Assessment recording and reporting
Assessment is a judgment of quality, in education, it relates to the testing and examination of students, teachers, and schools and at the end of the day the Government of the time. Whenever we enter into a relationship, whenever we do anything in a social context we open ourselves to other people's assessment. They form opinions of us, have a perceived image of us, or may instantly judge us. If they did not, then we would be essentially unpredictable to them: they would not know what to expect of us or how to behave towards us.In informal relationships, we expect people to make assessments in the light of their own direct experience of us. People sh ...view middle of the document...
·Criteria referencingA student's performance is measured against predetermined criteria. The student can attain or not attain the desired criteria (current GCSE exams are criteria referenced(Appendix 4).One of the most prevalent forms of assessment involves multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions that have been developed from a given set of criteria that has been deemed worthy of being "necessary knowledge". For instance the battle of Hastings in 1066 had a big impact on the history of Great Britain. When students are lectured on a subject, they are overloaded with facts, statistics and information that are to be regurgitated at a later date in the form of some assessment test.But what does a student gain by completing the statement?"On the 14th October 1066 ______________________ moved against Harold, who had established himself on Senlac Hill".An answer of "Duke William" (later Known as William the Conquer) gives the student a good grade, the school administrators, and the Government of the time the statistics to wave around and say, "Another educational objective has been met . . ."Assessment GradesMuch of the criticism of assessment is aimed at the grading system, are grades an empty symbol of assessment? Grades on there own do not tell you much about the person being assessed, so their main drawback is one of omission. What grades on their own don't do is tell all that is known about the student's performance or abilities.Important qualities and features differentiating one student from another are obliterated by the grades."Is there something wrong with an exam that most people fail ?""Nine out of ten students sitting some of the subjects in the first exams of the new vocational A- levels have failed. It has left teachers furious and students demotivated and worried about their future".Sarah Cassidy (2001)(Appendix 5)Thus students who've got same grade may have tackled problems during a project in quite different ways and come up with there own ingenious ways of problem solving, one student may have had help and support with their project from their tutor, another may have worked and solved problems on their own. There is no way of knowing this from a grade alone, on the other hand if the tutor was asked a personnel opinion of the students, his assessment may be quite different from that that the grades suggest, grading is in fact an act of very delicate personal judgement."One effect of this is to repel debate a grade seems god-given and immovable whereas the, grounds on which it was decided might seem only to human and open to dispute"D Harris and C Bell (1994)Grades and percentages on there own are inadequate in conveying, what is sometimes believed to be put into them, and which other people desperately try to get back out from them again (as in the governments league tables) (Appendix 6) How could a single letter or number possibly tell as much, for example, as is contained in descriptive reports or profiles.A cartoon...
