D Classroom Assessment

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a. Principles of Classroom Assessment

Assessment is an essential dimension of our learning experiences. Classroom Assessment refers

to the process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting information to aid in decision making
(Airasian, 2001). Proper assessment practices allow educators to determining and certifying the
degree to which learning outcomes have been met providing direction as to what students do and
how they do it (Boud & Falchikov, 2007). Good assessments assist teachers in evaluating the
effectiveness of their teaching, providing them with a framework to fine tune teaching methods
(Zeliff, 2000).
There are various forms of assessments, which includes some of the more common types such as
formative and summative assessments. However, they all hold general common principles. Two
such principles are validity and reliability. An understanding of validity and reliability allows
educators to make decisions that improve the lives of their students both academically and
socially, as these concepts teach educators how to quantify their goals for that group of students.
An assessment would be considered valid if it measures what it intends to measure. It ensures

that the assessment components effectively measure student attainment of the intended learning
outcome at the appropriate level. One aspect of assessments is its content validity. This refers to
the actual content within a test. A test that is valid in content should adequately examine all
aspects that define the objective. For example, a class is planned where the objective is to
describe the characteristics necessary for coral reef growth however, the assessment requires the
student to describe the formation of coral reefs. This assessment would be considered invalid.
Assessments should also be reliable. An assessment can be considered reliable if there are clear
and consistent processes for the setting, marking, grading and moderation of classroom
assessments. Reliable assessments yield results which are dependable and are not influenced by
chance. For example, a reliable test means that if a student takes the same test twice, the results
should be similar. Hence, a reliable assessment allows the teacher to interpret test scores to be
good representations of the student’s actual knowledge of the content.
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b. Critique of Assessment
This critique is based on Unit 1 Environmental Science 2019 End of term, December test, which
can be accessed at
The test consists of 40 multiple choice questions and 3 structured questions which assesses
Module 1 and part of Module B up to Specific Objective 3.
To determine the validity of the exam, an analysis of the exam must be done. All questions
must be categorized according to the content and quantity in relation to the objectives to the
objectives of the work done. The multiple choice and structured questions summarized in the
table below were analyzed independently to provide a better assessment of how valid the exam
was.
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Table showing breakdown of questions in relation to objectives

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Stacked bar graph showing analysis of assessment questions

Historical trends in human population size
Demographic characteristics
Relationship between people and the environment
Anthropogenic impacts
Population ecology
Ecosystem response to changes
Interaction between organisms
Energy and nutrient flow within ecosystems
Biogeochemical cycles
Key Ecological terms and concepts
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
% Weighting of MCQ % Weighting of Structured Questions % weighting of exam
From the analysis done, it can be seen that all the goals and objectives were tested in the
assessment. However, the distribution is uneven in both the multiple choice and structured
questions. Four out of ten objectives were seen to be tested either as a multiple-choice question
or structured, but not both. Apart from this, six out of the ten objectives contributed to less than
10 % of the exam for each objective.
The reliability of an exam can be confirmed if the exam is done twice by the same student and
the results are similar. However, the process of setting, marking, grading and moderation of the
would’ve determine the extent to its reliability. For consistent marking, rubrics and a mark
scheme would be required. A set grade scheme would need to be applied to all the results. And
all students would need to take the exams under the same conditions. A grade scheme, as well as
moderation was consistent for all students, however, a written mark scheme was not used, and
the marker was inconsistent with focus with respect to marking the scripts. This would lead to
issues of having a reliable assessment.
Improving the reliability and validity of assessments can be in a variety of ways. Increasing the
number of items on a test will increase reliability. This reduces the chances of students guessing
the correct answer as well as provide a more realistic class grade as it would better reflect
student’s knowledge. another method to increase reliability is objective marking compared to
subjective marking. This can be done using a detailed rubric. Thirdly, if students know exactly
what they have to do during an assessment, it rules out inconsistency in proceeding through an
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exam. This can be achieved through the use of clear instructions allowing the class to be more
consistent in their approach in writing the exam. To increase validity, greater focus must be
placed on the objectives and goals to achieve. The exam must be set to the objectives and goals
in order for it to be valid. Preparing an exam with a table of specification will ensure that all the
content is covered in the test as well as how evenly distributed they tested objectives would be. It
is also a good practice to have a colleague or perhaps even get feedback from students who are
willing to provide feedback on the test with the objectives in mind.

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1

a. Principles of Classroom Assessment

Assessment is an essential dimension of our learning experiences. Classroom Assessment refers

An assessment would be considered valid if it measures what it intends to measure. It ensures

Table showing breakdown of questions in relation to objectives

Stacked bar graph showing analysis of assessment questions

% Weighting of MCQ % Weighting of Structured Questions % weighting of exam

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