Assessment methods3

p21
Ethical:

1. giving general instruction on district objectives without referring to the objectives that the standardized tests measure;

Typically Ethical:

2. teaching test-taking skills;

Cross-over point depends on inferences you wish to draw from the test and lies between:

3. providing instruction on objectives where objectives may have been determined by looking at the objectives that a variety of standardized tests measure (The objectives taught may or may not contain objectives on teaching test-taking skills.);
4. providing instruction based on objectives (skills and subskills) that specifically match those on the standardized test to be administered;
5. providing instruction on specifically matched objectives (skills and subskills) where the practice or instruction follows the same format as the test questions;

Mehrens (1989) indicated, "The inferences you typically wish to draw from test scores are general in nature and will be inaccurate if you limit instruction to the actual objectives sampled in the test or, worse yet, to the actual questions on the test" (sec: Summary).

Unethical:

6. providing practice or instruction on a published parallel form of the same test;
7. providing practice or instruction on the test itself. (sec: Seven Points on the Continuum).


* Direct instruction in test-taking skills
* Extensive use of practice tests
* Instructional practice altered to mirror form and content of the proficiency tests
* Intervention strategies to identify students needing help to pass proficiency tests
* Variety of intervention/remediation programs offered at variety of times during school day, and before/after school
* Intervention specialists hired or teachers reassigned or paid to conduct remediation programs
* Students recognized and rewarded for success (p. 37).
1. Reading and study skills: collect and organize ideas through note making; make sense of abstract academic vocabulary; read and interpret visual displays of information;
2. Reflective skills: construct plans to address questions and tasks; use criteria and guidelines to evaluate work in progress; control or alter mood and impulsivity;
3. Thinking skills: draw conclusions, make and test inferences, hypotheses, and conjectures; conduct comparisons using specific criteria; analyze the demands of a variety of higher-order thinking questions;
4. Communication skills: write clear, well-informed, coherent explanations in all content areas; write comfortably in the following non-fiction genres: problem/solution, decision making, argument, comparative; read and write about two or more documents.
p13
In the context of a worldwide paradigm shift towards student-centred outcomes-based approaches, and at a time when many UK departments are developing learning, teaching and assessment strategies, this article reviews what the research literature says about the impact of assessment on students’ learning. It then proceeds to translate that into practical suggestions for practice with the specific intention that this should help to inform departments in the development of appropriate assessment strategies and learner-centred assessment practices which meet the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) general principles on assessment.