Topic 11: Issues And Concerns Related To Assessment In Malaysian Primary Schools

Issues and Concerns related to assessment in Malaysian primary schools

TOPIC 11

ISSUES AND CONCERNS RELATED TO ASSESSMENT IN MALAYSIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS Exam-oriented System  Cognitive Levels of Assessment  School-based Assessment  Alternative Assessment 

EXAM-ORIENTED SYSTEM 

Four hierarchical levels: Federal  State  District  School 



Major decisions and policy-making at federal level represented by MOE Curriculum Development Division (BPK)  School Division(BPSH)  Malaysian Examination Syndicate (MES) 

EXPLAIN THE FEATURES OF AN EXAM-ORIENTED SYSTEM AND DISCUSS ITS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES  



Over-emphasizes rote-learning Emphasis of exam results – public exam results as important of student progression to higher levels of education or occupational opportunities Four major public exams:    

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UPSR PT3 (PMR) SPM STPM/STAM

These exams do not currently test the full range of skills that the education system aspires to produce 

Eg Review by Pearson Education Group of UPSR (Eng Lang 2010 & 2011) shows approx 70% of questions tested basic skills of knowledge and comprehension.

LPM started reforms to ensure holistic evaluation of students. So, in 2011, PBS format introduced.  Four components: 

 School

assessment  Central assessment  Psychometric assessment – aptitude & personality  Physical, Sports and co-curricular activities assessment

MALAYSIA EDUCATION BLUEPRINT 20132025 “In October 2011, the Ministry of Education launched a comprehensive review of the education system in Malaysia in order to develop a new National Education Blueprint. This decision was made in the context of rising international education standards, the Government’s aspiration of better preparing Malaysia’s children for the needs of the 21st century, and increased public and parental expectations of education policy. Over the course of 11 months, the Ministry drew on many sources of input, from education experts at UNESCO, World Bank, OECD, and six local universities, to principals, teachers, parents, and students from every state in Malaysia. The result is a preliminary Blueprint that evaluates the performance of Malaysia’s education system against historical starting points and international benchmarks. The Blueprint also offers a vision of the education system and students that Malaysia both needs and deserves, and suggests 11 strategic and operational shifts that would be required to achieve that vision. The Ministry hopes that this effort will inform the national discussion on how to fundamentally transform Malaysia’s education system, and will seek feedback from across the community on this preliminary effort before finalising the Blueprint in December 2012.”

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Discuss the Cognitive Levels of Assessment – the link between the content domain to be assessed and the cognitive levels that the assessment will cover

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY OF COGNITIVE LEVEL ORIGINAL TERMS NEW TERMS 

Evaluation

•Creating



Synthesis

•Evaluating



Analysis

•Analysing



Application

•Applying



Comprehension

•Understanding



Knowledge

•Remembering

(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)

BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY CREATING GENERATING NEW IDEAS, PRODUCTS, OR WAYS OF VIEWING THINGS DESIGNING, CONSTRUCTING, PLANNING, PRODUCING, INVENTING.

EVALUATING JUSTIFYING A DECISION OR COURSE OF ACTION CHECKING, HYPOTHESISING, CRITIQUING, EXPERIMENTING, JUDGING ANALYSING BREAKING INFORMATION INTO PARTS TO EXPLORE UNDERSTANDINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS COMPARING, ORGANISING, DECONSTRUCTING, INTERROGATING, FINDING APPLYING USING INFORMATION IN ANOTHER FAMILIAR SITUATION IMPLEMENTING, CARRYING OUT, USING, EXECUTING UNDERSTANDING EXPLAINING IDEAS OR CONCEPTS INTERPRETING, SUMMARISING, PARAPHRASING, CLASSIFYING, EXPLAINING REMEMBERING RECALLING INFORMATION RECOGNISING, LISTING, DESCRIBING, RETRIEVING, NAMING, FINDING

SCHOOL–BASED ASSESSMENT (SBA) 

SBA is a holistic form of assessment which assesses the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains encompassing intellectual, spiritual and physical aspects. This, it is in tandem with the Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) as well as the National Education Policy. It covers both academic and non-academic fields. It is carried out continuously in schools by teachers during the teaching and learning process.

SBA The traditional system of assessment no longer satisfies the educational and social needs of the third millennium.  Izard (2001) as well as Raivoce and Pongi (2001) explain that school- based assessment (SBA) is often perceived as the process put in place to collect evidence of what students have achieved, especially in important learning outcomes that do not easily lend themselves to the pen and paper tests. 

SBA 

Daugherty (1994) clarifies that this type of assessment has been recommended: …because of the gains in the validity which can be expected when students’ performance on assessed tasks can be judged in a greater range of contexts and more frequently than is possible within the constraints of time- limited, written examinations.

SBA Burton (1992) provides the following five rules of the thumb that may be applied in the planning stage of school-based assessment : 1. The assessment should be appropriate to what is being assessed. 2. The assessment should enable the learner to demonstrate positive achievement and reflect the learner’s strengths. 3. The criteria for successful performance should be clear to all concerned 4. The assessment should be appropriate to all persons being assessed The style of assessment should blend with the learning pattern so it contributes to it.

SBA 

Assessment scores produced by teachers are reliable:  Can

continuously monitor their pupil’s growth  Can provide constructive feedback to help improve pupils’ learning abilities  Have better understanding of the context and environment that are most conducive to assess pupils  Appraise and provide feedback based on Performance Standards

SBA 4 Components of SBA/ PBS are: Academic: 1. 2.

School Assessment (using Performance Standards) Centralised Assessment

Non-academic: 3.

4.

Physical Activities, Sports and Co-curricular Assessment (Pentaksiran Aktiviti Jasmani, Sukan dan Kokurikulum - PAJSK) Psychometric/Psychological Tests

WHY IS IT IMPLEMENTED? 

Introduced as part of the National Transformation Program to produce world-class human capital.

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT: Alternative assessments are assessment procedures that differ from the traditional notions and practice of tests with respect to format, performance, or implementation.  Likely that alternative assessment found its roots in writing assessment because of the need to provide continuous assessment rather than a single impromptu evaluation (Alderson & Banerjee, 2001). 

CONTRASTING TRADITIONAL AND “ALTERNATIVE” ASSESSMENT SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM BAILEY (1998:207 AND PUHL, 1997: 5) Traditional assessment  One-shot tests  Indirect tests  Inauthentic tests  Individual projects  No feedback to learners  Speeded exams  Decontextualised test tasks  Norm-referenced score reporting  Standardised tests  Summative  Product of instruction  Intrusive  Judgemental  Teacher Proof

Alternative assessment  Continuous longitudinal assessment  Direct tests  Authentic assessment  Group projects  Feedback provided to learners  Power exams  Contextualised test tasks  Criterion-referenced score reporting  Classroom-based tests  Formative  Process of instruction  Integrated  Developmental  Teacher mediated

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS (HERMAN ET AL 1992:6) Alternative assessments perform the following:  Ask the students to perform, create, produce, or do something.  Tap higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills.  Use tasks that represent meaningful instructional activities.  Invoke real-world applications.  People, not machines, do the scoring, using human judgment.  Require new instructional and assessment roles for teachers.

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT 

Tannenbaum (1996), comments that alternative assessments focus on documenting individual strengths and development which would assist in the teaching and learning process. Discuss. seen to be more student centred as they cater for different learning styles, cultural and educational backgrounds as well as language proficiencies.  compatible with the contemporary emphases on the process as well as product of learning (Croker, 1999), 

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT:  Performance-based

assessment

 Portfolios  Journals  Conference

and interviews  Observations  Self and peer assessment

PORTFOLIOS 

The contents of the portfolio become evidence of abilities much like how we would use a test to measure the abilities of our students.

A PORTFOLIO CONTAINS FOUR PRIMARY ELEMENTS (BAILEY 1998:218) 1.

Introductory Section  

2.

Academic Works Section  

3.

Samples of best work Samples of work demonstrating development

Personal Section    

4.

Overview Reflective Essay

Journals Score reports Photographs Personal items

Assessment Section  

Evaluation by Peers Self-evaluation

ADVANTAGES OF USING PORTFOLIO AS AN ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT (BROWN & HUDSON, 1998:664-665): 







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 

enhances student and teacher involvement in assessment; provides opportunities for teachers to observe students using meaningful language; to accomplish various authentic tasks in a variety of contexts and situations; permit the assessment of the multiple dimensions of language learning; provide opportunities for both students and teachers to work together and reflect on what it means to assess students’ language growth; increase the variety of information collected on students; and make teachers’ ways of assessing student work more systematic.

SELF-ASSESSMENT 

Self-assessment – self appraisal of own work  Thought

to be more accurate  Said to increase student motivation  Help identify own strengths and weaknesses  Expected to become more sensitive to their own learning  Ultimately perform better in the final summative evaluation

PEER-ASSESSMENT Peer-assessment – a response in some form to other learners’ work (Puhl, 1997).  Peer assessment requires that a student take up the role of “a critical friend” to another student in order to “support, challenge, and extend each other’s learning” (Brooks, 2002: 73). 

BENEFITS OF PEER ASSESSMENT remind learners they are not working in isolation;  help create a community of learners;  improve the product (“Two heads are better than one”);  improve the process; motivates, even inspires;  help learners be reflective; and  stimulate meta-cognition. 

NOVEMBER 2013 a.

b.

c.

Define School Based Assessment and identify its four main components. Provide and explain three reasons why the School Based Assessment results conducted by teachers are reliable. Explain why School Based Assessment is introduced in the Malaysian schools