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Informal Essay, 6 pages (1500 words)

Development formal informal special needs standards education essay

Your discussion should contain evidence of references from various sources. These should be acknowledged appropriately in the text as well as cited under ” References” according to the APA citation style. IntroductionAssessment and Evaluation are two very common words in education, often mistakenly thought of as two words with the same meaning. Assessment has got more to do with test and measurement, that is it concerns with collection and combination of information from tests based on performance, quality and learning in order to establish clear, measurable expected outcomes of student learning and using this data to improve learning in students. It is a decision making tool. Rowntree (1977) said ” assessment in education can be thought as occurring whenever one person, in some kind of interaction, direct or indirect with another, is conscious of obtaining and interpreting information about the knowledge and understanding of abilities and attitudes of that other person” Evaluation is seen as the next step to assessment as it is equated with making informed judgements using data accumulated from assessment. Evaluation is a process of making judgements about merit, value, or worth of educational programmes, projects, materials, or techniques (Gullo, 2005, p. 7). Seeing as these two processes are on the forefront of successful learning, these two have to be constantly used by the teachers to check the students learning and growth. Effective teaching happens when the teacher uses these tools in order to determine students’ prior knowledge, and then work to build upon that knowledge and facilitate good learning. Assessment and Evaluation from a Developmental PerspectiveThe most basic use of assessment and evaluation is of course to aid in the development of the learner and to help students reach their maximum potential. Moreover, the development process is not just limited to the student, it also helps in the teacher’s self-enhancing and therefore also in curriculum development. Growth of students can be seen by assessing what the student achieves when given some teaching in an unfamiliar topic or field. It can be useful to assess potential for specific learning in the absence of relevant prior attainment, or to assess general learning potential for students who have a particularly disadvantaged background. As assessment and evaluation is integral for any learning and developmental process, assessment should be carried out keeping in mind its three most important criteria: Reliability: Are the marking criteria sufficiently robust to ensure reasonable parity between the judgements of different assessors? Do students understand the criteria by which their work is to be marked? Validity: Is there constructive alignment between the Programme Aims, the Intended Learning Outcomes of the module and the method and content of the assessmentAbsence of Bias: Do the assessment procedures contain elements that would be offensive or demeaning to students on basis of race, gender, and ethnicity? Is a free and fair assessment ensured? Is unfair penalizationThe assessment procedures should be in concordance with the listed criteria for maximum effectiveness. Moreover steps should be taken so that assessment and evaluation aids in curriculum development and also meets the curricular standards.”… To make sure a test’s content adequately taps the content of a curricular aim is to employ set of test-development procedures carefully focused on assuring that the curricular aim’s content is properly reflected in the assessment procedure itself.” Popham (2011), p. 91Formal Assessment and EvaluationFormal assessment methods are data-driven methods used to measure overall student achievement by comparing to other students and to identify comparable strengths and weaknesses with their peers. They are administered under regulated test-taking conditions, and the data is mathematically computed and reviewed, offering scores as percentiles or rankings. There are three methods to achieve this: a) Holistic Scoring, b) Primary Trait Scoring and c) Analytic Scoring. Formal assessment means generally include testing methods such as Oral Tests, Long and Short Answer Questions, Multiple Choice and Binary Questions, and Matching Questions. Primary example of a formal assessment is the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT. Summative Assessment refers to the use of tests whose purpose is to make a final success/failure decision about a relatively unmodifiable set of instructional activities. (Popham, 2011). These examine progress and evaluate overall achievement of both students and academic programs on a long-term basis. All formal assessments are summative, but all summative assessments are not formal. Formal assessments are administered in controlled environments once a year or less frequently, and scores are utilized for the sake of comparison. Summative assessments require a large amount of content acquisition, but they are not always conducted in regulated settings, they can happen multiple times per year. End-of-unit tests or end-of-semester projects are summative but not formal. Personally, I prefer criterion referenced test because it makes judgement based on performance rather than people. The logic of criterion-referenced assessment is say what you want students to be able to do (see learning objectives), teach them to do it (through lectures, tutorials, and learning activities), and then see if they can do it. (Biggs 2003, p. 144). Informal Assessment and EvaluationInformal Assessment, unlike formal is not data driven but rather performance driven. This type of assignment results from the teachers’ spontaneous day-to-day observations of how students behave and perform in class. While conducting informal assessments, it is not necessary to have a specific agenda in mind, as assessment is done on students as they proceed through the school day naturally. This kind of assessment thrives on interactive learning where feedback and peer assessment and it allows learning through social processes, not just a demonstration of knowledge. It requires adjusting instruction techniques to suit the students’ educational needs and goals. Formative assessment is a part of informal assessment. It is concerned with providing information to improve teaching and learning through testing. Teacher feedback, observations, questioning strategies, self and peer reviews, classroom practice and homework, and portfolios are some examples. Special NeedsAssessment is an important part in the life of a child with special needs. Assessment results may determine what kind of education the child receives, whether the child will go to a normal school or a school for children with special needs. Therefore, it is critical that the method of assessment and evaluation is suitable to the needs of these children. The dilemma that holds here is if the same techniques and methods of assessment and evaluation that we use for ‘ normal’ children are applicable to those with special needs. This is a main concern for schools adopting inclusive learning. While the children with special needs can attend the same classes and learn the same things as their normal friends do, assessing and evaluating them on the same methods seem a far cry from being fair. To address this particularly distressing situation, some institutions are formulating separate learning curriculum for the special needs children and testing them on this curriculum while keeping them in the same class as their normal peers. Other institutions use the isolation method where special children study in different classrooms of their own, and have no interaction to their normal schoolmates, at least during class. Moreover, careful consideration should be taken before deciding if a child needs special attention and separate assessment. ” Labeling children too early as having special needs will be detrimental for those children and their ability to reach their potential. There may be a mismatch between the categories used to describe a young child’s disability which are also used to describe special needs of older children. This may disadvantage the younger child.” Gullo (2005), p. 141. Standards Based Assessment and EvaluationStandards-based assessment follow a set of pre-defined outlines on different standards of achievement in a subject, program, course or assessment component, and normally expressed in terms of the stated assessment criteria. This paradigm calls for deep changes both in teachers’ perceptions of their own role in relation to their students and in their classroom practice. The clarity and transparency of assessment standards help teachers provide students with information of what they know and can do and, more importantly, a clear picture of what they need to do to improve so they can take charge of their own learning (Black & William, 1998). Educational standards are generally differentiated as: Content StandardThese are the set of contents that educators choose to be included in the texts. Students are expected to learn them and know by specific grade levels. Performance StandardThese are basically the students’ level of achievement and performance at which the educators want the learners to progress. They are assessed on performance and results. Benchmarks are set by the educators for the learners and evaluated on how close they come to achieving the minimum level of proficiency. Standards are not to be confused with criteria, although the terms are used quite interchangeably. ” Criteria are descriptive whereas standards are judgemental—a high criterion does not make the same sense as a high standard does. Criteria may or may not contain explicit links to standards such as grading levels or marks” (Hughes, 2011). In conclusion, for effective learning to take place in any institution, the teachers need to recognize the importance of assessment and evaluation of the learners. Each of the perspectives stated above are useful and critical in a normal classroom setting. In order to better understand student learning, and to help in their improvement, assessment and evaluation is the most important tool. The more we know about individual students as they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students continue to achieve by moving forward in their learning. That is the best job we can do as teachers!

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