, when they are developed effectively, can enable students to improve their critical thinking based on their work and improve their scores.

2. Involvement:

Students do not feel like they must earn a score rather, they feel like teachers give them scores. Rubrics allows students to feel more involved in the assessment process.

3. Awareness:

Rubrics can be insightful and it can give one awareness about their personal learning strategies.

4. Criterion-referenced learning:

Another advantage of rubric assessment is that it enables teachers to practice criterion referenced assessment instead of norm referenced assessment.

5. Fair Treatment of Students:

Rubrics assessment also promotes the fair treatment of students.

Role of School Based Assessment

1. It is used to determine what to improve and how to improve achievement. It also identifies and responds to the needs of the students.

2. The main purpose of assessment for learning is to improve learning and achieve the set standards.

3. The primary motivator in assessment for learning is the belief that success can be achieved.

4. It enables a teacher to track the performance of students and determine whether the learning outcomes have been achieved or not.

5. It integrates learning with motivation because when students are assessed, they become motivated to give a good performance.

According to the Eberly Center at Carnegie Mellon, assessment,

“provides educators with ongoing feedback and allows them to identify at-risk students early, adjust instruction accordingly, and immediately monitor student progress.”