linking curriculum and assessment

LINKING CURRICULUM INSTRUCTION AND

ASSESSMENT

By: HGL

CURRICULUM

- is developed following a series of steps that aim to address students’ learning needs, as well as the needs of the community and the demands of the subject or topic itself.

INSTRUCTION

-is vital for education, as it is the transfer of learning from one person to another

Relationship between curriculum and instruction

Curriculum is essentially a design, or roadmap for learning, and as such focuses on knowledge and skills that are judged important to learn

Instruction is the means by which that learning will be achieved

Assessment

-is the process of gathering, analyzing, interpreting and using information about students' progress and achievement to improve teaching and learning.

Assessment for learning is best described as a process by which assessment information is used by teachers to adjust their teaching strategies, and by students to adjust their learning strategies.

Assessment is a powerful process that can either optimize or inhibit learning, depending on how it’s applied.

For teachersAssessment for learning helps teachers gather information to:

plan and modify teaching and learning programmes for individual students, groups of students and the class as a wholepinpoint students’ strengths so that both teachers and students can build on themidentify students’ learning needs in a clear and constructive way so they can be addressedinvolve parents and families in their children's learning.

For students

Assessment for learning uses information to lead from what has been learned to what needs to be learned next.

Assessment for learning provides students with information and guidance so they can plan and manage the next steps in their learning.

Describing assessment for learningAssessment for learning should use a range of approaches. These may include:

day-to-day activities (such as learning conversations)

a simple mental note taken by the teacher during observation

assessment tools

Teachers’ Assessment Tools

Formative assessment tools are used to evaluate a student at the beginning or middle of a class, semester or subject. Placement tests, interviews and teacher observation and feedback are examples of formative assessment tools.

Summative assessment tools are used to gauge the outcome of the learning process. They focus on the curriculum presented during the learning unit and are used to find out whether or not a student was effectively taught a particular subject. A graded test, final exam, quiz, thesis paper and midterm exam are all examples of summative teachers' assessment tools. Summative tools should be designed to reflect the information given in the course. Only summative assessment tools should be graded.

Objective Assessment

Teacher's assessment tools, whether formative or summative, can be further divided into two other categories: objective and subjective.

Objective assessment tools have a clearly defined right and wrong answer. They are used to assess a student's knowledge of particular facts and figures that are universal. Examples of objective assessment tools are true/false and multiple-choice questions. Math problems are almost always objective assessment tools, as they leave little room for interpretation. Objective assessment tools are the easiest to design and grade and, therefore, are the more common type of assessment tool.

Subjective Assessment

Subjective assessment tools require a little more creativity and opinion on the part of the student.

These are questions, papers or tests that rely on the presentation of arguable material.

Essay questions, research papers and argumentative speeches are examples of subjective assessment tools. They can often reveal more than an objective assessment tool because they allow for more than just memorization on the part of the student.