Differentiate: Testing, Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment

Task 2

A test is a special form of assessment. Tests are assessments made under contrived circumstances especially so that they may be administered. In other words, all tests are assessments, but not all assessments are tests. We test at the end of a lesson or unit.

Measurement refers to the process of delegating a numerical index, to the object in a meaningful and consistent manner. Measurement is largely need for the analysis of data from educational assessments of test. It also need in diagnosing the weak areas of learning of students. Measurement is need for the external assessment of the students and relates to the cognitive areas of man's achievement.

Evaluation is when the comparison is being made between the score of a learner with the score of other learners and judge the results.Evaluation provides a systematic method to study a program, practice, intervention, or initiative to understand how well it achieves its goals. Evaluations help determine what works well and what could be improved in a program or initiative. Program evaluations can be used to: Demonstrate impact to funders.

Assessment is the process of gathering information to monitor progress and make educational decisions if necessary. An assessment may include a test, but, also includes methods such as observations, interviews, behaviours, monitoring, etc. Assessment is a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective or goal.

Measurement and evaluation helps in determining how much students have learned. The teacher would not be able to assess how far students have learned without measuring and evaluating of what he has taught.

The essential principles that I should bear in mind and as a future educator I should apply the following:

CONTENT VALIDITY

• Test should be related to the course!
• Test should sample a depth and breadth of the curriculum. e.g. it would not be valid to test a practical skill by asking the student to write an essay. Or testing a year long course by using 5 MCQuestions!

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY

• Tests attributes (characteristics) it claims to e.g. intelligence; creativity; art; aptitude; leadership; attitudes and interests.
• The test should be able to pick up sensitive minor variations in the concept being measured.

RELIABILITY

• This is about the adequacy of measurement
• The assessment method has a quality of timelessness
• Dependability and consistency

EQUITY

• Fairness of test is imperative (check design principles)
• Teacher awareness of particular circumstances of individual students are important

The purpose of these assessments is to evaluate the information gathered to determine what students know and understand, how far they have progressed and how fast, and how their scores and progress compare to those of other students.