Functional skills are some of my areas of specialist educational focus. Functional skills are core practical skills in English, maths and information and communication technology. Core skills are essential elements to progress in education, training and employment. These core skills are transferable and equip the learners with the foundational life skill tools to live an independent life at home, at school and in the work place.
My work, due in part to the nature of the pupils I teach, who tend towards been behaviourally challenged, incorporates a mixture of both informal assessments focussed on content and performance and some formal assessments which validate conclusions formulated from any given tests.
When examining any aspect of assessment of an education programme we must first analyse the methodology. In the case of the above, the principle breakdown is fundamentally clear:
A: To judge the performance of the learner, measured against the intended learning outcomes.
B: To determine if advancement the next educational level is applicable.
C: To supply useful feedback, that points to levels of attainment, and areas for improvement.
D: To identify arrears in the programme that has not been understood. This will help in the evaluation of methods and approaches to teaching.
With the application of functional skills it is very important that any assessments of these skillsets are valid. Is there a beneficial alliance between the aims of the programme, the envisioned outcomes of the programme, and the content and method of the assessment?
Is the assessment impartial, consistent and unbiased? Is the marking criteria of appropriate robustness to ensure uniformity between different assessment criteria, and more importantly do the ...
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...ed/supplied/ participated in. All of these reasons are assessed so that we can determine our effectiveness as teachers… As teachers we have to be able to ask ourselves these questions:
A: Has the learner understood the information conveyed to them?
B: Is the learner able to demonstrate that they comprehend the information supplied?
C: As a teacher can we confirm, and authorise, development?
Optimistically effective assessments techniques will allow us answer all three of these questions successfully; undoubtedly questions A and B, and finally with some corrective action, C.
On balance the models of assessment that I employ assume the insight that…
“…students would benefit from, with more opportunities to build on their strengths and learn from their mistakes through feedback from formative assessment activities staged throughout their course…” (Rust, 2002)
In this assignment I will be analysing the purpose of assessment whilst demonstrating my understanding of the different assessment methods used. I will also be giving a brief explanation of my understanding of VACSR describing my understanding of what each element means and its importance when used in assessment. Furthermore I will be describing two assessment methods that I have used whilst teaching evaluating each method using VACSR identifying strengths and areas of improvement. Finally I will justify the reasons for using the two assessment methods chosen.
Holistic assessments can also highlight areas for further training and learning, which will benefit the learner and employer.
Research carried out by Ofsted (2011) shows that, assessment improved a practitioner’s awareness of a child’s strengths and weaknesses. Subsequently, this had a positive influence on their planning, as they were able to differentiate and offer adequate support for children. Ofsted believes it to be the best way to improve pupil’s attainment (Ofsted, 2011).
Assessment has been the greatest challenge in my development as a professional. My coursework as supported my growth in this area, especially in understanding the broad range of assessments used to support students’ growth and development. My courses have also supported my understanding of how ongoing observational assessment and standards-based measures can be used to inform instruction and support the cycle of observation, reflection and planning. Coursework
The assessment meets the stated purpose remarkably because of its directness, clear wording, cultural appropriateness, and because it is based on research and user feedback. As with any assessment, biases can appear; however, because the assessment was administered by the teacher, biases such as low literacy, cultural and language differences, and impaired mental functioning do not exist.
In conclusion, though assessment is repeatedly debated if the discussions are conducted in a positive and productive manner the deliberations ought to be continued to benefit all students in the learning process. Additionally, alternative assessments may vary by individual state requirements each method needs to be considered by teachers in assisting all students based on their individual learning style in achieving academic excellence.
In our ECI 573 class on Tuesday, February 9, Dr. Ross discussed the requirements and expectations for the second part of the lesson plan assignment, the piece focused on assessment. The first thing I did to complete this assignment was review my original lesson plan and identify what exactly I wanted to measure with each assessment, which I based on the previous knowledge necessary to complete the activity and the learning objective I had set in the original lesson plan. I then went online to get an idea of what kind of diagnostic,
EDAHOD5: The Teacher as an Assessor Assignment 1: Establishing guidelines that can be used to plan an assessment activity Bronwyn Huber, Student Number 58127550 Table of Contents Question 1 3 Question 1 When planning an assessment, it is important that certain guidelines are followed in order to create an assessment that is fair. I have made use of the prescribed textbook as well as the CAPS document to formulate ten guidelines that are used to prepare assessment activities in my subject. The guidelines have been placed into the table below as well as a brief description/explanation of each. Guideline Description/ Explanation 1) The type of questions and scope must be sufficient and cover the spread of work done
I always help students identifying their learning and progress and give them feedback. Students need to be aware of their achievement and progress. I adapt practice and plan further learning, this will make the assessment meaningful and effective as it will answer to the learner needs. 6.3 Use types and methods of assessment, including peer and self-assessment, to: - Involve learners in assessment - Meet the individual needs of learners - Enable learner's to produce assessment evidence that valid. Reliable.
2). As with informal assessment, I feel that this is more flexible and can depend on students’ response to activity, lesson, or content. This can be a faster way for the teacher to see results of the students work. Some students prefer a more planned out way of testing them where the questions are written, and they have an idea of how the assessment is planned out and taking place. Other students like anything but written, long exams and would prefer to be evaluated in other ways. I feel that in my future classroom I will vary my type of instruction and allow for all the different types of unique learners to be assessed in a variety of different ways.
1. Share your point of view about the best practice for conducting psychological assessment Psychological assessment is an invaluable tool for clinicians. There are various types of psychological assessments, including implicit, explicit, projective, and objective. Also, assessments are used for a variety of reasons, such as to assess intelligence, personality, achievement, neuropsychological functioning, etc. Each difference in the type and purpose of the assessments changes the best practice for conducting the assessments.
An ongoing feature of life, from the day we are born to the day we pass we are assessed, from birth, we are measured against benchmarks. I believe any assessment conducted to help improve a student holds the most value.
The students will also be able to better evaluate themselves with immediate feedback and evaluation.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
However, as I have grown professionally, I have become more eclectic in my assessments. I now incorporate a student-performance, along with test of the material presented, and a humanistic approach on how my students are impacted by the grades they receive. For instance, my Asperger student, Lukas, needs his assessments to contain fact-recall questions, and essay questions need to have step-by-step answers. He does not perform well if questions regarding interpretations of emotions or non-factual data of information are part of the assessment.