This booklet seeks to explain the principles of classroom assessment as outlined in Section One of the English Curriculum: Principles and Standards for Learning English as a Foreign Language for All Grades (Ministry of Education, 2001, pp. 19-20). It focuses on a performance-based approach to education in general and classroom assessment in particular, and is closely connected to the Curriculum’s underlying principles.
Traditional assessment methods (such as tests) give teachers limited information on pupils’ abilities, insufficiently assessing the complex and integrated skills specified in the Curriculum. While traditional testing asks, “Do you know the information?” performance-based assessment queries, “How well can you use what you know?”
As stated in the Curriculum, the focus of both instruction and assessment is on the pupils’ ability to apply their language to practical situations; in other words, can pupils apply the language skills they have acquired? Thus, by adopting a performance-based approach to instruction and assessment, teachers will allow pupils to demonstrate their newly acquired skills. Furthermore, through their performances, teachers will be able to assess the success of their teaching goals and the curriculum standards.
We hope this booklet will help teachers understand the value and principles of performance-based teaching, while providing useful information and resources for implementing assessment principles outlined in the Curriculum.
Overview
Section I reviews the principles of classroom assessment in the Curriculum and provides explanations and examples to illustrate and clarify each principle. Included in the section is the document “Standards and benchmarks for the domain of assessment” from Core Requirements for Teachers of English: Knowledge and Performance.
Section II explains performance-based education and assessment and its link to the Curriculum. It then describes the characteristics of performance tasks, and provides guidelines for designing performance tasks and tools for assessment such as rubrics. The implementation of performance-based teaching and assessment is discussed.
Formats for reporting pupils’ progress and achievements, compatible with a performance-based approach, are proposed.
Section III presents examples of performance tasks and projects designed by teachers in the field and implemented in their classrooms.
Two examples of portfolios – which exemplify the performance-based approach – and a number of alternative formats for reporting pupils’ progress have been included.
The booklet concludes with a glossary of the most common terms related to performance-based education and assessment.
Principles of Classroom Assessment
As stated in the Curriculum (pp. 19-20), classroom assessment is viewed as an integral part of the teaching-learning process, where the teaching goals, instruction and assessment procedures are planned in advance and integrated into a whole. Teachers and pupils should be involved in monitoring the learning process as well as evaluating outcomes.
Effective classroom assessment involves various assessment methods and evidence of learning over a period of time.
Classroom assessment can be divided into two categories:
- Formative assessment monitors pupils’ progress providing meaningful feedback on their performance, enabling them to advance their learning in line with Curriculum standards. The information obtained from formative assessment is also used for planning further instruction, and serves as the basis for an on-going teacher-pupil dialogue on the pupil’s progress.
- Summative assessment provides information on the quality of pupils’ performance, and assesses the pupils’ achievement of benchmarks and standards
Both assessments are implemented through various methods. Since every assessment tool has its strengths and weaknesses, none should be used exclusively, but rather as one of several components in the assessment process.
Following are the principles outlined in the Curriculum for assessing pupils, with explanations and applications.