Measurement & Assessment in Education

Measurement and Assessment in Education

Measurement and assessment are core elements of the process of learning . They help a teacher to make decisions about the methods of teaching employed and the progress of the learner relative to the set objectives . [McMillan ,

. 1] In to adequately measure the academic achievements of the learners , a teacher may use a single or a combination of two or more methods of assessment . [p . 51] . For instance Yih-Fen Chen and Michael A . Martin posit that teachers can use both traditional and authentic assessment methods to measure

the academic achievement of their learners . However , they assert that traditional methods are not reliable as they do not reflect on current theories of learning cognition , they are not based on abilities that learners need for their future and that that they tend to focus more on a product versus the processes used in learning . They therefore call upon for the use of more authentic assessment methods which are flexible and can reflect current theories of learning and cognition . The use of these authentic assessment methods will serve to supplement the traditional assessment , particularly in areas where the `-and-pencil assessment cannot be effective , e .g . in art and social development skills . In their article they single out performance and portfolio assessments as examples of authentic assessment which can be applied separately or together to bring desirable outcomes unlike the traditional methods . [Chen Martin , 2000]

Performance assessment is grounded on the notion that , the process of learning involves...