WHY EVALUATE

Many educators are of the opinion that education is about evaluation and that there is a moral obligation to evaluate the results of instruction. It has been argued that it would be irresponsible to not engage in evaluation considering the amount of money, time, resources, etc. dedicated to education.

One cannot claim to be sincerely engaged in the business of education unless one is concerned about the success of ensuring that others master items of knowledge and that steps are taken to ascertain this by means of evaluation. It follows that education must be concerned with evaluation.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF EVALUATION

Four different types of evaluation have been identified:

i. Placement evaluation is used to place a student at an appropriate point in an instructional program, in a particular instructional method, or with an appropriate instructor.

2. Formative evaluation provides the instructor and.

student with information about progress toward mastery of the general course objectives.

3. Summative evaluation is used to certify or grade students at the completion of relatively large blocks of instruction.

4. Diagnostic evaluation is used to identify students whose learning or classroom behaviour is being adversely affected by factors external to instructional practices.

TESTING

Both the course objectives and the criteria for the evaluation of students should be determined prior to choosing the type of test measurement. Most evaluation data is based on criterion-referenced standards. The criteria that indicate satisfactory performance are established prior to the evaluation and student results are compared to this predetermined standard. Some types of tests are more suitable for evaluation purposes than others. Test types include multiple choice, essay, true- false, sentence completions, short answers, take home and open book exams. All tests fall into one of two major classifications. Students select their answers from alternatives, or they construct their own answers.

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