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tionabouttheirlearners:howtheirstudentsarecopingwiththecontents
ofthecoursetheyarefollowing,whatprogresstheyaremaking,whatthey
haveachievedoveraperiodoftime,andwhatstrengthsorweaknesses
theymayhave.Assessmentmayalsorefertotheteacher’sevaluationofthe
contentsofthecourse,itssyllabus,orthematerialsusedtoimplementit,
ortotheteacher’sself-evaluationoftheeffectivenessoftheirwork.Test-
ingisonewayinwhichassessmentisconducted.Testsmaybesmallin
scopeandinformal,aquickcheckdevisedbytheteachertofindout,for
example,iflearnershavememorisedasetofnewwords,canformnega-
tivestatementscorrectly,orcanmatchappropriateresponsestoaseriesof
questions.Thistermcanalsorefertotests,orexaminations(whichinthis
workwillbeusedinterchangeablywiththewordtest),preparedbyexternal
bodieswhichadministerthesametestonawidescale.
Examinationswhichhaveimportantsignificanceforthetesttakeror
forsocietyareknownashigh-stakestests.Madaus(1988:29)definesthese
asexaminationswhereHthetestresultsaredirectlyrelatedtoimportant
rewardsorsanctionsforstudents,teachersorinstitutions,”whilePopham
(1987,citedinSmith1991:9)referstohighstakestestsasthoseHwhose
resultsareusedtotriggeractionsordecisions…”withreferencetolearners,
teachers,principalsandschooldistricts.Highstakestestsareoftenfound
atthresholdpointsinaneducationalsystemwheretheirresultsmayact
asselectivefilters,decidingontheeducationalfutureoftheyoungpeople
takingthem.Moreinformationabouttheconsequencesofsuchuseoftest
resultscanbefoundinChapterTwo.
Externalexaminationsweunderstandasnationaltests,whichare
developed,administeredandmarkedbyabodyoutsideschool(suchas
anexaminationboard),soastoensurethateverychildreceivesthesame
test,conductedandmarkedinthesamecircumstances.Suchexaminations
arealsoknownasstandardisedtestswhichincludebothexaminations
producedbypublicbodiesatstateornationallevelandthoseproduced
bycommercialinternationaltestingagencies.Thesearetobecontrasted
withschool-basedexaminationswhichareusuallydevisedbyateacher,or
groupofteachers,administeredinaparticulargroup,classorschooland
markedbytheteacher.
Ithaslongbeenacceptedineducationalcirclesthathighstakestesting
hasaninfluenceontheworkingofschoolsystems(Pearson,1988:98).In
somecontextshighstakestestingprogrammeshavebeendesignedwith
thedeliberateintentionofimplementingchange.Ingeneraleducationthis
approachissometimesreferredtoasmeasure-driveninstruction(MDI)
(Popham,1987).Thebeliefisthatifatestishighstakes,iscriterion
referenced(ie.testsasetofcompetencesorskills),involvesdirecttesting
ofrealskillsandusefulknowledge,andincludesapackageofsupportfor
teachersinhowtogeartheirinstructiontotheskillstobetested,then
theexaminationwillbringaboutanimprovementbothinteachingandin
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