I agree with you on your take concerning assessment in education. Any education system requires a way of establishing the effectiveness of the teaching methods that they are using to deliver course content (Cocoradă, Luca, " Pavalache-Ilie, 2009). Assessment is the only way that this can be achieved. Nonetheless, it is a way that a nation would establish their education standards based on learning outcomes and the performance of students. Teachers draw satisfaction depending on the academic impact that they make on students. This can only be determined by administering an assessment. Without a test of student’s ability they would not determine the progress that they have made in learning.
Indeed, portfolio assessment is one of the methods that establish if the learning outcomes and objectives have been achieved. The fact that it only identifies assignments that brings out specific learning outcomes for students makes it a dependable method. This method considers the concerns of parents. Parents who would wish to identify the academic progress of their children can use the portfolio to follow their participation and progress.
Nonetheless, retelling assessment is also effective. The assessment tool provides opportunity for learners to focus on certain aspects of the story structure. The approach uses the fact that practice increases the ability to supply quantity and quality information to the readers and still retain the crucial elements of the story. In fact, it does not only act as an assessment method, but it also makes students ready for future tasks such as selection and communicating critical information.
Using observation as an assessment tool, however, is not very effective. The method involves observing students behavior in the classroom setup. This is a difficult exercise since it is difficult to determine a student behavior that translates to course objects. Besides, the exercise takes more time to obtain a rubric that can be used for evaluation. The fact that it needs a lot of time makes in ineffective. Indeed, students may not identify what is needed and what is not needed.
Response to Laura James
Laura, your opinion on the best student assessment method is true. Learning is student-centered, every activity that we do should be meant to improve the understanding of students and to achieve the learning objectives. As such, the assessment methods that are best suited are those which focus on students (Kessler, 2008). Nonetheless, self-assessment allows students to establish their own goals and follow up on the achievements of the same Self evaluation, and portfolio assessment methods focus on students, and, therefore are the best assessment methods. I agree that students should be allowed to set their goals and evaluate themselves based on the goals and objects that they have put in place. Teachers should interact with students to aid them in achieving their goals.
Response to Shefas Post
The ability of student to learn or achieve a given education objective should be tested to determine the best method that can be used to assist such students to master the course content. Screening makes it possible to identify able students and handicapped students. Indeed, it is true that learners with limited language deficiency are disabled. The assessment to define their ability should, therefore, be done using their local language or English (Townsend, 2016). The methods of instruction, assessment as well as the attitude demonstrated by teachers are important aspects in achieving the learning outcomes in such students. Nonetheless, they should be provided with all necessary learning aids, to hasten their learning process. It is important for evaluators of these students to be equipped with necessary skills to complete the task (Townsend, 2016).
Reference
Cocoradă, E., Luca, M. R., " Pavalache-Ilie, M. (2009). Perceived Assessment Style And Learning Motivation. Bulletin Of The Transilvania University Of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law, 1(51), 85-92.
Kessler, J. (2008). Processability Approaches to Second Language Development and Second Language Learning. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Townsend, E. (2016). Learning and Memory : Processes, Influences and Performance. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc
