Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 44

WHY ASSESS STUDENTS?
Alina Ana Neagu, Liceul Tehnologic „Ioan Lupaş” Sălişte, Jud. Sibiu
Abstract: Assessment is an integral part of any effective program or system, especially of the
educational one. In schools, it is a complex process of a great importance for teachers, students
and parents. Testing and assessment belong to an increasingly important area in the teaching-
learning process and it offers data about the quality and about the way this process works.
Students’ assessment must be designed and developed in such a way as to generate a trustworthy
climate that will enable students to effectively solve problems. At the same time, students will
acquire valuable knowledge of critical thinking and effective learning.
Key words: assessment, tests, marks, appreciation, feedback.
In order to comprehend the school results at the end of an activity segment, the
students' evolution during the process, as well as to stimulate their activity, it is
necessary to assess them at the beginning of the activity, during and at the end of
it. Thus, we are talking about the initial assessment, which preaches a training
program, continuous or formative assessment and summative or cumulative
assessment.
Language testing is not only a simple data collection. It is a much more complex
activity than the one connected to a red pen. Every teacher defines what he wants
or needs to assess in his students, conceives or selects significant tests that will
allow him to pursue what he has decided to evaluate, confronts what he observes
with what he wants and communicates through instruments the result of this
measurement, the difference between expected performance and performance.
The interest in assessment is explained by the complexity of this problem, since it
has a major influence on pupils' school life, professional and social future. The
student's individual assessment decides his or her whole schooling and influences
his or her professional and social integration. A student’s place in the classroom
and in the institution is, thus, set, as it expresses the appreciation and judgment
the teacher issues on the student. Students’ assessment influences them positively
or negatively by the appreciation and prognosis that the teacher issues on him.
Whatever the intention, modes, methods or interpretations, teachers’ assessment
of the student has effects on both protagonists.
Testing is totally different from assessment. It is formal and standardised, while
assessment means collecting information about students’ knowledge and skills,
thus testing might be understood as a part of assessment.
By the instrumentality of marks, students are aware of the level of knowledge they
have accumulated, so assessment should be as objective as possible, as well as
anchored in reality. “While traditional tests and quizzes and alternative
assessments are important, they don't represent the entire assessment system. In
addition, an assessment system includes decisions about grading and reporting
and communication with students, parents, and school officials” (Kauchak, 414).
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