CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Problem
Classroom assessment of students learning is an important component of any education system. The overall aim of assessment is to enhance attainment of educational objectives through meaningful learning. There is a global mistrust of paper and pencil based examination. This kind of assessment is however, criticised for its detrimental effects on students’ learning. Adams (1996) point out that paper and pencil particularly tests and examinations focus on irrelevant concepts that do not impact directly on students’ lives; they encourage superficial, rote learning and negligence of higher order thinking skills such as reasoning, problem solving and independent inquiry.
The use of alternative
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The aim of competency based education in Tanzania is to improve the quality of secondary education and to enable students acquire the competencies needed in the future professions, society and in the modern world. The curriculum review emphasises changes in teaching and assessment practices in order for learners to acquire competences (MoEVT, 2005). It also modified the ways assessment procedures have to be undertaken for meaningful learning. The 2005 biology syllabus is in line with a paradigm shift which emphasizes merging theory and practice. This aims at equipping school graduates with sufficient knowledge and life skills for their survival in the academic, social, and in the modern world. The revised curriculum emphasizes what the student at a particular level should be able to do in the world of work in the typical contexts (Kitta and Tilya, 2010). This encourages students to learn complex knowledge and problem solving skills needed for future success. For example policy makers believe that through new assessment system (alternative assessment) can motivate and monitor progress towards students’ attainment of those goals. It also encourages students to use prior knowledge and experience to acquire new knowledge and skills by cooperating with others as emphasized by the constructivist
Classroom assessment and grading practices have the potential not only to measure and report learning but also to promote it. Indeed, recent research has documented the benefits of regular use of diagnostic and formative assessments as feedback for learning (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam,
In today’s educational setting, teachers must teach according to a strict curriculum, following a timeline of when to teach the lesson, how long to teach it for, and how to teach it. At the end of each lesson, a test is given to the students, and then a new lesson begins, pushing the previous lesson out of the brain probably never to be used again. Better yet, these lessons that are being taught by teachers are not showing up as frequently in standardized testing. Instead, these focus more on logic, strategy, and time-management, or how fast one can finish a test. Unfortunately, while some kids can prosper under timed conditions, many are not good at multiple-choice only tests, and they are frowned upon for low scores.
Liberal Arts Self-Assessment There are many benefits to achieving a Liberal Arts education. A Liberal Arts education provides the learner with a broad range of information to help guide them in a direction that create intellectual growth. Liberal Arts cover a wide range of subjects and creates a solid foundation for many other areas of study. A Liberal Arts education teaches you how to think, learn, see things as a whole, makes you a better communicator, and problem solver. A Liberal Arts education is the most important factor in creating critically thinking, well rounded interesting individuals.
Figure 1 is a summary of the students’ learning throughout the learning segment. I administrated this test as a pre-assessment prior to the lesson one and administered it again after the completion of lesson 3. This test is a compilation of students’ learning and it demonstration how they met the standards and objectives that were set out for them to achieve. The evaluation criteria in which this assessment and all other assessment in the individual lessons did was not altered. Even though the students have different learning needs, the assessment met all of the needs for all learners.
Education has had some form of high stakes testing for many years, the SAT, ACT, AP, and so on. Testing in this form was used to measure how much a student had learned and retained over the course of a student’s education. However, over time the testing focus changed. High stakes testing morphed from a useful tool that gauges achievement to becoming the primary focus in education. The focus is no longer about what the child has achieved, instead the emphasis is on achieving top scores.
It is true that these test challenge students to retain information which is a good skill to have but, there are other options besides
According to the author, Grant Wiggins, teachers and students own educational hubris stands in the way of implementing curricula which requires questioning for acquiring knowledge (Wiggins). While curriculum design has historically been used to instill a laundry list of topics students should be able to take with them into the future, Wiggins presented a convincing argument for designing courses around essential questions in which formative and summative assessments would check for how well the student understands the question(s) being posed. Wiggins view of what a curriculum document is and is not embraces the idea of unlimited thinking and expands the role of teachers and students from those with knowledge bestowing it on those who have none
High school is a place where students go to acquire an education and prepare for college. The general idea of what those years are like stays the same, but as each generation changes so do the experiences they go through. It is easy to look to the past from the present and see what has changed from then and now. Change is inevitable and not an exception for the future; the high school experience in a few decades will different than what it is now. Those changes are already beginning to take place currently.
Assessment plays an integral role in the teaching-learning cycle (DES & NCAA, 1999). This comprehensive process is a fundamental accountability measure for students and teachers in Physical Education (P.E). Ultimately, assessment in the P.E. environment should serve the purpose of enhancing and enriching the learning experience for students. It should provide them with feedback on their skill progression, motivate them to improve and contribute greatly to their overall development. It also guides the teacher, showing them both how and what the children are learning.
I. Students average 20-25 hours a year taking standardized testing, according to a study completed by the Council of Great City Schools. II. This testing is used for a variety of things, all of which affect the way we are educated. III. Through my research on testing, I have found that the tests that we have all sat through are not as accurate as one may think.
The purpose of this essay is to acknowledge the conditions that impact upon Indigenous students’ education. This will be reached through analysis of the concepts of race, racism and whiteness in Australia. These key understandings of Indigenous students’ will be incorporated into my own critical pedagogy in order to demonstrate how I would teach for reconciliation in my classroom. The concepts of race, racism and whiteness have produced unequal outcomes for Indigenous students to a vast degree in Australian society. The term ‘race’ has a historical context in Australia that is not acknowledged highly enough.
As a student you are assessed everyday based off of almost anything; involving class participation and behavior to turning in assignments and taking exams. However, teachers don’t usually receive feedback or get assessed by their own students. It’s common for a student to be inclined to be the one to grade their teachers but, some students haven't been given the opportunity to. Students should be able to grade or assess their teachers because it provides incentive for the teacher, assists teachers to improve in areas where they could be lacking, and provides a proper evaluation of their teacher.
It is generally accepted that testing encourages and gauges students’ learning, although most students would agree that education would be a little bit more enjoyable if they took fewer tests, given that the tests contain a lot of marks at stake (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Hence, the idea of self-testing as a form of practice testing is a reasonable idea. When students do self-testing, they test their memory, what they have learned, what have they revised; anything they can recall from memory. Through this, they can gauge their own performance and where they stand in terms of comprehension and understanding, much like how teachers do when testing students. Hartwig and Dunlosky (2012) believe that “self-testing by recalling the target information boosts performance on subsequent recall and multiple-choice tests of the target information, and it also boosts performance on tests of comprehension” (p. 131).
Authentic assessments should be tied to real-world contexts and require the student to “do” the subject. For example after a Math lesson on telling time to have the students complete a “time” worksheet. Tell each child to write their beginning time and once they
Teaching is not controlling, but rather working with the students to learn, grow, and succeed together. By having strong student-teacher relationships with students, the classroom will be a place for each member to express their feelings and work together. Academic success depends on these close relationships and guidance that teachers and students have with one another. Classroom management aims at establishing student self-control through a process of promoting positive student achievement and behavior. Thus, academic achievement, teacher efficacy, and teacher and student behavior are directly linked with the concept of classroom management.