UNIT 4
4.1 Functions of Assessment

ASSESSMENT

As a result of a CBS television expose on the sanitary conditions of restaurants in Los Angeles County, a grading system was established by the health department which required mandatory posting of letter grades. There was a public outrage about the number of restaurants that had low cleanliness scores. The consumer will not easily abandon the grading system; they like making the restaurants owners and managers accountable for proper safe food-handling practices. Restaurant owners are scheduling employee training in sanitation practices at record numbers to comply with the newly enacted law in Los Angeles County which states that all restaurants must have a certified food handler employed and post the letter grade received during their health inspection. To become a certified food handler, an individual must attend an eight hour training session and receive a passing score on a standardized test. The grading system which requires posting the letter grade from the health department, is effecting the "bottom-line," and therefore, is being taken very seriously. Those restaurants not making the "A" rating know first hand the effects on profit margins as the public is picking their dining experiences not only for the taste of the food, but from the safety of it as well.

Functions of Assessment

Often when we think of assessment, we think of quizzes, midterms and final examinations. But assessment is more than just measuring student progress; it is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning process including the lesson, the course and the instructor. Assessment can include all the processes involved in making decisions about student learning.

In the case of the restaurants, the initial shock of receiving a poor grade or even a "B" sent many restaurant owners in search of training for their employees. Because it affected profitability, the Los Angeles County grading system motivated the owners to improve conditions in their restaurants. The important question is not that the students pass the test, but if these students will apply their safe food-handling knowledge in the workplace. If not, the restaurant is in jeopardy of losing clients or even being closed by the health department.

As you can see in the above scenario, many functions of assessment were evident.

Some of the functions are the following:

Motivation

Employees continue their employment or owners maintain profitability.

Increase Learning

Students receive classroom based instruction with immediate and direct application to the workplace.

Assessing Learning Process

Health departments monitor the quality of instructional programs and maintain a list of acceptable training programs.

Provide feedback on progress

Instructors receive statistics from the national testing associations to evaluate their own instructional success and to examine the problematic content areas where the students as a group are performing poorly. Students who do not pass the test receive feedback and remedial instruction. In addition to the eight hour food-handlers training classes, sanitation/safety training is offered as a three unit class. Instructors have more opportunity in this setting to provide ongoing feedback to the students.

Evaluate factual knowledge and recall of information

Students receive a grade from a third party evaluator on a multiple choice test. With a passing grade the student is identified as a "Certified Food Handler."

Judging application of information

The Health Department also provides feedback in the workplace regarding the application of safe food handling.

Calculate statistical measurement to rank students among students locally, nationally and internationally.

The training programs receive statistics from the national testing entities such as Experior and the Education Foundation of the National Restaurant Association about the "pass-rate" of students

Authentic Assessment

Students in a "Food-Handler Training" course utilizes authentic assessment. The students in the class are given a traditional multiple-choice test after completing a training session, but the real "test" will be whether these students apply their knowledge and "pass" the health department inspection.

In schools traditional measurements such as quizzes and tests (true/false, multiple choice, matching, short answer, paragraph response and essays) are used. Some criticisms of most true/false, fill in the blank, short answer, and matching tests are 1) that they measure only the outcome not the process, 2) often focusing on low-level thinking skills (recall, memory, and 3) do not evaluate application to the real world. Authentic assessment on the other hand, 1) emphasizes higher level thinking (application, synthesis, evaluation, problem solving), 2) often focuses on the process and 3) has more application to real world activities. A trend to return to authentic assessment where a student's performance is judged against "real-world" activities. An apprenticeship program is a traditional model of authentic assessment. Other examples in the culinary world, would be creating an original recipe that is cooked and served to customers. Many colleges have their culinary students actually running the school cafeteria. This creates an environment, where authentic assessment is meaningful and effective. Higher-order thinking skills are utilized more often with authentic assessment compared to most quizzes which are testing the "recall" ability of students.

Students need to know what they are learning , why it is important, how they are doing and where to apply the knowledge in "real-world" settings. When these elements are present, students usually retain more knowledge compared to classes where authentic assessment is not an integral part of instruction. Finally it is important to note that research shows that frequent assessment seems to be more effective than providing only a final examination.

Authentic assessment directly measures student performance through "real-life" tasks. Administering a professional association's certification test for the final class examination is indicative of authentic assessment strategies. An example from the Hospitality Industry is administering the nationally recognized SerSafe examination in college classes in Sanitation and Safety. Another example would be child development students passing the Red Cross first aid and CPR test and receiving national certification. This type of assessment measures the integration of class knowledge with real world application, thus emphasizing higher-order thinking skills. It is particularly meaningful when students are in courses that are preparing them for future or current professional role. You can imagine how intrinsically motivating this assessment strategy could be to students. One would be to invite professionals to give students feedback on their skills and abilities.

Student Assessment

As curriculum is designed, it is important to determine how the role of assessment will have in the overall relationship to the course. The functions of assessment are a way of judging student progress, a way of increasing learning, a way of sharpening motivation and a way of applying knowledge to "real-life" situations.

Criterion-referenced evaluations measure performance on specific criteria. Success is measured according to a predetermined measure of quality or content mastery. An example would be a ten-word vocabulary test. A student receives a grade based on the number of correct answers. Usually the standards is 90%=A; 80%=B; 70%=c; 60%=D; and below receives an F. Student assessment includes judgements about students' written work, class participation, performance on tests, and quality of projects. Traditionally instructors use the following methods: testing, exhibition of work, journals, oral reports, collaborate group projects, debate, simulation, portfolio, scenario, book reviews, interviews with written summaries.

Student assessment is broader than just in class assessment by the instructor to judge content. Norm referenced evaluation are used to determine how a student performs compared to other students taking the test under similar conditions. Norm referenced tests are used in standardized testing of students. Norm-referenced scores are reported as a percentage of students achieving higher and lower scores.

The following assessments can help students learn:

Diagnostic Evaluation

Teachers use pretests to locate students' strengths and weaknesses in order to customize their lessons. Computer technology has enhanced this type of testing into a learning strategy. In fact, software programs are quite sophisticated and are able to automatically "branch" to areas of remediation on an individualized basis.

Performance Evaluation

This type of evaluation is based on application of knowledge in solving problems. It is extremely effective for adult learners. Performance evaluation is being implemented by the California Legislature under the "Partnership for Excellence." Eventually, the legislature would like to base funding allocations for California's community colleges on the established performance measures. The proposal is that funding would be based on the number of students completing certifications, Associate's Degrees and/or transfer to the university system.

Process Evaluation

In this type of testing the focus of the evaluation is on the "process" rather than the "correct" answer. In advanced engineering mathematics, students that have the correct process documented, but have made an arithmetic error could still receive a substantial number of points. In this case the instructor is making judgements about the thinking process. This type of testing can create controversy and is often misunderstood by the general public who assumes that standards have been lowered. Process evaluation is another form of assessment where the instructor is analyzing the problem solving ability of the students. In fact, creative problem solving methods are discovered with process evaluation.

Formative/Summative Evaluation

Two other terms you may hear regarding student assessment are formative evaluation and summative evaluation. These terms are used in research studies, but can be defined as follows when used in assessing student learning: 1) formative evaluations are used to provide feedback to the learner; and 2) summative evaluations are used to make grading decisions. (Stipek, 1996).

Self-assessment and Peer-assessment

It is important not to underestimate the value of allowing students to understand the performance criteria and make judgements about their own performance and that of fellow students. This activity should be part of the assessment process because it helps students take greater responsibility for their own learning and fosters habits of successful life-long learning.

Lesson Assessment/Instructor Assessment

At times you may hear a teacher complain that the entire class didn't understand the lesson or failed the daily quiz. This seems to be a clue for the instructor to reevaluate the lesson components and to make adjustments to that particular lesson's design. The instructor in their analysis of the lesson design should look to see if the varying learning styles of students were addressed and if the following lesson components were incorporated: 1) Did the students have the prerequisite skills needed to assimilate the content? , 2) Were the instructional objectives performance based with results that are measurable?, 3) Were the delivery methodology and the materials appropriate?, 4) Was there a sufficient number of practice sessions and/ or assignments?, 5) Were the learning objectives communicated to the student in opening of the lesson? 6) Was feedback provided to the student so they were aware of the need for reviews?

Course Assessment

In evaluating the course, it is important to know if the students understood the course objectives, did they feel the objectives were adequately covered, was the information relevant to the students, what was the overall quality of content and was the information well organized. The course assessment should be part of a continual process improvement; therefore it is important to gather evaluative information during the course rather than postponing feedback until the end of the course.

In California there is a focus on student outcomes as a measurement of the success of the course. In the past, the focus of the responsibility for mastery of course content was on the learning. Now there is a shift to a shared responsibility. Faculty members are increasingly held accountable for the overall performance of their classes. Accreditation agencies are looking at completing and retention rates of students. In California the legislature passed a bill called the "Partnership for Excellence" that incorporates the accountability measures of completion and retention rates.

An article entitled, "Student Assessment and Accreditation: A Policy Perspective," by Christine Somervill outlines some of the issues. (http://www.intered.com/public/aaf.htm).

For further reference, go to http://www.psu.edu/celt/index.html This is a site from Penn State University, called the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). The CELT provides programs and resources designed to increase understanding of the teaching-learning process, promote teaching as a scholarly activity, and encourage interdisciplinary conversations about teaching and learning among all members of the University community. Please enter the threaded discussion area for comments on this web site.

Instructor's Assessment Style

The combination of assessment tools makes up the instructor's assessment style. Some professors, especially in Europe, only give a final examination upon which your entire course grade is dependent. In the United States, this style is usually not used. Instructors combine a variety of the elements that we have already discussed to calculate a student's grade. They include scores on tests, class participation, homework, projects or portfolios.

For an excellent resource on classroom assessment techniques online, go to the following URL: (http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/assess-1.htm)