Principles of Assessment
The process and task of assessment and evaluation in the field of education needs to be governed through some basic principles as outlined below:
1. Principle of knowing what is to be measured and evaluated.
While resorting to assessment one should be quite clear and definite about what is to be assessed by him. One should know exactly to what extent he has to evaluate the performance of the group of children in a particular suleject or work area?
What are the topics to be covered through his evaluation measure, should be known by a teacher who is going to construct an achievement or unit test for measuring the learning outcomes of his students.
What type of behavioural changes- Cognitive, Conative and Affective, one has to evaluate, should be well known to an evaluator for getting desired success in his task.
2. Principle of selecting appropriate tools of measurement and evaluation.
Much depends upon the quality and purposes served by the tools employed in the task of measurement and evaluation.
The measurement and evaluation of the outcomes related to cognitive, conative and affective domains differs a lot with each other. Hence different evaluation devices needs to be employed for each domain.
Similarly different purposes are served through oral, written and practical modes of evaluation and even in the written mode essay type, short answer type and objective type questions emphasize more on evaluating one aspect of the achievement or performance than the other. In this way, sufficient care should always be taken for the selection and use of appropriate evaluation device.
3. Principle of Continuity.
The effectiveness of any scheme of measurement and evaluation of the student's performance lies in its continuity.
Since, the process of teaching and learning needs a system of continuous evaluation for its proper control, management, feedback and improvement, it becomes quite imperative that we must try to maintain a system of tests that may provide us a proper continuity in the evaluation and measurement of the performance of the students.
4. Principle of totality and comprehensiveness.
Our goal is to seek an all-round harmonious growth and development of the capacities and potential of the students.
How far we have been successful in our objectives can be better realized if we adopt a system of measurement and evaluation that can provide us a total and comprehensive assessment of the student's progress in this direction.
For this purpose, if need arises, we must make use of different combination of evaluation methods.
5. Principle of considering measurement and evaluation as a means of rather than end.
Whatever evaluation device we use, it should always serve the means of the evaluation of teaching-learning outcomes. In any case, these should not be allowed to become an end in themselves.
The students should not work to get grades by being subjected to these measures and in this way the measures of evaluation should not be allowed to play the dominant role as the master instead of playing the role of a service provider for realizing the ends of a teaching- learning process.
6. Principle of bringing modification and improvement.
The process and task of evaluation can not be static and rigid. It needs improvement and modification in case it is diagnosed with falling short of the expectations in serving its purposes.
In case a system of evaluation does not meet the required criteria of an ideal evaluation, it should be modified, changed or replaced by some or the other better measures.