Definition of testing, assessment, and evaluation

 Definition of evaluation

The verb evaluate means to form an idea of something or to give a judgment about

something. The term comes from the French word ‘évaluer’, meaning “to find the
value of”. The origin is from the Latin term ‘valere’ meaning “be strong, be well;
be of value, or be worth”.

In the educational context, the verb ‘to evaluate’ often collocates with terms such
as:

o the effectiveness of an educational system,

o a program,
o a course,
o instruction,
o a curriculum.
According to Weiss (1972), evaluation refers to the systematic gathering of
information for the purpose of making decisions. It is not concerned with the
assessment of the performance of an individual, but rather with forming an idea of
the curriculum and making a judgment about it. This judgment is made based on
some kind of criteria and evidence. The purpose is to make decisions about the
worth of instruction, a course, or even the whole curriculum. Evaluation is thus
larger and may include an analysis of all the aspects of the educational system.

 Definition of assessment
The verb assess comes from the French ‘assesser’, but the origin is from the
Medieval Latin ‘assessare’ meaning “fix a tax upon,”.  Another derivation of the
Latin term is ‘assidere’ or ‘adsidere’ meaning “to sit beside” (a judge). Reference
is made to the assistant of the judge whose job was to fix the amount of a fine or
tax by estimating the value of a property.
 Assessment is thus the process of collecting information about students from
diverse sources so that educators can form an idea of what they know and can do
with this knowledge. While evaluation is concerned with making judgments about
instruction, a curriculum, or an educational system, assessment is concerned with
thstudent’ss’ performance. In other words, one assesses an individual
but evaluates a program, a curriculum, an educational system, etc.

The verb ‘assess’ often collocates with:

o skills,
o abilities,
o performance,
o aptitude,
o competence.
According to Le Grange & Reddy, (1998, p.3)

Assessment occurs when judgments are made about a learner’s performance, and
entails gathering and organizing information about learnertoto make decisions
and judgments about their learning.”
Assessment is thus the process of collecting information about learners using
different methods or tools (e.g. tests, quizzes, portfolios, etc).

Educators assess their students for a variety of purposes:

o To evaluate learners’ educational needs,

o To diagnose students’ academic readiness,
o To measure their progress in a course,
o To measure skill acquisition.
There are different types of assessment:

o Formative assessment:
It is process-oriented and is also referred to as an ‘assessment for learning.’ It is
 an ongoing process to monitor learning, the aim of which is to provide feedback to
improve teachers’ instruction methods and improve students’ learning.
o Summative assessment:
It is product-oriented and is often referred to as an ‘assessment of learning.’ It
measures student learning progress and achievement at the end of a specific
instructional period.
o Alternative assessment:
It is also referred to as authentic or performance assessment. It is an alternative to
traditional assessment that relies only on standardized tests and exams. It requires
students to do tasks such as presentations, case studies, portfolios, simulations,
reports, etc.  Instead of measuring what students know, the alternative assessment
focuses on what students can do with this knowledge.

Definition of testing
Simply put, a test refers to a tool, technique, or method that is intended to measure
students’ knowledge or their ability to complete a particular task. In this sense,
testing can be considered as a form of assessment. Tests should meet some basic
requirements, such as validity and reliability.

o Validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to

measure.
o Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores when administered on different
occasions.
There are different types of tests:

o Placement tests: It is designed to help educators place a student into a particular

level or section of a language curriculum or school
o Diagnostic tests: they help teachers and learners to identify strengths and
weaknesses.
o Proficiency tests: they measure a learner’s level of language.
o Achievement tests: they are intended to measure the skills and knowledge learned
after some kind of instruction
The types of testing
There are two different types of testing.

 Formative assessments: 

Test what students know before any teaching occurs. These tests allow
teachers to get a baseline understanding of where their students are. You can
use them to develop and refine lesson plans, emphasizing new material and
reinforcing what students already know. Formative assessments are not
usually part of the student’s overall grade.

 Summative assessments: 

Measure what students know after the unit is presented. These quizzes and
exams allow students to demonstrate mastery of the presented material.
Usually, these assessments make up a significant part of a student’s grade.

Most states use both pre-tests and end-of-the-year exams in their standardized
testing program. Many times, teachers are evaluated on how much their
classes improve between the two testing periods.

Because both students and teachers are evaluated based on how well students
perform on these standardized tests, many teachers end up “teaching to the
test.”  This means they only teach concepts and skills that are highly likely to
be tested at the end of the year.

Many elementary schools, for instance, have reduced or eliminated

“peripheral” subjects such as art, music, and physical education. Even “core”
subjects are not immune — social studies have received short shrift because
it is not part of the standardized tests.

 Shifting to Mastery-Based Evaluations

One shift teachers can make is to employ formative assessments throughout
the year. For instance, when a math teacher opens a unit or chapter, she can
do a pre-test. If the students have a handle on the concepts that will be tested
at the end of the year, she can use the subject to teach higher-order thinking
skills. On the other hand, if the students are struggling with the basic
concepts, she can spend more time on drills which will strengthen the end-of-
the-year scores.

Teachers employing this method should then pay careful attention to the
summative assessments that occur throughout the year. If the majority of
students show on these end-of-unit exams that they have mastered the
concepts, they are ready to move on to the next unit. However, if they score
low across the board, then re-teaching is in order.

One strategy that some teachers have begun using is “mastery-based

evaluations.”  This means that the student’s grade is not based on how many
points they accumulate over the course of a semester, but on how well they
master the concepts.
This requires a massive shift in how both teachers and students think about
grades. In the traditional method of evaluation, some students will get high
grades — not because they have learned the material, but because they’ve
learned how to collect points.

 Mastery-Based Education in the Classroom

Let’s take two hypothetical students. Jane is a “good student” who gets A’s
and B’s. She doesn’t think of herself as particularly strong in math, but she
turns in all of her homework. Her homework points make up for lower test
scores and she gets a grade that she is satisfied with.

John, on the other hand, is a “poor” student – largely because he is bored. He

rarely turns in his homework but does well on exams. His grade does not
reflect how well he masters the material but rather the fact that he doesn’t do
the day-to-day work of the class.

If the teacher switches to mastery-based evaluations, Jane’s grade may go

down while John’s will probably go up. But at the end of the day, Jane will
be pushed into actually learning the material instead of collecting points.

Popular new educational strategies such as Khan Academy have popularized

this mastery-based system.

In a mastery system of teaching, educators use formative tests to see where

their students are starting. They use summative tests to see what the students
have learned. Then, they allow their students to keep testing until they can
demonstrate that they have learned the material. There is no more “one and
done.”

In this way, teachers can ensure that every student is proficient while still
allowing for the higher-order skills that they know the students need. Once
the “Johns” of the class demonstrate mastery, they can be given supplemental
enrichment work or move on to the next topic. The “Jane” also benefits
because they become proficient.

Mastery-based evaluations will allow teachers to help all of their students

learn their lessons.