Thinking Like an Assessor

What is the importance of assessment of learning? Most people connect the term assessment with the final exam as a way to check if the student has mastered the knowledge and skills required by the course. However, this only refers to the summative assessment which is conducted at the end of the unit and for which the student gets graded based on his performance. 

Checking the level od mastery at the end of the learning process is not the only importance of the use of assessment in education. As Mark Chun (2010) states: "It is an empty exercise to assess student learning without providing a means to adjust teaching in response to deficiencies revealed through the information gleaned from that assessment" (p.23), besides checking if the students learned what was initially set with the unit, educators also need to use assessments in order to provide the more effective instruction to the students. 

Retrieved from:http://robmcentarffer.net/grading/taste-the-soup-evaluate-the-soup-but-please-dont-burn-it/

These two purposes actually reveal the two main types of assessment:

1) Formative assessment - Aims to monitor student learning in order to get the feedback which is used to adjust the instruction and improve the learning of the students. It helps students and teachers with answering the questions such as: What worked well? How can I help them better? What should we do next? Did I get there? How can I do better?

2) Summative assessment - Aims to evaluate student learning based on the rubric/standards/benchmarks originally set. 

Besides the purpose, the time during which the assessment is used also suggests which type of assessment particular activity belongs to. While formative assessment happens during the learning periods, summative assessment occurs at the end of the learning period. 

Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/lessons/aXhwRTd9po28pQ/summative-vs-formative-assessments

I will share some formative and summative assessments I  use in my A2 Economics class, for the
standard: Understand the roles, goals, and effects of government involvement in microeconomy.

5 SMART objectives identified for this standard are:

1. By the end of the period, students will be able to assess the level of income inequality using Gini coefficient.

2. By the end of the period, students will be able to employ MRP Theory as a tool which will help them identify the number of workers a perfectly competitive firm will employ.

3. By the end of the period, students will be able to use Demand and Supply graph to predict economic consequences of taxation in correcting market failure.

4. By the end of the double-period, students will be able to present, analyze and propose the solution to the case of government failure in the form of a newspaper article.

5. By the end of the period, students will be able to evaluate government policies in solving market failure in a country of their choice, in an infographic form.

Formative assessments I will use to reach these objectives are:

- Worksheets: Worksheet with provided data needed to calculate Gini coefficient. The students will be asked to calculate Gini coefficient, and interpret the results. This activity will help them learn how the use of Gini in evaluating the level of income inequality. Worksheet with provided data needed to employ MRP theory and find the number of workers a PC firm will employ will help them reach the defined objective 2.

- Case study which will require calculation, comparison of Gini values between different countries and interpretation of the differences in the level of inequality between those countries. This activity is going a step further, bringing the application to the real situation and adding the comparison of the results in different countries. 

- Economic News report about cases of government failure in different countries which requires them to identify causes of government failure in each case. This activity helps them identify different causes of government failure in the real-world context for the objective 4.

- ABCD quiz - The questions are covering D&S graph and interpreting the consequences of the fiscal policy of the government; use of MRP theory to find the number of workers a perfectly competitive firm will employ; calculation of Gini coefficient and interpretation of the results; choosing the best policy to solve particular market failure. Students work in groups and use ABCD cards for the answer of their choice. The questions are targeting the use of graphs, formulas and their interpretation in all of the listed objectives.

-  Fun pop-quiz - Showing photos/illustrations/cartoons which should refer to different types of government failure and this activity helps as pre-assessment tool which helps the teacher identify if the students have mastered the level of understanding and if they are ready for the next level of application in reaching the objective 4.

- Evaluation tree - Students will be given the list of the main concepts/skills to be mastered. They will post them on the Evalution tree (up - confident, middle - need some clarification, down - have no clue). They will be looking for a person who can help them climb the tree (all the concepts/skills/objectives on the top of the tree). This activity is a great tool of self-assessment of the understanding needed to acomplish all the listed objectives.

- Exit cards - All listed ideas for exit cards are good ways to find the gaps in understanding and application of the content needed for the listed objectives.

• One sentence summary - Summarize the lesson in 1 sentence
• 3-2-1- Write three things they have learned, two examples/graphs, one question they have
• Muddiest point - Write the muddiest point of the lesson, something you they are not very clear about and need further explanation
• I still have 1 question about ... - Complete the sentence
• SOS summary - Read Statement, Give Opinion, Support Opinion

- Turn and talk: What are the most important ideas to remember from this lesson? What are some details related to this idea? How is this related to something we know? This activity is very useful for finding the connections between different inefficiencies and government solutions in objectives 4 and 5.

These are two types of summative assessments I use to assess the knowledge and skills covered by this standard:

- Test: The test for the unit will cover the questions similar to CIE exam questions, but focused on the skills and knowledge of this unit. CIE marking scheme will be used. The questions will include:

• Essay questions (e.g. Discuss whether taxation is the best way to correct the problem of market failure in case of pollution; Discuss whether minimum wage is the best way to reduce inequality in the labor market.)
• Data-response questions (Based on provided extract with economic data, students will be asked to analyze the specific situation, calculate indicators such as Gini coefficient, evaluate different government policies and provide solutions)

- Projects: there will be a couple of projects in this unit. They will include a real-life application of the knowledge and skills mastered in the unit. Examples of the projects are:

• Creating a newspaper article which presents one government policy which will cause government failure, analysis how this will happen and suggest how it could be solved/prevented. The students will be working on this task independently and have freedom in their research and the choice of the government policy they wish to evaluate. 
• Creating a video/voicethread that presents the evaluation of the government policies in solving market failure of their choice in a particular country of their choice. This is a small group project. Besides the critical thinking, economic knowledge and analysis, the contribution of each of the members will be assessed. 
• Creating a presentation or an infographic that presents the evaluation of the government policies in solving inefficiency of a labor market in a particular country of their choice. This is a small group project. Besides the critical thinking, economic knowledge and analysis, the contribution of each of the members will be assessed.

 

References:

Chun, M. (2010, March). Taking Teaching To (Performance) Task: Linking Pedagogical and Assessment Practices. Change. doi:http://jcsites.juniata.edu/faculty/kruse/misc/Chun_Change_TakingTeachingToTask.pdf

Palm, T. (2008, April). Performance Assessment and Authentic Assessment: A Conceptual Analysis of the Literature. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 13(4), 1-11. doi:http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-magazine/manual

What is the difference between formative and summative assessment? (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2017, from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html



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