Appendix D: Assessment and Evaluation

Evaluating Student Performance

Appendix D is divided into 10 sections:

Appendix D: Assessment and Evaluation Introduction (this document)
Sample 1 Grades K-1
Sample 2 Grades 2-3
Sample 3 Grade 4
Sample 4 Grade 5
Sample 5 Grade 6
Sample 6 Grade 7
Sample 7 Grades 6-7
Sample 8 Grades 5, 6 and 7
Managing Assessment Information

The Guidelines for Student Reporting (XX0260), September 1994, established the guidelines and policy for the evaluation of students and the reporting of student progress. The purpose of this section of the IRP is to provide classroom examples of criterion-referenced evaluation to illustrate the ways that teachers can incorporate criteria in the teaching of mathematics.

Evaluating student performance is a process that involves making judgments and decisions based on interpretation of evidence for the purposes of goal setting and reporting. Teachers use their insight, knowledge about learning, and experience with students, as well as specific criteria they establish, to make judgments about student performance in relation to expected learning outcomes. Based on this information, they make decisions about effective instruction for a student or a group of students, redirect efforts, and establish future learning goals.

Evaluation is most effective when teachers communicate this information to students and parents on an ongoing basis. When evaluation is seen as an opportunity to promote learning rather than as a final judgment, it shows learners their strengths and suggests how they can develop further. Students can then use this information to redirect efforts, make plans to practise the learning, and establish personal learning goals. As well, teachers and parents are better able to assist in goal setting, provide support, and enhance students' learning.

Evaluation may take different forms depending on its purpose. Criterion-referenced evaluation compares each student's performance to established criteria rather than to the performance of other students. Criterion-referenced evaluation is most appropriate for evaluating student performance in classrooms. Norm‚referenced evaluation compares one student's achievement to that of others and is based on a "normal distribution." It is appropriate for large-scale system analysis, to determine scholarship distribution at the Grade 12 level, and for diagnostic testing such as the WISC-R.

Criterion-referenced evaluation requires that teachers establish criteria based on the expected learning outcomes. The criteria are aspects of a product, process, or demonstration, stated in specific terms, that outline what is involved in meeting the learning expectations. The criteria are used to guide, monitor, and evaluate learning. Teachers are better able to tell whether or not, and to what degree, students are able to meet the criteria and the learning expectations.

Criterion-referenced evaluation involves the following steps:

İ1. Identify the expected learning outcomes (as stated in IRPs).
İ2. Identify the key learning objectives for students.
İ3. Establish and set criteria.
İ4. Involve students, when appropriate, in establishing criteria.
İ5. Plan learning activities that will help students gain the knowledge or skills outlined in the criteria.
İ6. Inform students about the criteria their work will be evaluated against prior to the learning activity.
İ7. Provide examples of the desired levels of performance.
İ8. Implement the learning activities.
İ9. Use assessment methods that suit the particular assignment and students.
10. Review assessment data and evaluate each student's level of performance or quality of work in relation to the criteria.
11. Report the results of the evaluation to students and parents.

From Guidelines for Student Reporting, Ministry of Education, 1994

The following samples illustrate the process a teacher might use in applying criterion-referenced evaluation in mathematics. The samples represent a broad use of criterion-referenced evaluation, including individual pieces of work, units of study, and work completed over the course of a term.

Each sample uses the following process:

Planning for Assessment

This section outlines:

background information to explain the classroom context
instructional tasks
the opportunities that students were given to practise learning
the feedback and support that was offered students by the teacher
the ways in which the teacher prepared students for the assessment

Defining Criteria

This section illustrates the specific criteria, which are based on:

the learning outcomes
the assessment task
the Evaluating Mathematical Development Across Curriculum reference set

The criteria are organized under Attitudes, Mathematical Thinking, and Communication.

Assessing and Evaluating Student Performance

This section includes:

the assessment tasks or activities
the support that the teacher offered students
the tools and methods used to gather the assessment information
the way the criteria were used to evaluate the student performance

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Revised: October 20, 1997

BC Ministry of Education