Table of Contents

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2

2. The Effect of Assessment.........................................................................................................3

3. Improvement and Suggestion...................................................................................................4

4. Conclusion................................................................................................................................5

5. Reflection.................................................................................................................................6

6. References................................................................................................................................8

APPENDICES.................................................................................................................................9

1.

1. Introduction

Assessment is an important part of learning process. It helps to promote pupil’s feedback,

teaching strategies as well as opportunity for pupils and teacher to improve their performance.

More specifically, assessment is the ways instructors gather data about their teaching and their

pupils’ learning. There are three types of assessment, diagnonistic assessment, formative

assessment and summative assessment (Hanna & Dettmer, 2004). Diagnostic assessment can

help you identify your pupils’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and capabilities,

and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Whereas, formative assessment

provides feedback and information during the instructional process, while learning is taking

place, and while learning is occurring. On the other hand, summative assessment takes place

after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the

teaching and learning process.

For this assignment, we have chosen summative assessment since we want to evaluate

pupil’s achievement and performance. The pupils will be given grade to assess what has been

learned and how well it was learned. The assessment that we have done is in the form of a set of

complete question. It is set for mixed ability Year 1 pupils. The question is divided into two

sections which are Section A and Section B. Section A carries 30 marks which focused on

reading skills, meanwhile, Section B carries 20 marks which focused on writing skills. Each

question has different level of difficulties from easy to high level question which suit their level.

Apart from that, we also prepared rubrics for grading.

2. The Effect of Assessment

First of all, this assessment is intended for teachers to summarize pupil achievement at the

end of learning process. It helps teachers to establish the current level at which the child is

functioning such as acquisition of language, perceptual skills or motor skills and design

appropriate education intervention for the child. Through this, we can find out what a child can

or cannot do. This calls for the teachers to design appropriate intervention and educational

programs for either the child or group of children to function at the same level.

Besides, this assessment also can benefits teachers as it aids feedback for teachers (Hudson,

2015). The teachers can use the result to look back at the effectiveness of their teaching methods

as well as the lesson plan. Thus, they can improve the plan for pupils in terms of curriculum,

learning materials and teaching methods to be used.

Meanwhile, from the educational aspects, this assessment helps in educational placement and

referrals after consistent study of the pupil. This helps the teacher to group these pupils according

to their abilities. This is done in order to make a proper placement for them in order to ensure the

learning process take place according to their level. The results from end-of-year assessment are

used to inform programmes for the following year, it is typically the results of the assessment

that are the primary focus of attention. Usually, this method is often used in majority of school

for class segregation. If the pupils in the class is approximately at the same ability, it will be

easier for the teachers to prepare suitable lesson for the class.

In contrast, this kind of assessment is typically used for credentialing and selection such as

qualification or achievement awards (Race & Smith, 2005). Because all of these purposes

involve outcomes with, to a greater or lesser degree, high stakes for individuals or providers,

they can have a blowback effect on teaching and learning. Basically, it can be a huge pressure on

the educator to narrow the focus of teaching to ensure good performance in the assessment. On

the other hand, pupils can similarly narrow their focus, or lose intrinsic, curiosity-driven

motivation as they become concerned about the consequences of a poor assessment outcome.

3. Improvement and Suggestion

Firstly, since we do not have a chance to test our questions, we tried to give it to few Year 1

pupils that we could contact. From 5 people that we test, there are few things that we should

improve such as the fonts, numbering and pictures. Based on their opinion, the font should be

larger so that it is easier for them to read. Second, the answer boxes especially in part 2, Section

B, is confusing. According to them, we should put numbers in each boxes. From our views, the

boxes do not need any numbers since it is align with the questions. In contrast, for their age, it is

confusing. That is why, in the future, we need to be more careful and try to be in their shoes

when preparing the questions. Apart from that, we also should increase the pictures’ size since

some of them cannot answer the question because they could not see it clearly.

Meanwhile, from our point of views, this question may appears unfair to the low ability

pupils. This is because of this paper is set to all Year 1 pupils. Therefore, pupils with low ability

will show little achievement compared to the other pupils. Contrarily, pupils in high level will do

very well in the test. Therefore, we suggest that test paper should be prepared according to their

level.

4. Conclusion

Indeed, assessment can effect both of the pupils and teachers (Garrisson & Ehringhaus,

1995). Pupils undertaking any form of study will be subject to assessment in one form or

another. Similarly, any member of teaching staff will be engage at some point in assessment

related work. For some of teachers, assessment takes up a considerable proportion of their

workload. However, for pupils it can be a significant determinant of what, when and how they

learn. Thus, getting assessment 'right' is therefore essential, both for pupils and for teachers.

Furthermore, assessments can be a vital component in our efforts to improve education. But as

long as we use them only as a means to rank schools and pupils, we will miss their most

powerful benefits. We must focus instead on helping teachers change the way they use

assessment results, improve the quality of their classroom assessments, and align their

assessments with valued learning goals and state or district standards. Only then, teachers'

classroom assessments become an integral part of the instructional process and a central

ingredient in their efforts to help pupils learn, the benefits of assessment for both pupils and

teachers will be boundless.

5. Reflection

“If we think of our children as plants, summative assessment of the plants is the

process of measuring them. It is interesting and important to compare analyse

measurements but, in itself, this does not affect the growth of the plants.”

Garden Analogy (Clark, 2001)

As stated in the quotes, it is clearly that there is bad pointing to the summative assessment.

However, we still think that this assessment is necessary for the pupils. That is why we have

chosen this type of assessment to assess pupils. Critics sometimes contend that this approach

means “teaching to the test.” We believe that the crucial issue is, what determines the content

and methods of teaching? If the test is the primary determinant of what teachers teach and how

they teach it, then we are indeed “teaching to the test.” We realize that teacher plays huge role in

planning well-designed assessment for pupils. That is why this assignment is very challenging

for us as we need to design the best and most suit test according to the pupils’ level.

Designing a complete set of test is not as simple as we think. There are varieties of

preparation that we need to do such as a complete set of question, rubric, test blueprint as well as

answer for the question. This is the first time for us to experience this. We need to prepare a set

of question for English subject for a mixed ability class. While deciding to choose which year

that we are going to do, we had chosen Year 1 since we already had the textbook. Since there

was no specific type of question that we need to make for this assignment, it took few days to

select what kind of question that we are going to use. While deciding the questions, we tried to

think if we were the pupils, what kind of topic and activity that will fit at their level. We were

wondering if the questions are too easy or too hard for them. Therefore we went to the library to

look out for few tips in choosing suitable questions for Year 1 pupils. Fortunately, we found a

suitable book that gave us an idea to prepare the questions.

When we are selecting what kind of questions that suit Year 1 pupil, there are lots of things

that need to be considered. For example, we find that nearly every pupil has suffered the

experience of spending hours preparing for a major assessment, only to discover that the material

that he or she had studied was different from what the teacher chose to emphasize on the

assessment (Guskey, 1997). So, we decide to take the topics that the pupils familiar with. We

refer the textbook used in the school in order to ensure that we are not out of topic.

Even though this assignment seems very hard at first, but, as we do some brainstorming and

exchange ideas and knowledge, we managed to complete the assignment. Lastly, we could say

that we have learnt a lot thru this assignment likes, how to choose suitable question, aspects that

we should look at in designing test as well as the importance of cooperation in teamwork. In the

future, if we were given the same chance to prepare questions test for pupils, we will definitely

use this experience as my reference and try to make it better than this.

6. References

1. Race, P. Brown, S. and Smith, B. (2005). 500 Tips on assessment (2nded.). London:

Routledge.

2. Cowan, J. (2005). Designing assessment to enhance pupil learning. Retrieved from

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/practice_guides/practice_guides/

ps0069_designing_assessment_to_improve_physical_sciences_learning_march_2009.pdf

3. Hanna, G. S., & Dettmer, P. A. (2004). Assessment for effective teaching: Using context-

adaptive planning. Boston, MA: Pearson A&B.

4. Clarke, S. (2001). Unlocking Formative Assessment: Practical Strategies for Enhancing

Pupils’ Learning in the Primary Classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

5. Guskey, T. R. (1997). Implementing mastery learning (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

6. Hudson, J. (2015). Education Review: a multi-lingual journal book review. Retrieved from

http://www.edrev.info/reviews/rev354.htm

7. Garrison, C. & Ehringhaus, M. (1995). Formative and Summative Assessments in the

Classroom. Retrieved from

http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/WebExclusive/Assessment/tabid/1120/Default.aspx

APPENDICES

-TEST BLUEPRINT ( JADUAL

SPESIFIKASI UJIAN (JSU))

-QUESTION PAPER

-ANSWER SCHEME

-RUBRICS

ANSWER SCHEME

ENGLISH

YEAR 1

EXAMINER’S NAME : __________________________________

SIGNATURE :__________________________________

DATE :______________________________

Answers

Section A

1. A2. B3. C4. A5. A 6. D7. C8. A9. B10. E11. live12. moved13. old14. how15. Primary One16. studying17. interesting18. new19. friends20. sounds21. Sunday22. snacks

23. morning24. sunny25. rained26. following27. D28. A29. E30. C31. B32. Kuala Lumpur33. her health so that she will feel good

every day.34. does in the morning is brush her

teeth.35. cheese/ tomato sandwiches.36. takes a jog around her

neighbourhood with her dad.37. T38. F39. F40. T

Section B

1.

(each answer carries 12

marks)

2. a) unhappyb) enjoyable

c) tasty

d) sleepy

e) ill

f) difficult

(each answer carries 1 mark)

3. a) Grandmotherb) Grandfather

c) Uncle

d) brother

e) cousin

f) Aunty

HEAD FEET NECK

crown sandals scarf

hat socks bowtie

helmet slippers necktie

headband boots necklace

(each answer carries 1 mark)

4. ( Suggested answer)

1. a.There are three friends name Ali, Ahmad and Siti.b.They are going to the town.

2. a. They go to ice-cream stall.b. Ali and Ahmad buy chocolate flavor. Siti buys strawberry flavor.

3. a. They eat the ice-cream deliciously.b. They go home happily.

( Each answer carries 2 marks)

*1 mark for language.

*1 mark for content.

Rubrics for Assessment

Marks Grade Scale

80 - 100 A Excellent

60 - 79 B Good

40 - 59 C Average

20 - 39 D Weak

0 - 19 E Very weak