CHAPTER 2 : MEASUREMENT,

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION IN

OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Distinguish among measurement,
assessment and evaluation
• Explain the meaning of assessment FOR,
OF and AS learning
 2.1. MEASUREMENT
• Is the process of determining or describing the
attributes or characteristics of physical objects
generally in terms of quantity.
• When we measure, we use some standard
instrument to find out how long, heavy, hot,
voluminous, cold, fast or straight some things are.
• To measure is to apply a standard measuring device
to an object, group of objects, events or situations
according to procedure determined by one who is
skilled in the use of such device.
• Knowledge of the subject matter is often measured
through standardized test results. In this case, the
measurement procedure is testing. The same concept
can be measured in another way. We can ask a group
of experts to rate a student’s ( or a teacher’s)
knowledge of the subject matter in a scale of 1 to 5
with 1 being the lowest and 5 is the highest. In this
procedure, knowledge of the subject matter is
measured through perceptions.
 1. TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
• Measurements can therefore be objective ( as in
testing) or subjective (as in perceptions). In the
example cited, testing produces objective
measurements while experts ratings provide
subjective measurements.
• Objective measurements are more stable than
subjective measurements in the case that repeated
measurements of the same quantity or quality of
interest will produce more or less the same
outcomes.
 1. TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
• For this reason many people prefer objective
measurements over subjective measurements
whenever they are available. However, there are
certain facets of the quantity or quality of interest that
cannot be successfully captured by objective
procedures but which can be done by subjective
methods e.g. aesthetic appeal of a product or project
of a student, student’s performance in a drama, etc. it
follows that it may be best to use both methods of
assessment whenever the constraints of time and
resources permit.
1. TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
• Whenever one uses an objective or subjective assessment
procedure, the underlying principle in educational
measurement is summarized by the following formula:
Measurement of Quantity or Quality of interest = True value plus
random error.

• Each measurement of the quantity of interest has two

components: a true value of the quantity and a random error
component. The objective in educational measurement is to
estimate or approximate, as closely as possible, the true
value of the quantity of interest, e.g. true knowledge of the
subject matter. This is a tall order and one which will occupy
most of our time in this particular course.
1. TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
• Objective measurements are measurements that do
not depend on the person or individual taking the
measurements. Regardless of who is taking the
measurement, the same measurement values should
be obtained when using an objective assessment
procedure.

• In contrast, subjective measurements often differ from

one assessor to the next even if the same quantity or
quality is being measured.
2. MEASURING INDICATORS, VARIABLES
AND FACTORS
• An educational variable (denoted by an English alphabet, like
X) is a measurable characteristics of a student. Variables may
be directly measurable as in X= age or X= height of a
student. However, many times, a variable cannot be directly
measured like when we want to measure “class participation”
of a student. For those variables where direct measurements
are not feasible, we introduce the concept of indicators.
• An indicator, I, denotes the presence or absence of a
measured characteristics. Thus,
I = 1, if the characteristic is present
= 0, if the characteristic is absent
2. MEASURING INDICATORS, VARIABLES
AND FACTORS
• For the variable X= class participation, we can let 11, 12, 1𝑛1,
denote the participation of a student in n class recitations and let
X = sum of the I’s divided by n recitations. Thus, if there were:
n = 10 recitations and the student participated in 5 of these 10,
then X = 5/10 or 50%.

• Indicators are the building blocks of educational

measurement upon which all other forms of measurement are
built. A group of indicators constitute a variable. A group of
variables from a construct or a factor. The variables which
from a correlate highly with each other but have low
correlations with variables in another group.
2. MEASURING INDICATORS, VARIABLES
AND FACTORS
• Example: The following variables were measured in a battery
of tests:
X1= computational skills
X2= reading skills
X3= vocabulary
X4= logic and reasoning
X5= sequences and series
X6= manual dexterity
These variables can be grouped as follows:
Group 1: (X1, X4, X5)= mathematical ability factor
Group 2: (X2,X3)= language ability factor
Group 3: (X6)= psychomotor ability factor
2. MEASURING INDICATORS, VARIABLES
AND FACTORS
• The first group is called a “mathematical ability” factor, the
second group is called a language ability factor, while the
third group (with only one variable) is called a “psychomotor
ability factor.

• In educational measurement , we shall be concerned with

indicators, variables and factors of interest in the field of
education.
2.2. ASSESSMENT
• The term assessment is derived from the Latin assidere
which means “to sit beside” (Wiggins, 1993).
• Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of students
performance over a period of time to determine learning and
mastery skills.
• Such evidences of learning can take the forms of dialogue
record, journals, written work, portfolios, tests and other
learning tasks.
• Assessment requires review of journal entries, written work,
presentation, research papers, essays, story written, test
results, ect.
2.2. ASSESSMENT
• The overall goal of assessment is to improve student learning and
provide students, parents and teachers with reliable information
regarding student progress and extent of attainment of the expected
learning outcomes.
• Assessments use, as basis, the level of achievement and standards
required for the curricular goals appropriate for the grade or year
level. Assessment results show the more permanent learning and
clearer picture of the student’s ability.
• Assessment of skill attainment is relatively easier than assessment of
understanding and other mental ability. Skills can be practised and
readily demonstrable. Either the skill exists at a certain level or it
doesn’t.
• Assessment of understanding is much more complex. We can assess
a person’s knowledge in a number of ways but we need to infer from
certain indicators of understanding through written descriptions.
 2.3. EVALUATION
• Evaluation originates from the root word “value” and so when we
evaluate, we expect our process to give information regarding the
worth, appropriateness, goodness, validity or legality of something
for which a reliable measurement has been made.
• Evaluation is a process designed to provide information that will
help us to make a judgement about a particular situation. The end
result of evaluation is to adopt, reject or revise what has been
evaluated.
• Objects of evaluation include instructional programs, school
projects, teachers, students, and educational goals. Examples
include evaluating the “education for all project of a school district,
the comparative effectiveness of two remedial regarding programs,
correlation between achievement test results and diagnostic test
results, and attributes of an effective teacher.
 2.3. EVALUATION
• Evaluation involves data collection and analysis
and quantitative and qualitative methods.

• Evaluation can help educators determine the

success of their academic programs and signal
efforts to improve student achievement. It can
also help identify the success factors of programs
and projects.
 TWO BROAD CATEGORIES OF EVALUATION
• Formative Evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a
program while the program activities are in progress. This
type of evaluation focuses on the process. The results of
formative evaluation give opportunities to the proponents,
learners and teachers how well the objectives of the
program are being attained.
• Its main objective is to determine deficiencies so that the
appropriate interventions can be done.
• Formative evaluation may also be used in analyzing
learning materials, student learning and achievements and
teacher effectiveness.
 TWO BROAD CATEGORIES OF EVALUATION
• Summative Evaluation is a method of judging the worth of
a program at the end of the program activities. The focus is
on the result. The instruments used to collect data for
summative evaluation are questionnaire, survey forms,
interview/observation guide and tests.
• Summative evaluation is designed to determine the
effectiveness of a program or activity based on its avowed
purposes.
• Scriven gave as techniques for summative evaluation:
pretest –posttest with one group; pretest-posttest with
experimetal and control groups: one group descriptive
analysis. The subject of evaluation is wider than assessmet
which focuses speciffically on student learning outcomes.
2.4 Assessment
Three main purposes for assessment
Assessment for learning occurs when teachers
use inferences about student progress to inform
their teaching. (formative)

Assessment as learning occurs when students

reflect on and monitor their progress to inform
their future learning goals. (formative)

Assessment of learning occurs when teachers

use evidence of student learning to make
judgements on student achievement against
goals and standards. (summative)
Assessment for learning:
(1)

 establishes a classroom culture that encourages interaction

and
the use of assessment tools
 occurs throughout a learning sequence and is planned when
teachers design teaching and learning activities
 involves teachers sharing learning intentions and explicit
assessment criteria with students
 involves teachers and students setting and monitoring
student
progress against learning goals
 requires teachers to ascertain students' prior knowledge,
perceptions and misconceptions
Assessment for learning:
(2)

 involves teachers focusing on how students learn and how

to
scaffold their learning
 involves teachers adapting teaching practice to meet
student needs
 provides sensitive and constructive feedback to students on
their
performance
 involves teachers making formative use of summative
assessment
Assessment as learning:

(1)

 involves students monitoring their learning and using

feedback
from this monitoring to make adjustments and changes to
their
skills and understandings
 establishes students’ role and responsibility in relation to
their
learning and assessment
 empowers students to consider strategies for learning and
taking
action
 involves students in self-assessment and peer-
assessment
Assessment as learning:

(2)
 promotes students’ self-esteem and self-confidence
through an
understanding of how they learn to learn
 develops students’ capacity to reflect on the learning
and to
contribute to their future learning goals
 enhances students’ life-long learning skills
 emphasises the process of learning as it is
experienced by the
student
Assessment of learning:

 enables students to demonstrate what they know and can

do
 describes the extent to which a student has achieved the
learning goals, including the Standards
 uses teacher judgements about student achievement at a
point
in time
 is supported by examples or evidence of student learning
 ensures consistent teacher judgements through moderation
processes
 is used to plan future learning goals.
Activity # 1

 Discuss the types of

assessment of learning used in your school.

 How is the information/data from these used?

Activity# 2

 Consider your brainstorm list of assessment

strategies.

 Can you now categorize these into the 3

purposes for assessment? (for, as, of)
Activity # 3
 Select two characteristics of
Assessment for learning and discuss how
these may be demonstrated in your
classroom.

Activity # 4

Use a venn diagram to discuss the

relationship between:
assessment for learning and
assessment as learning.
Quiz

 Do our assessment practices make use of all three main

purposes for assessment?
 Do our assessment processes allow for a balance of
assessment for, as and of learning?
 How can assessment for and as learning (formative)
assist
students when it comes to assessment of learning
(summative)?
 What processes could our school use to align its
assessment processes to the assessment advice provided by
the Department?