Importance of Evaluation
Evaluation is not just a testing programme or an administrative technique. It is not something to be resorted to at the close of the school term as a culminating activity, nor should it be viewed as an end activity to be done by the district and division supervisors of the Bureaus of Public and Private Schools.
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In the modern school, increasing emphasis on the personal and social development of the child, as well as his academic achievement, has called for the corresponding development of a variety of techniques fur appraising all phases of child growth and development, of pupil achievement, of behaviour and of the teaching-learning processes.
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Due to the large number of factors that enter into teaching and learning including such instructional variables as objectives, methods and techniques, and subject-matter on the one hand; and such human variables as pupils, teachers, and supervisors on the other, it has been difficult to appraise the validity of the pupil’s achievement.
There is, therefore, a comparatively large subjective factor in the evaluation of teaching and learning that needs to be taken into account together with its objective features.
It cannot be denied that the evaluation of teaching and learning is an exceedingly complex activity. However, the efficiency of the teacher and the growth and achievement of the pupil can be evaluated through the use of such devices as check lists, rating scales, and tests of different aspects of teaching ability, interview, and questionnaires.
Through the use of such devices much valuable data may be gathered relative to many of the important aspects of teaching and learning.
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The importance of evaluation in teaching can be summarized as follows:
1. Evaluation is Important to the Class-room Teachers, Supervisors, and Administrators in Directing as well as Guiding Teaching and Learning
Evaluation, to be of importance to teachers and supervisors, should be diagnostic, i.e., it should reveal the specific points of strength and weakness in teaching and learning.
2. Evaluation also helps to Measure the Validity and Reliability of Instruction
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The effectiveness and success of any phase of teaching technique can be demonstrated through the nature of the results obtained.
From a purely methodical point of view, the measurement of effective teaching finds its great value in the possibilities it offers for the improvement of teaching and learning.
All activities of the teacher should be evaluated in the light of their adequacy to promote the democratic way of life and on how nearly do the students realize the objectives of education.
3. Evaluation Aids in Devising more Effective Instructional Materials and Procedures of Instruction
Current educational literature is filled with enthusiastic advocacy of various cooperative researches, and if worked along this line, will determine the degree of success and effectiveness of evaluation.
4. Evaluation Helps Teachers to Discover the Needs of the Pupils
The purpose of any program of evaluation is to discover the needs of the pupils being evaluated and then to design learning experiences that will satisfy these needs.
Traditionally, the results of evaluation have been used to compare one individual with another. It is an accepted fact that growth is a continuous process and that each individual grows at a rate that is unique for him.
5. Evaluation Stimulates Students to Study
A questioning teacher creates incentives for students to learn more. He sets up effective and definite goals for learning giving oral or written examination is a good incentive for the students to study harder or to do better work.
It makes the learner familiar with his own results. Likewise, he needs to understand his own high and low potential for learning, but even more, he needs help in understanding the personal problems of human relations.
6. Evaluation Helps Parents to Understand Pupil-Growth, Interests, and Potentialities
The major responsibility of the school and teacher is to help the parents understand their children. Understanding a youth means understanding his progress in the various areas of the curriculum, his desires and motives and behavior they lead to, his potentialities for learning, as well as his achievement.
7. Evaluation can be used to Enforce External Standards upon the Individual Class or School
This method should be such as to encourage a flexible curriculum which is ever responsive to the changing needs of modern life and to the variations in local conditions. Local schools should be free to select and develop instruments for evaluation which are appropriate for their curricula
8. Evaluation, Likewise, Helps to Provide Objective Evidences for Effective Cooperation between Parents and Teachers
The increasing complexity of our present society has emphasized the importance of the cooperation of the school, the home, and the community in making significant educational progress
9. Evaluation is Helpful in Securing Support for the School from the Government, Local or National
The people frequently complain that public schools in this country are inadequately supported.
10. Evaluation is Helpful to the Teacher
It enables him to see how he can make his contribution to the accomplishment of the total goals or aims of the school system. It helps the teacher to coordinate his efforts with the efforts of others who contribute to the general educational goals.
Types of tests useful in teaching
Modern tests are so numerous that it is extremely difficult to classify them closely. Tests can be classified on the basis of their ‘ forms, their functions, and their content. The types given by the writer are classified as: function, educational intelligence, and personality tests.
1. Educational Tests
Educational tests have as their primary function the measurement of the results or effects of instruction and learning. They are intended to test primarily class-room learning. Educational test may be either standardized or non-standardized.
A non–standardized test has no fixed norm and it is free from prescribed rules. The teacher-made test is a good example of the non-standardized test. Examples of educational tests are the following:
(b) Standard Survey Test, which .aims to measure the attainment, progress or status of the pupils or the schools. It refers also to a test which measures the general achievement of the pupils in a certain subject or field.
(c) Informal or Teacher-made Test, which aims to measure the achievement, progress, weakness or defects of the individual pupils or class, or the effectiveness of the method used by the teacher. This may be either an essay or an informal objective test.
(d) Standard Achievement Test, which aims to measure the pupil’s accomplishment as a result of instruction in a given subject or subjects.
(e) Standard Diagnostic Test, which aims to locate the weaknesses, and if possible, the cause of disability in performance.
(f) Aptitude Test, which aims to measure the specific intelligence as it operates in a certain field or area of performance. It may be used for prognostic purposes.
(g) Inventory Test, which aims to measure the degree of mastery existing before the teaching or the learning of the subject or subjects.
2. Intelligence Tests
The intelligence tests have as their purpose the measurement of the pupil’s intelligence or mental ability in a large degree without reference to what the pupil learned in or out of school. The two types of Intelligence Tests are:
(a) Individual Intelligence Test
This type of intelligence test can be administered only to one pupil at a time, like the Binet and Simon Intelligence Test (1904).
(b) Group Intelligence Test
This type of Intelligence test can be administered to a number of pupils at the same time, like the Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests, or the Philippine Mental Tests.
Values of the Educational Test
Some values of the educational test worth considering are as follows:
1. The Educational Test Measures the Accomplishment and Progress of the Pupils
Any attempt to measure the achievement of the children would result in the discovery of the progress being made from week to week, or from month to month or from year to year.
It would be advantageous to note the progress and deficiency at all periods if comparison is to be made with the work three weeks or a month later. Some tests are designed to serve this end these results of achievement tests are widely used for classification and promotion.
2. An Educational Test Diagnoses the Strength and Weakness of the Pupils in a Subject or Subjects
The test will serve both as a guide to teaching and as an enlightenment to the learner. When a pupil makes an error, the teacher needs to apply a diagnostic test to discover why the pupil made the error and to determine how the thinking of the pupil may be directed in order to build up a correct reaction in place of the incorrect one.
Asking questions, the use of drill material, and the review are all forms of diagnostic tests. It is, therefore, a sound educational practice to use both oral and written tests for diagnosing what goes on in the pupil’s mind.
3. The Educational Test Stimulates the Pupils to Study
Testing serves as a stimulus to daily preparation. The teacher, by giving an unannounced or announced test of some sort will, no doubt, stimulate the pupils to study the lesson assigned or the work covered. Giving a written examination is a good incentive for the pupils to study harder or to do better work. It makes the learner familiar with his own results.
The final Examination given in the high school and in college at the end of the course or term furnishes a very powerful stimulus to review.
4. The Educational Test Measures the Validity and Reliability of Instruction
The effectiveness and success of any phase of teaching technique can be demonstrated through the character of the results obtained.
The teacher should know how to measure the results of his work in order to adapt his procedure to the needs of the varying situations from a purely methodical point of view the measurement of teaching effectiveness finds its greatest value in the possibilities if offers for the improvement of teaching.
5. The Educational Test Sets-up Standards of Performance for the Pupils
It increases the effectiveness of education by setting up standards of achievement in terms of varying capacities. A standard test can be used in comparing the merits of different schools, different class-room methods, different organisations of materials, and the different lengths and methods of assignment
6. The Educational Test opens the way to Remedial Work
Test results afford a basis for diagnosing the pupil’s needs. Difficulties are prevented by the early discovery of the strength and weakness of the pupil. Knowing the defect of the individual or the general weakness “of the class, the teacher will be able to select the right course or procedure to follow
7. The Educational Test can be Used for Educational and Vocational Guidance
Test results afford a basis for the guidance of pupils. The test first came into use in a general way. It can be used to guide the pupil in school in the selection of courses or of the vocation for which he is best qualified. It can be used to discover the unusual aptitude of pupils.
The guidance function of education assumes a prominent place in the modern concepts of the aims of education. It is generally accepted that intelligence tests are necessary to supplement indices of achievement as a basis for guidance.
The use of intelligence tests for guidance purposes has become so thoroughly accepted that no guidance can be considered effective which does not involve the use of these means.
8. Educational Test Results are a Valuable Part of the Pupil’s Records
The meaning of the test data is widely understood, and when they are entered in the pupil’s permanent record they can help other teachers understand him better. The test data should be used only as background information, not as a measure of present status.
9. Educational Tests can be used in the Classification and Sectioning of Pupils
It has been proved that pupils learn most effectively when they are placed with other pupils having approximately the same abilities.
This means that pupils of approximately the same intelligence and achievement levels should be grouped together for instructional purposes. For the accomplishment of this purpose intelligence and achievement tests can be utilized.
10. The Educational Test can be used by Supervisors to Direct and Guide the Teachers
The supervisor who appreciates the value and limitations of tests can use the data to suggest changes and improvement in teaching procedures. However, tests should not be used as the sole criterion for evaluating teacher-effectiveness.
The training of the teacher, the ability of the class, the materials and resources available to the teacher, are other factors that should be taken into consideration. The test data should be used as supplementary evidence.