Ashley Earnest_Assessment Roles_Assignment

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Assessment Roles in Education The College of Education, University of West Alabama EE 627: Educational Assessment Dr. Lisa Barfield October 29, 2023

2 Assessments are commonly used and can be manifested in a variety of ways for differing purposes (Murchan & Shiel, 2017). Assessment is a broad term defined as “a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective or goal” ( Kizlik , 2012, para. 5). In this report, I will focus specifically on assessments used in education. When you think of educational assessments, you probably, naturally, think of tests. Kizlik (2012, para. 5) provides that tests are a form of assessment that are “made under contrived circumstances especially so that they may be administered.” Put simply, “all tests are assessments, but not all assessments are tests” (Kizlik, 2012, para. 5). Depending on the use of which an assessment is intended, the structure and administration process may vary. Additionally, an assessment may serve a wide variety of purposes (Archer, 2017). Through my research, I have found varying stances on the roles of assessments in education. What these roles have in common is their connection to students. Our textbook states that, traditionally, assessments were used to determine students’ current status, monitor students’ progress, assign grades, and to determine instructional effectiveness (Popham, 2020). Popham (2020) also states that more recently assessments have taken on the role of influencing public perceptions of educational effectiveness, helping to evaluate teachers, and clarifying teachers’ instructional intentions. Adding to that, Nagy (2000) presents gatekeeping, accountability, and instructional diagnosis as assessment roles as well. Rounding out my list of researched assessments, we can add the roles of supporting learning and for certification, progress, and transfer purposes (Archer, 2017). Referring back to our traditional roles, assessment can be used to determine students’ current status, that is what skills and knowledge they already possess. By implementing assessment in this function, teachers can determine the skills where more instruction is needed,

3 and which topics require only a short review permitting teachers to avoid wasting valuable instructional time. Monitoring students’ progress is also a tried-and-true role of assessment that teachers employ to determine if their students are exhibiting sufficient progress toward the intended instructional outcomes. A role that is appreciated by anyone who has been through formal schooling is that of assigning grades. Broken down, educators employ this assessment role by gathering the necessary evidence needed to assign a numerical or letter grade (Popham, 2020). Further discussion is to come relating to our final traditional role of determining the effectiveness of instruction as well as monitoring student progress. Popham (2020) also referenced more recent assessment roles like that of influencing public perceptions of educational effectiveness. This goes hand in hand with Nagy’s (2000) role of accountability. This function allows national education departments to compare one system to another (Archer, 2017). Furthermore, this public judgement also allows systems to see where they’re lacking and make improvements in the quality of their instruction (Nagy, 2000). With much conflict, the quality and effectiveness of teachers themselves will be a hot topic among the public, judged solely by these high-stakes accountability tests for a particular area. Additionally, these accountability tests and other assessments will be used as a platform to formally evaluate teachers (Popham, 2020). One of the most significant roles of assessment is to support student learning. This is often referred to as formative assessment, that is assessment that brings forth evidence used to adapt and improve instruction (Popham, 2020). Formative assessment is also used in monitoring student progress, a role mentioned by Popham (2020), that is closely related to, if not interchangeable with, the role of supporting student learning. Archer (2017) further explains that formative assessment used to support student learning is ongoing as it depends on data gathered

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4 from the assessment to determine where instructional goals have been met and where additional explicit instruction is needed. Nagy (2000) goes on to say that this “instructional diagnosis” aids in identifying the challenges met by students that result in misunderstanding and lack of skill acquisition. Additionally, Murchan and Shiel (2017) say that this role is an assessment for learning rather than an assessment of learning. This role of supporting learning can also be applied to help students support their own learning intrinsically. For this self-regulation to happen, students need access to their progress so they can modify their learning strategies as needed. Likewise, students who are naturally motivated and are in tune with how they learn are likely to have better academic success (Murchan & Shiel, 2017). The last of the assessment roles I present for consideration is assessment for certification, progress, and transfer (Archer, 2017); what Nagy (2000) refers to as gatekeeping has the longest history in assessment roles. This purpose of assessment can be applied on an institutional level as well as an individual level. On the institutional level, programs and qualifications must be certified by an accredited body acknowledging they meet the requirements brought forth by the appropriate authority. From an individual point of view, certification of specific skills and knowledge must be obtained to serve as criteria evidence that a student is prepared to progress to the next level of learning (Archer, 2017). This role can also be viewed as a selection process implemented to grant, or deny, graduation or admission of students (Nagy, 2000). Archer (2017) goes on to say this assessment role is vital for an education system to ensure that their students are employable and mobile. In summation, assessments possess a variety of essential functions and may serve a multitude of purposes in the education system. The design and implementation of assessments are dependent upon the purpose they serve (Archer, 2017). Regardless of the function or purpose,

5 assessments are one of the most valuable resources in an education system’s toolbox. All assessments, no matter what their role may be, are an essential component to achieving all education systems’ ultimate goal of student success.

6 References Archer, E. (2017). The assessment purpose triangle: Balancing the purposes of educational assessment. Frontiers in Education , 2 , 41. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2017.00041/full Kizlik, B. (2012, January 4). Measurement, assessment, and evaluation in education . ADPRIMA. Retrieved October 29, 2023, from http://www.adprima.com/measurement.htm Murchan, D., & Shiel, G. (2017). Understanding and applying assessment in education [E- Book]. SAGE. Nagy, P. (2000). The three roles of assessment: Gatekeeping, accountability, and instructional diagnosis. Canadian Journal of Education , 5 (4), 262–279. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1585850 Popham, W. J. (2020). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (9th ed.). Pearson.

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