A comprehensive assessment is a system of assessing a student’s understanding in order to improve teaching and learning.
In the 21st Century, students are taught to think and read critically, express themselves and solve complex problems for negotiating the complexities of contemporary life. It was not enough to just memorize what they have learned but to apply their studies in different situations.
Need for Comprehensive Assessment
Assessment is a key factor as teachers understand the knowledge that a student has and accordingly, change their way of instruction. Students should own the assessment process, as they should be able to articulate on how they are being assessed. There are five ways in which comprehensive assessment can be implemented on the education system today. These are:-
- Meaningful unit questions and goals – There is a particular standard that all institutions should be following according to the Education Reformation act. This encourages students to express themselves i.e their thinking process by effectively communicating it. This also helps students in gathering information from relative sources and present them as well.
- Summative assessment through writing – Writing encourages memory among students. The essays that a student write greatly reflects the thinking process that they follow. Some chose to follow the traditional standard of essays, while others prefer to write essays pertaining to modern day issues and debates. This thinking of students should be nurtured through education.
- Performance assessment through portfolio and presentation – The students should be allowed to showcase what they have learned, and this can be used to assess different learning outcomes. The effective presentation helped students to show their content knowledge and improved their speaking skills. Allowing students to chose their own method of presentation permitted them to go deeper and express their originality.
- Formative assessment and feedback along the way – There are many ways in which a teacher assess students. Some of the assessments may be formal ones that are announced, while most of the assessments are informal. Assessments help instructors to change their teaching methods in accordance with the needs of the students. Students are given feedback on a timely basis to help them work on the skills that they are weak in.
- Student ownership of assessment process – What students want to learn is what they want to work on, and that is how the assessment process needs to be marked. Students improve on what they are interested in, with constant feedback from teachers and a way of presenting themselves, their education quality is greatly improved.