Measurements and Evaluation. 4 Major elements in the Concepts

In this article, the meaning of assessment, test and testing measurements and evaluation will be given. The purpose of carrying out measurements and evaluation will also be given since the primary purpose of educationally measuring and evaluating the learner is to utilize the results for the improvement of teaching-learning.

Test and testing

Simply put a test is a measuring tool or instrument in education. More specifically, a test is considered to be a kind or class of measurement device typically used to find out something about a person. Most of the times, when you finish a lesson or lessons in a week, your teacher gives you a test.

This test is an instrument given to you by the teacher in order to obtain data on which you are judged. It is an educationally common type of device which an individual completes himself or herself, the intent is to determine changes or gains resulting from such instruments as inventory, questionnaire, opinionnaire, scale etc.

Testing on the other hand is the process of administering the test on the pupils. In other words the process of making you or letting you take the test in order to obtain a quantitative representation of the cognitive or non-cognitive traits you possess is called testing. So the instrument or tool is the test and the process of administering the test is testing.

Assessment

Now that you have learnt the difference between test and testing, Let us move on to the next concept which is assessment. As a teacher, you will be inevitably involved in assessing learners; therefore you should have a clear knowledge and the meaning of assessment.

The term assess is derived from a Latin word “asoidere” meaning “to sit by” in judgment. There are many definitions and explanations of assessment in education. Let us look at few of them.

1. Freeman and Lewis (1998) to assess is to judge the extent of students’ learning.
2. Rowntree (1977): Assessment in education can be thought of 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. To some extent or other, it is an attempt to know the person.
3. Erwin, in Brown and Knight, (1994). Assessment is a systematic basis for making inference about the learning and development of students… the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using information to increase students’ learning and development.

You will have to note from these definitions that

• Assessment is a human activity.
• Assessment involves interaction, which aims at seeking to understand what the learners have achieved.
• Assessment can be formal or informal.
• Assessment may be descriptive rather than judgment in nature.
• Its role is to increase students’ learning and development
• It helps learners to diagnose their problems and to improve the quality of their subsequent learning.

Measurement

This is a broad term that refers to the systematic determination of outcomes or characteristics by means of some sort of assessment device. It is a systematic process of obtaining the quantified degree to which a trait or an attribute is present in an individual or object. In other words, it is a systematic assignment of numerical values or figures to a trait or an attribute in a person or object.

For instance, what is the height of Uche? What is the weight of the meat? What is the length of the classroom? In education, the numerical value of scholastics ability, aptitude, achievement etc. can be measured and obtained using instruments such as paper and pencil test. It means that the values of the attribute are translated into numbers by measurement.

Evaluation

According to Tuckman (1975) evaluation is a process wherein the parts, processes, or outcomes of a programme are examined to see whether they are satisfactory, particularly with reference to the stated objectives of the programme, our own expectations, or our own standards of excellence.

According to Cronbach et al (1980) evaluation means the systematic examination of events occurring in and consequent on a contemporary programme. It is an examination conducted to assist in improving this programme and other programmes having the same general purpose.

For Thorpe (1993) evaluation is the collection analysis and interpretation of information about training as part of a recognized process of judging its effectiveness, its efficiency and any other outcomes it may have.

If you study these definitions very well, you will note that evaluation as an integral part of the instructional process involves three steps. These are

• Identifying and defining the intended outcomes.
• Constructing or selecting tests and other evaluation tools relevant to the specified outcomes, and
• Using the evaluation results to improve learning and teaching.

You will also note that evaluation is a continuous process. It is essential in all fields of teaching and learning activity where judgment need to be made.

The Purpose of Measurements and Evaluation.

The main purposes of measurements and evaluation are:

• Placement of student, which involves bringing students appropriately in the learning sequence and classification or streaming of students according to ability or subjects.
• Selecting the students for courses – general, professional, technical, commercial etc.
• Certification: This helps to certify that a student has achieved a particular level of performance.
• Stimulating learning: this can be motivation of the student or teacher, providing feedback, suggesting suitable practice etc.
• Improving teaching: by helping to review the effectiveness of teaching arrangements.
• For research purposes.
• For guidance and counselling services.
• For modification of the curriculum purposes.
• For the purpose of selecting students for employment
• For modification of teaching methods.
• For the purposes of promotions to the student.
• For reporting students progress to their parents.
• For the awards of scholarship and merit awards.
• For the admission of students into educational institutions.
• For the maintenance of students.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TESTING AND EVALUATION

The history of measurement started with the invention of tests to measure individual differences in skills among adults. In January 1796, the astronomer royal of Greenwich observatory in England – Maskelyne, was recorded to have dismissed his assistant, Kinnebrook, for recording the movement of stars across the telescope with eight- tenths of a second later than his.

According to Tuckman (1975) between 1820 and 1823, a German astronomer -Bessel improved on the work of Maskelyne by demonstrating the variability in personal equations and observations. He argued that fluctuations existed from occasion to occasion and from person to person. This means that there is a variation in the simple reaction time or a measure of the time required to react to a simple stimulus.

In 1863, a half cousin of Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton worked on individual differences. In 1883 he published a book titled inquires into the Human Faculty and Development. His work was regarded as the beginning of mental tests. Have you heard of his tests? In 1884, Galton opened an anthropometric laboratory to collect the characteristic measurements of people within the same period Mckeen Cathel, an American Psychologist was also studying individual differences in primary physical terms.

These were the earliest recorded history of testing. But you will note that early measurement approaches in history both written and oral, were informal. The first written tests were the informal examinations used by the Chinese to recruit people into the civil service. This was about 2200BC.

The oral examinations conducted by Socrates in the 5^th century B.C were informal. In America, educational achievement tests were used for assessment through oral examinations before 1815. You have read about Galton, James Cattel etc and their roles in the history of test development. There are others, let us briefly mention very few of them in this section. Karl Pearson, developed the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient which is useful in checking the reliability and validity of standardized tests.

Edward L. Thorndike was a former student of Cattels. He made major contributions in achievement testing.

By 1904, Alfred Binet had established himself as France’s premier psychologist, expert in human individual differences. He studied the differences between bright and dull children. In 1904, he developed a test for measuring intelligence of children with his assistant Theodore Simons. This test is called Binet – Simons intelligence test. In 1916, Louis Terman and his associates at Stanford University revised the Binet-Simon scale and brought out the Stamford-Binet version.

Group-tests development started during the World War I when the need to measure the intelligence of soldiers so as to assign them to different tasks and operations arose. As a result group of psychologists including Yerkes, R.M and Otis, A. developed the Army Alpha, which is a written group intelligence test, and Army Beta, which is the individual non­verbal intelligence test. Others are: David Wechsler who developed series of individual intelligence scales from 1939 to 1967;

George Fisher, an Englishman who developed the first standardized objectives test of achievement in 1864 and J.M. Rice, an American developed the standard spelling objective scale in 1897. The list is not comprehensive yet.