SME 3023

TRENDS AND ISSUES

IN EDUCATION FOR MATHEMATICAL

SCIENCES

NAME NO MATRIK

ATINA HASANAH BINTI MOHD RAZALI D20121058406

NUR SHUHADA SURIA BINTI SHA’ARI D20121058472

FATIN AMIRA BINTI YUNUS D20121058529

GROUP : A

LECTURER : Dr. MOHD FAIZAL NIZAM LEE BIN

ABDULLAH

INTRODUCTION

Assessment is the act of judging or deciding the amount, value, quality, or

importance of something, or the judgment or decision that is made. The teacher and

language learner need to identify goals, objectives, and expected results before

beginning to plan a lesson or activity. In other words, it is essential to determine what

the learner should know, understand, and be able to do. Van den Akker (2003)

described assessment as essential component of the curriculum practice. Assessment

is a process for obtaining information in curriculum operation in order to make

decisions about student learning, curriculum and programs, and on education policy

matters. Because of this, educators strongly suggest that assessment and curriculum

integrated in the continuous cycle of curriculum planning, operation, implementation,

and evaluation. For example, the attained curriculum both the experienced and the

learned are determined by assessment procedures. Assessment procedures in

formative ways could also help in the operation of the curriculum. Instructors make a

number of decisions. These include managing instruction, assessing student

competence, placing students to levels of education programs, assigning grades to

students, guiding and counselling, selecting students for education opportunities,

certifying competence and so on. All these can be possible when there are effective

assessment procedures in the curriculum operation and practice.

The purpose of assessment differs according to who is conducting or using the

assessment. School administrators use assessment as benchmarks for instruction,

placement, or exemption in course levels and certification. Teachers use assessments

as diagnostic tools and feedback for guiding instruction, evidence of progress, and

evaluation of teaching or curriculum. The purpose of the math assessment is to help

us and you determine your level of preparedness for mathematics and math-related

courses at Stony Brook University. It is important that your score accurately reflect

your level of preparedness and ability, because you will be most successful at the

university if you take courses best suited to you. In order to enrol in a mathematics

course, or a course with a mathematics prerequisite, all new students must

demonstrate the appropriate level of mathematics proficiency. This is done by taking

a proctored mathematics exam or its equivalent (appropriate transfer credit, AP

scores, etc.) New students must take the proctored exam prior to their scheduled

orientation.

According to Wilhelm and Chen Pei (2008), since the mid1970s, a number of

Asian countries have been concerned with economic reforms which in turn have

brought about various improvements in the education system. Malaysia is of no

exception. A new assessment system for Malaysian public schools will be

implemented by the end of 2010 to replace the current centralized examination.

According to the Malaysian Ministry of Education, the new assessment system

promotes a combination of centralized and school based assessment. Malaysian

Teacher Education Division (TED) is entrusted by the Ministry of Education to

formulate policies and guidelines to prepare teachers for the new implementation of

assessment. As emphasized in the innovation of the student assessment, continuous

school-based assessment is administered at all grades and at levels. Additionally,

students sit for common public examinations at the end of each level.

LEVEL OF ASSESSMENT

The attainment of learning outcomes as defined in the standards shall be the basis for

the quality assurance of learning using formative assessments. They shall also be the

focus of the summative assessments and shall be the basis for grading at the end of

instruction. These levels shall be the outcomes reflected in the class record and shall

be given corresponding percentage weights.

Clearly, there are fundamental differences in the information needed across these

three levels of assessment and in the users and uses of this information. The following

table sums up these differences:

The classroom level

This helps students understand how best to approach learning

Helps students better understand their own learning

Helps teachers keep track of what comes next in learning for each student

Helps teachers figure out how to enhance student learning

Provides teachers with information they can give to students about what their

classroom learning

Helps teachers evaluate student learning progress

The programme level

Provides educators and teams of educators with information that enables them

to examine and evaluate their own effectiveness as educators

Provides educators and teams of educators with information about the relative

effectiveness of a variety of programmatic and instructional interventions

designed to help students meet learning targets and master content standards

The institutional level

Provides state departments of education, superintendents, principals, parents,

and community stakeholders with information that can be used to assess and

evaluate the effectiveness of leadership, instructional policy, resource

allocation, and many more.

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated

into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and

learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both

teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely

adjustments can be made. These adjustments help to ensure students achieve

targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame. Although formative

assessment strategies appear in a variety of formats, there are some distinct ways to

distinguish them from summative assessments.( Garrison and Ehringhaus, 2009)

In example, at the end of the third week of the semester, you can informally ask

students questions which might be on a future exam to see if they truly understand the

material. An exciting and efficient way to survey students’ grasp of knowledge is

through the use of clickers. Clickers are interactive devices which can be used to

assess students’ current knowledge on specific content. For example, after polling

students you see that a large number of students did not correctly answer a question

or seem confused about some particular content. At this point in the course you may

need to go back and review that material or present it in such a way to make it more

understandable to the students. This formative assessment has allowed you to

“rethink” and then “re-deliver” that material to ensure students are on track. It is good

practice to incorporate this type of assessment to “test” students’ knowledge before

expecting all of them to do well on an examination.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Summative Assessments are given periodically to determine at a particular

point in time what students know and do not know. Many associate summative

assessments only with standardized tests such as state assessments, but they are

also used at and are an important part of district and classroom programs. Summative

assessment at the district and classroom level is an accountability measure that is

generally used as part of the grading process. (Garrison and Ehringhaus, 2009)

Summative assessment is more product-oriented and assesses the final

product, whereas formative assessment focuses on the process toward completing

the product. Once the project is completed, no further revisions can be made. If,

however, students are allowed to make revisions, the assessment becomes formative,

where students can take advantage of the opportunity to improve.

FORMATIVE OR SUMMATIVE?

BENEFITS OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment should be viewed as a tool to measure the effectiveness of

teaching and learning process. It also should not be interpreted as the objective of

student’s learning experiences (Yong & Lim, 2008). It should serve as a mean to

attain educational goals. MOE Malaysia believes that school-based assessment

(SBA) has the characteristics that fulfill the above requirement. It is also the ideal

assessment system to relieve students’ pressure while at the same time allowing

teacher initiative in assessing their students (Brown, 2001). Well-designed

assessment can encourage active learning especially when the assessment delivery

is innovative and engaging. Peer and self-assessment for instance can foster

number of skills such as reflection, critical thinking and self-awareness as well as

giving students insight into the assessment process.

The benefits of SBA based on the researchers teaching experience is that students

themselves are evaluated based on school standards and school information.

Students are not compared to students in other locations when school-based

evaluation is used. Though NEAS regulates that SBA encompasses only a

percentage of the total evaluations used in school, the bigger picture impact is how

SBA itself transforms the classroom teaching and learning process that benefits the

students most. Because SBA is completely educator written and can create

evaluations based on their own students’ accomplishments. It is clearly shows what

have learned during a specific grading period or school year. It is unlike standardized

tests, which are researched and written by the state or by teachers in another

school.

Another important benefit laid down by the Hong Kong SBA Consultancy Team

(2005) for using SBA in teaching language subject such as English. It includes

providing stable and continuous pressure-free assessment, reducing the reliance on

standardized examination, improving test item reliability, reflecting students ability,

promoting leisure reading, fostering teaching, enforcing independent learning,

facilitating learning autonomy and empowering teachers in the evaluation process.

In the case of Malaysia, students are given mid-year and end-year statewide tests

for easy standardizations and school ranking practices. These tests assume that all

school study the same material covering similar topics. While this should be true, the

fact is that some schools do not get to cover every topic due to unexpected

situations or students’ inability to complete a study in a particular area. School-based

evaluations can be tailor made to include only what has been accomplished by the

students and the scores will reflect what the students have actually learned, instead

of what they were supposed to be learning.

All of the above suggest that the change in the assessment system has further lead

to a paradigm change in the teaching and learning process of all primary schools

that deserve the attention of academicians, educators and researchers including

stakeholders. Therefore, the role of teachers in this new assessment system is vital.

Teachers have to have a variety of teaching approaches and assessment techniques

that have a direct impact on the assessment outcomes (Chan, Sidhu & Yunus,

2006).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this report has achieved its purposed that describing about the

nature and purpose of assessment. Assessments have two types of assessment

which are formative assessment (assessment for learning) and summative

assessment (assessment of learning). This is also tells about the benefits of

assessment. The benefit is assessment should serve as a mean to attain

educational goals. Other than that, students are not compared to students in other

locations when school-based evaluation is used. Lastly, it includes providing stable

and continuous pressure-free assessment.

REFERENCES

Cheung, D. (2001). School-based assessment in public examinations:

Identifying the concerns of teachers. In Education Journal, Vol 29 (2). Winter

2001. P. 105-123.

Gavin T. L. Brown & John Hattie. The Benefits of Regular Standardized

Assessment in Childhood Education. Retrieved December 1 2014, from the

World Wide Web:

https://www.academia.edu/1964802/The_benefi ts_of_regular_standardized_a

ssessment_in_childhood_education_Guiding_improved_instruction_and_lear

ning

Hattie, J. A. and Brown, G. T. L. (2008). Technology or school-based

assessment and assessment or learning: development principles rom

New Zealand. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 36 (2),189–201

Catherine Garrison, D. C. (2009). Formative and Summative Assessments in

the classroom. In D. C. Catherine Garrison, Effective Classroom Assessment:

Linking Assessment with Instruction (pp. 1 - 3). New Hampshire: National

Middle School Association and Measured Progress.

Center, F. D. (n.d.). Formative and Summative Assessment. Retrieved

december 2, 2014, from azwestern:

https://www.azwestern.edu/academic_services/instruction/assessment/resour

ces/downloads/formative%20and_summative_assessment.pdf

Chappuis, J. (2014). Formative Assessment and assessment for learning. In

J. Chappuis, Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning (pp. 2 - 14). United

Kingdom: Pearson Education, Limited.

Brookhart, S.M. (2001). Successful students’ formative and summative use of

assessment information. Assessment in education 8,153-169