Best Assessment Strategies in Secondary Schools Essay

Best Assessment Strategies in Secondary Schools - Essay Example Interactive assessment in the classroom assumes special significance at the secondary level as students need constant feedbacks for the learning activities they undertake. There should be regular assessment at the secondary level. This is rightly suggested by E.C. Wragg when he remarks: " In most of the class rooms, assessment tends to be regular and informal, rather than irregular and formal. This is because teaching often consists of frequent switches in who speaks and who listens, and teachers make many of their decisions within one second." (Wragg, 2001). The purpose of this paper is to analyse critically the best assessment strategies in secondary schools. Interactive assessment, coherent assessment systems, self assessment, peer assessment, and feedback are identified as the most effective strategies in the assessment of the learning outcomes of secondary students. The teaching-learning process is highly interactive and assessment during each stage of the interaction is an essential prerequisite for effective learning process. ... One of the major advantages of the interactive assessment is that it creates a strong conviction in the minds of the learners that they are an active part of the instructional process and that their views and thoughts are being taken into account. This can provide them with better confidence to take part more enthusiastically in the teaching learning process. A remarkable study conducted by Eichorn, D. & Woodrow, J. (1999) "indicate that the use of interactive assessment promotes student self-monitoring, goal setting, time management, responsibility and mastery learning. Teachers report that the use of interactive assessment facilitates and supports student-centred, instructional practices." (Eichorn & Woodrow, 1999, P.193-199). Celina Byers (2001) also believes that the teacher has to measure and evaluate whether all the instructional objectives have been achieved and how far learning has taken place is to be assessed. She is of the opinion that there should be a learner centred act ive assessment in the classroom itself :- "Making the measurement an integral part of class activity allows the identification of problems and consequent improvements even while the course is ongoing. Learner-centred active assessment both provide direct objective measurement of learning and stimulate the use of holistic assessment tools to assess the entire learning environment." (Byers, 2001). For her assessment in the secondary school should never be limited to mere summative evaluation. Instead, there should be interactive assessment in the class room as "it permits important course improvements, made in conjunction with the collaboration of the students themselves, while the course is ongoing.