1

Critical Analysis of Assessment Types

Name

Institutional Affiliation
 2

Introduction

The success of the teaching and learning process depends on the ability of the teacher to

use appropriate methods in the teaching process as well as assessment. With a wide range of

assessment methods, every teacher must carefully select the right method in order to determine

the progress of each learner before the end of the lesson, session, unit or course. Despite the

differences or similarities in the assessment methods, it is crucial to remember that the

assessment process should have goals that include improving the learning process for the sake of

the learner. For this assignment, I will be comparing the Formative and Benchmarking methods

of assessment as experienced and witnessed in my career. Regardless of their differences, these

methods tend to determine the weaknesses of the learners and help the teacher make the

necessary amendments in order to achieve the intended outcome among all the learners. I will be

comparing my own assessment method which is Formative assessment versus my colleagues

assessment which is Benchmarking in terms of efficiency, appropriateness, fairness, equality and

diversity to all learners.

PART 1: A Critical Analysis of Assessment Types

Researchers such as Ken O'Connor, Grant Wiggins, Bethan Marshall, Gordon Stobart and

Chris Harrison have defined assessment as any activities that involve teachers and learners in a

way that provides feedback and information to improve the learning process they are involved in

(Shriberg, 2002: 159). The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority lists a number of principles

used for assessing the learning process in a fair and equal manner. England's Department for

Children, Schools and Families is in charge of assessment, examinations and national

curriculum. Based on the principles of the UK Assessment Reform Group (1999), the assessment
 3

process must provide feedback, motivate learners, identify areas of improvement and encourage

the learners to motivate themselves (Boston, 2002). Assessors should consider the differing

needs and capabilities among their learners in order to chose the most appropriate method of

assessment.

a. Academic assessment

This method of assessment involves a research design that is used to capture valid evidence that

students demonstrate upon completion of their programs. This method determines whether

students are able to perform what is expected of them. This method also involves the gathering,

analysis and use of student information to improve the learning process (Overton, 2011).

b. Aptitude assessment

These tests are specific to certain fields or skills hence test the knowledge and ability of the

learner to perform exemplary well in that particular field. This method assumes that people have

inherent strengths and weaknesses hence the tendency to fail or succeed in certain fields or

knowledge areas. Learners do not need to study for this test but instead exercise existing

capabilities.

c. Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is ongoing hence ideal for determining the progress of the learner. It is

also known as assessment for learning since learning occurs before each assessment.

d. Benchmarking Assessment
Involves the evaluation of the learners performance against certain established standards.

Choosing the right institution to compare ones own performance against is vital to obtaining

valid and useful results at the end of the assessment (Suskie, 2016).

e. Informal assessment
 4

Often occurs in the form of observation or informal questions during the learning progress in

order to determine the progress of the learner and identify weak areas that need more effort

(Boston, 2002).

f. Initial assessment

This method assesses the capabilities and knowledge of the learner at the beginning of the unit or

lesson in order to help identify what needs to be taught or even where to begin.

g. Integrated assessment

Learners have to put the information or knowledge gained into practice at their workplace while

the assessor determines whether they pass or fail.

h. Internal assessment

When an institution or organisation assesses the learners internally with internally set and

marked exams or tests, it is considered to be an internal assessment. The organisation is the

rewarding body.

i. Ipsative assessment

This method requires learners to have a certain standard for which they use to match their

performance against. Students may also keep a reflective journal and determine whether they are

progressing as expected in the course, unit session or lesson. While this method may motivate the

learners, it requires them to be honest with themselves and the autonomous at the same time.

j. Learner led assessment

This method allows learners to decide when they are ready to be assessed. Alternatively, learners

produce evidence showing their readiness to be assessed.

k. Norm referencing assessment

 5

Assessors tend to set a pass mark in a course or unit for which the learners performance is

compared with. Those that attain the pass mark pass while those that do not attain the pass mark

fail the unit or the content being assessed.

l. Objective assessment

This method lacks bias since it is not based on personal decision or opinion. Rather, the

assessment decision is based around the only criteria being assessed.

m. Proficiency assessment

This assessment method only tests proficiency such as driving a car on the right side of the road

or riding a bike.

n. Process assessment

Teachers using this method tend to provide extra sessions or work for the learners based on the

results of each session as they progress through the unit or course. This method involves routine

assessment of skills and techniques as well as determining whether the learners follow the set out

procedures.

o. Product assessment

Rather than assessing the process, this method assesses the product or the outcome. Teachers

using this method often teach what is necessary for the assessment.

p. Profiling assessment

This method often involves a checklist for which the assessor compares the performance of each

learner. Additionally, this method may require the attention of more than one assessor in order to

come up with the results within the expected time.

q. Qualitative assessment
 6

This method involves open-ended questions that test the ability of the learner to give the right

answer. However, the teachers interpretation of the answer determines whether the learner

passes or fails. Additionally, some questions may be vague leading to misinterpretation. The use

of this method demands a clear criteria for marking.

r. Quantitative assessment

This method involves yes or no, true or false and agree or disagree answers. Assessors may also

give multiple choice questions. While this method may be one of the most commonly used

assessment methods, learners may pass based on their abilities to guess the right answers (Brown

& Knight, 1994).

s. Screening assessment

This is a common method in testing numeracy, language or literacy skills of the learners. It is

informal in nature.

t. Subjective assessment

This method depends on the ability of the teacher to remain fair and equal to all learners. It the

assessors personal decision about the learner hence it is prone to bias.

u. Summative

Summative assessment occurs at the end of the unit or the course. Often occurs in the form of an

exam. Learners may pass or fail with those failing being allowed to take a second exam. This

method has been accused of being unreliable since it does not determine the progress of the

learners along the way in order to improve the learning process (Oosterhof and Ely, 2007).

v. Triangulation assessment

This kind of assessment uses more than one method to assess the learners. A teacher may

combine observation, tests and oral questions during the course of the session, lesion or unit.
 7

This interesting method is used to gather reliable and authentic conclusions about the learners

progress (Rhodes & Shanklin, 1993).

w. Vocational assessment

This method of assessment is similar to the aptitude testing. However, this method tests job

related practical knowledge and skills in thee learners place of work. An example is the teachers

that must attend teaching practice in order to determine their readiness to become teachers.

PART 2: A critical review of an assessment that demonstrates fairness and inclusivity by

promoting equality and valuing diversity

According to the Education Act of 1996, every school must have an ideal way of

providing education and assessing the progres of learners with special needs (legilsation.gov.uk,

2006). The local education authorities must also enforce the assessment and improvement of

education within their local jurisdictions. Therefore, the national an dlocal policies as code of

conduct detemrine how teahcers implemnet assessments among different learner populations.

The Education Act also infleunces the use of the outcome for improving the learning experiences

of the learners s pertains to the organisatoonal, local and national goals of education

(legilsation.gov.uk, 2006).

An effective assessment method must consider the needs of the learner. Additionally, it

must have certain objectives to achieve in the process of teaching/learning. An effective

assessment strategy must be reliable, fair, engage students and motivate them, have

consequential relevance and content validity (Suskie, 2016). The assessment must start with clear

statements. Additionally, the assessor should collect more than one evidence since no single

method is reliable enough to prove the students progress. In case of tests, assignments and
 8

exams, it is crucial to have a rubric as well as a test blueprint, which includes goals to achieve

in the assessment. When scoring the students performance, the assessor should be fair and

consistent in order to avoid any bias.

Good practices require that the assessment method selected be standardized in order to

provide learners with equal opportunities to develop. The law requires that everybody get an

equal opportunity, which also means that teachers should provide the same opportunities to their

learners. The evaluation should have a specific purpose. It should test the quality of education,

the performance of the teacher and experience of the students. An assessor may use

questionnaires, structured group interviews, Student-Staff liaison Committee (SSLC) as well as

Self-evaluation and Peer evaluation. Regardless of the tools used, the assessment method

selected must improve the learning process and the learning experience of the students.

In every institution, there are national, local, organizational as well as subject specific

policies that govern the teaching an assessment process. The code of conduct dictates that the

assessor be fair and equal in terms of treating all the students. Whether the assessor incorporates

the aid of other individuals outside the class, it is important to ensure the utmost professionalism

the administering and analyzing the findings of the assessment. The assessment findings should

then be used to determine weak areas that require improving in order to provide the learners with

the best experience possible.

Benchmarking

The benchmarking system for assessment acts as a tool to measure how an individual

learner is progressing and how the curriculum can be designed or altered in order to meet the

distinct learning needs (Brown & Knight, 1994). This method of assessment includes tiny tests
 9

given out to check the progress of the learners in order to find out if the academic standards are

being met. These tests are normally administered all through the year and curriculum while being

used by the teachers to get immediate feedback on the performance of each individual student.

Bench marking assessment is helpful teachers as it puts the learners progress together and gives

a clear analysis of the program achievement. This method is flexible in meeting the individual

needs of the learners. Normally bench marking greatly emphasizes on language and arithmetic

skills, which are presumed to be basic in the learning process and can be measured to cover for a

wide range of units, with each of them consuming about an hour or so. The teacher provides the

tests every three to four months a year or to make it more accurate the teacher can decide to

administer the bench marking regularly on a monthly basis.

Major benefits of benchmarking include improving the quality of education, developing

strategic plans, formulating policy and aiding I the process of making decisions (Jackson and

Lund, 2000). Benchmarking may be internal, competitive, functional or generic. Best practices

involve a list of criteria to be assessed, having standards and performance indicators. The data

produced from benchmarking is intended for use in the public in order to aid in improving the

learning process (Jackson and Lund, 2000). The steps involved in benchmarking include:

defining the problem, determining whether benchmarking is most appropriate, establish what to

benchmark, choose the benchmarking team, selecting the institutions to compare with,

determining what information to gather, determining how information will be gathered

(telephone calls, survey, archives etc), analyzing the data, taking action and assessing the impact

of the action.

With tests being administered, the learners progress is fully tracked and can be accounted

for. During the bench marking assessment every bit is monitored making it easier to identify any
 10

loop holes that may occur during the process as it is done repeatedly to as often to as a month. It

provides a tool to monitor the completion of each students coursework. For example, upon

students entering a given program until the completion of the course work, there are some

expectations of the course and through this tool its easier to check closely how many students

pass. In a large population it becomes hard to keep track of the students performance. For

instance, when you try to provide results for a district it becomes hard to track down the

performance of an individual student but with benchmarking you can keep track of individual at

any level with fairness and without losing any valuable information. It is through bench marking

that a states, region or districts performance can be measured. Teachers are able to administer

tests to all students who are of the same level and same unit as well. The information measured is

accurate and can go all way down to the end of the programme or curriculum.

From the observations that I made on my colleague using this method of assessment, I

found out that the method is appropriate and a very relevant tool in measuring how the students

are meeting the academic standards. The colleague used the method to monitor on how many of

her students passed their qualifying exam after being admitted to the programme in the school.

From the results, she was able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual students.

For example, in the reading test, five learners were not able to pronounce the word burial

correctly. This meant that for the course to achieve its target, a lot of pronunciation work was to

be done before the next test. She was also able to come up with proper techniques like putting

the students in groups and giving the five new words every day that will help them attain the

programs standards.

Upon the end of one month after admission, she administered another short tests to check

on the progress of her learners and what they had achieved by the end of the that month into the
 11

programme. A third of her students had not met her expectation on the mathematical skills. The

students could not cross multiply complex numbers hence having difficulty in solving

multiplication problems. In order to achieve the goals of the course a lot of multiplication tasks

were done during the following month and by the end of the month the same test on

multiplication was administered and all the students passed the test implying that the objectives

had been achieved. She repeated the same process with the reading skill and by the end she was

administering the third test no one of her students had difficulty in pronouncing new words.

Within a span of four months after the admission of her students, a joint test was

conducted for the whole school and the learners on the same level with her students took part in

the test. The test was administered to find out how far the students had gone with achieving the

course work goals. Although the learners were from different classes of the same level, there was

a very slight difference as translated in the results. The evaluation indicated that degree of

understanding was more too level in their classrooms. My colleague did not stop there but

continued with administering the tests every month to keep a track on the performance of her

learners.

During a language skill test at one the benchmarking test she conducted, she realized that

three of her students had a lot of difficulty in spelling some words especially the compound

words. Something had to be done quickly before the district test was administered. She decided

to put them under close supervision and gave them some mini tests every two weeks. Through

these tests her learners individual skills improved and by the time the district benchmarking

assessment was being administered, her students were fully prepared as demonstrated in the

results. This benchmarking test was aimed at standardizing and evaluating the level to which the
 12

students had mastered selected units in both their classrooms and also to compare with other

class-level classrooms in the district.

Over time, more and more tests were done to continue keeping a close track on the

students performance and the loopholes identified. Every time a test was done, focus was made

on a certain subject and close supervision of the work was made. A lot of the students were doing

great and a big step was being made towards achieving the course work standards. Each day the

students performance was improving and no one was being left behind as errors were being

easily identified and corrections made on time. At the end of the year a common assessment for

the district was done again. Different tools were used to measure the learners which included oral

reports, language skills, mathematics problems, memory maps, keyboarding tests, laboratory

investigations and projects among others were used. Students of the same level from different

schools took the test and after evaluation, they were at the same level despite being taught by

different teachers and were coming from different school.

From the observations I was making, I realized that benchmarking was one of the best

way to standardize the assessments because from the individual progress of each student, it was

clear that the teacher was getting immediate feedback during assessments and therefore doing

working on the weaknesses on time. Through the school year bench marking was being used as a

tool to measure the growth and progress of individual students hence trying to meet the

individual needs of each without leaving anyone to lag behind.

PART 3: A critical evaluation of own assessment practice

For my own assessment, I have always preferred the Formative method of assessment.

This method pertains to the progressive evaluations that determine how well or poorly the
 13

learning is performing as the learning process continues. This method can be used to determine

the comprehension, academic progress and learning needs of the learners in the course, unit or

even the lesson (Dixon and Nessel, 1983). As a teacher, I have been able to use the Formative

method of assessment to identify the necessary areas of improvement. The main goal of this

method is to collect information regarding necessary improvements for the learners and the

teacher while the learning is still taking place. A test does not qualify as formative merely on the

self-evaluations, design or the technique alone. Instead, formative evaluation is subject to how

the method is used in terms of informing the process of teaching and learning in improving the

experience of the learner.

In the past, this method has helped me identify areas that majority or individual learners

are struggling with and helped them work on their weak areas to achieve better comprehension

of the concepts. Formative assessment helps me compare the performance of the earners with

established learning standards and make the necessary adjustments to my instructional

techniques, academic support and the lessons. Unlike summative assessments, which evaluate

the performance of the learner or the progress at the end of a specific period, Formative

assessments seek to establish whether learning has taken place successfully. Formative

assessment includes both formal and informal procedures that teachers must carry out during the

learning process. A major benefit of using this method is that it helps correct mistakes and amend

the teaching techniques before progressing too much. This way, I am able to identify which areas

are most troubling to the learners and come up with viable solutions. Rather than collecting

scores, this method dwells on qualitative feedback. This way, both the learners and the teacher

are able to change or adjust the teaching and learning methods along the way.
 14

In the UK, Formative assessment has been used for many years in the education system.

This is because it personalizes learning hence meeting the individual needs of learners.

According to the recommendations of Sir Mike Tomlison who led the Working Group on 1419

Reform, assessment should emphasis more on the teacher led rather than the external assessment.

Since students are the most important in the learning process, the assessment method should also

dwell on the needs of the learners. According to the UK government, the teacher has to know the

strengths and weaknesses of each learner in order to provide personalized learning (Kerka and

Wonacott, 2000). Formative assessment therefore helps students access personalized learning

hence successful learning. Every teaching session provides the teacher and the learner with high

quality feedback used in improving future lessons. Based on the Assessment Reform Group, the

following are the 10 principles that must be observed in the implementation and use of

Formative assessment (Nicol and MacfarlaneDick, 2006: 201).

1. The learning process should be part of an effective planning of the teaching and learning

processes.
2. Learning should also focus on ways in which the learning process shapes the attitudes of

learners.
3. Learning should be central to the classroom practice
4. Every teacher must know how to enforce the learning process professionally
5. Learning must be sensitive and constructive in the lives of the learners especially since

learning and assessment has an emotional impact on the lives of the learners.
6. Learning should consider motivating the learners.
7. Learning should have goals that require students to stay committed as well as having a

common understating of the assessment criteria between the learners and the teacher.
8. Acknowledge a wide range of achievements among the learners
9. Offer constructive feedback and guidance to the learners based on their performance.
10. Develop the ability of the learners to self assess and self manage their progress

academically
Benefits of formative assessment in education
 15

This method allows teachers to identify what students know and to what extent in order

to make the necessary modifications and changes to the learning process (Nicol and Macfarlane

Dick, 2006: 201). Since different students have different capabilities, this method allows teachers

to set different lessons for different groups of learners. Teachers are also able to give timely and

constructive feedback to their students. Similarly, this method benefits the learners in that

students are able to set their own goals that motivate their willingness to learn and achieve a

certain grade or outcome. This method also enables the learners to gain valuable skills and take

responsibility of their own learning process (Sadler, 1989: 122).

Conclusion
Assessment is an important part of the learning process since it helps determine the

weakness areas in the teacher or learner and provides adequate room for improvement before the

completion of the session, unit or course. While a wide range of assessment methods may be

available, I have identified the formative and benchmarking methods as ideal for learners with

different needs. However, it is worth noting that no single method is ideal for assessing the

overall progress of the learners. While formative assessment allows the teachers to monitor the

progress of the learners along the way and before the completion of the unit or course, the

benchmarking method allows the assessors to compare the performance of the students or the

learners with preexisting standards in the education system. This method measures the dimension

of cost, time and quality as pertains to the teaching and learning process.
 16

References:

Boston, C., 2002. The Concept of Formative Assessment. ERIC Digest.

Brown, S., & Knight, P. (1994). Assessing learners in higher education. Psychology Press.

Dixon, C. and Nessel, D., 1983. Language Experience Approach to Reading (and Writing).

Language-Experience Reading for Second Language Learners. The Alemany Press, 2501

Industrial Parkway West, Hayward, CA 94545.

Jackson, N. and Lund, H., 2000. Benchmarking for Higher Education. Taylor & Francis, Inc.,

7625 Empire Dr., Florence, KY 41042.

Nicol, D.J. and MacfarlaneDick, D., 2006. Formative assessment and selfregulated learning: A

model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in higher education, 31(2),

pp.199-218.

Overton, T. 2011. Assessing learners with special needs: An applied approach. Pearson Higher

Ed.
 17

Kerka, S. and Wonacott, M.E., 2000. Assessing Learners Online. Practitioner File.

legilsation.gov.uk. 2006. Education Act 1996. Retrieved March 14, 2017, from

legilsation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/contents

Oosterhof, A. and Ely, D.P., 2007. Assessing learners online. Prentice-Hall, Inc..

Rhodes, L. K., & Shanklin, N. L. 1993. Windows into Literacy: Assessing Learners, K-8.

Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912.

Sadler, D.R., 1989. Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional

science, 18(2), pp.119-144.

Shriberg, M., 2002. Institutional assessment tools for sustainability in higher education:

strengths, weaknesses, and implications for practice and theory. Higher Education Policy,

15(2), pp.153-167.

Suskie, L. (2016). What isGoodAssessment? Retrieved March 14, 2017, from ccp.edu:

http://faculty.ccp.edu/dept/viewpoints/f03v4n1/suskie.html