Assessing and evaluating vs. testing and controlling

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Standards of reference

Ask teachers to bring with them a random student’s assessment (marks, test etc)
The teachers form groups. Distribute Worksheet 1.
The teachers study the worksheet (individual work).
In the groups, they compare which standards of reference they usually take into consideration and which they do not use.
They discuss the feasibility and value of assessing by the criteria present in Worksheet 1.
Distribute Worksheet 2.
The group members answer the questionnaire.
They check their assessment using Worksheet 2
Debriefing about strong and weak points in assessment

(based on Living Democracy, Vol. I, Educating for democracy, p. 103)
http://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-2/unit-5/chapter-2/lesson-4/
There are three different basic standards of reference for the assessment and marking of students’ performance:

Individual criterion: the student’s present performance is compared with his or her previous work.
Objective criterion: the student’s performance is compared with the learning objectives that have been defined.
Social criterion: a student’s performance is compared with that of the students within the same class or the same age group.

(For more information about the above-mentioned criteria, Living Democracy, Vol. I, Educating for democracy, p. 104) http://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-2/unit-5/chapter-2/lesson-5/

Type of criterion	Individual criterion	Objective criterion	Social criterion
Reference figure	Learning progress	Learning objective	Normal curve of distribution, arithmetic average, deviation
Information	How much has been learned between time 1 and time 2?	To what extent has the student approached the learning objective?	How big is the deviation of the individual progress from the average?
Type of assessment	Tests, verbal assessment, learning progress report, structured form of observation	Goal-oriented test, learning progress report, structured form of observation	Test including a grade oriented on the average of the class
Pedagogical implication	Very high	Very high	Is often used for selection; is not important for orientation towards support for students

Questions for self-evaluation
Learning process of the students:

How do I ensure that the students have achieved the objectives?
Did the students regularly experience success while they were learning?
Are they aware of the progress they have made?
Does my teaching give boys and girls an equal chance of success?
Do the students consciously watch, control and improve their learning and working behavior?
Were the students given any guidelines to assist them while learning?
Can the students control and assess their learning behavior and their results themselves?
In their self-assessment, do the students also refer to their own objectives, standards, criteria or needs?
Do I perceive individual students’ progress?
How do I identify learning problems of individual students?
How do I observe social interaction in the class?
How do I keep a record of my observations and assessments of individual students and the class as a whole?
…

Some questions about the teacher’s learning process:

How, when and with whom do I reflect on my teaching?
How do I let my students participate?
How do I relate my students’ success or failure to my teaching?
How do I recognize my progress in teaching, and how do I learn as a teacher?