Summary: Improving Classroom Assessment

An additional ciriterion used to evaluate assessment which has earned increasing attention in the past decade is the extent to which a test is aligned with the curriculum learners are expected to learn in schools.

However, determining the significance of these tests requires more than just a score. For instance, what is the content of the test? To what extent is that content part of the curriculum? Moreover, although standardized, norm-referenced tests are designed to provide information about individual learners in relation to a comparison group, these tests are often used to make inferences about the effectiveness of education. These tests have flaws both as measures of individual learners’ achievement and as indicators of the success of

This advocacy has led to modifications in classroom assessment practices from traditional testing to assessment alternatives that is integrated within teaching and learning processes. However, there are also report indicating that in reality, mathematics assessment has remained for the most part unchanged (Watt 2005:21-44). One of the considerations that teachers need to be aware of at the planning stage is the assessment purpose(s). From Scrivens early work in 967, to an extensive review conducted by Black and William (1998a) more than a decade ago as well as Earl (2003) a discourse on purposes of assessment has been deliberated on the current understanding of assessment

587) introducing an examination system as an assessment method for selection purpose. He also noted that forms of national examination appeared in Europe only started in the nineteenth century (Leung 2008:985 ). Hence it is not surprising that the traditional prupose of assessment was to serve summative functions. However, some scholars argued that assessments can, and should, be used to serve formative purposes as well. Therefore, an assessment process is typically considered cyclical, that is to ensure that formative purpose can be further served. Hence, teachers need to be capable of using information from prior assessment processes, especially from the reporting stage as a diagnostic tool, to improve the next cycle of assessment processes at this planning stage. Formative purpose can also be achieved when assessments are planned and designed to be used as learning (Earl 2003: 47 ) and for learning (Black &William 1998a:7-74). In the second stage (designing) there are at least two dimensions. First criteria and standards, and second, contents of assessment. The criteria and standards refers to communication between teacher and learners and the content of assessment refer to the quality of assessment design. Stiggings (2002:758) argues in forming learners of those learning goals has to start early in the teaching and learning process. He alse stresses that teachers’ understanding and