The Process of Developing Assessment

By B.A. Mey Reynolds Panton

When people hear the word assessment, they think about exams. Nevertheless, assessment takes into account exams and student’s daily activities. It includes the following phases: planning, development, administration, analysis, feedback and reflection. A teacher could also work on different stages at the same time.

Assessment is part of the curriculum. Teachers must resolve how to assess students from the beginning of a course, define the standards (which refer to the level of instruction) and break them down into specific objectives. This will help students prepare themselves for the assessment. It is important also to consider a time for analysis in order to get some feedback; which is crucial for the positive development of the course.

As a whole, the phases or steps in the assessment process (mentioned at the beginning) are important. Teachers need to focus on them, in order to accomplish their goals successfully. These are some hints about those steps: First of all, teachers must select an assessment that is suitable to their needs, plan thinking on the purpose of the assessment. Second, give students clear specific objectives, so they will know exactly what to study. Then, use the specific objectives to construct the test. Next, inform students about the exam (day of the application, objectives that will be cover and day for the results). Finally, take time for analysis feedback and reflection; remember that learning is a process.

Glossary

Stakeholders: Students, parents, colleagues, administration.	TLU: Target Language Use domain “tasks that the test taker is likely to encounter outside of the test.”
Real-life domain: Situations that student will find in daily life.	Map: Make choices about what to assess.
Specification: Detailed description of what is being assessed.	Reverse engineering: Close inspection of the formats used in standardized examinations.