OEP 101 Module Topic Six (Four lectures)

OEP 101 Module Topic Six (Four lectures)

Title: Managing Classroom Processes and Assessment of Learning

Content:

• Issues on classroom management
• Physical environment of the classroom
• Rule setting and the classroom procedures
• Causes of misbehaviour in classrooms
• Controlling classroom
• Instructional objectives
• Task analysis on complex skill
• Application of Bloom’s taxonomy
• Evaluation
• Table of Specifications for test
• Categories of self made tests

Introduction

Classroom management is integral part of teaching. Learning success/failure depends on the classroom atmosphere as dictated by the conduct of students of various abilities and the teacher’s management skills. All your teaching skills and strategies will only be effective if you manage your class well.  The last part of the topic is on determining if your teaching has a positive/negative effect on classroom student learning.

Objectives:

At the end of this topic the student will be able to:

• Explain the need to manage classroom effectively.
• Explain the causes of misbehavior in the classroom and ways to stop it.
• Summarize guidelines for establishing class rules.
• Describe effective teacher behaviours
• Describe strategies of dealing with problem behaviours
• Describe the components of instructional objectives.
• Perform a task analysis on a complex skill of your choice.
• Identify and apply the six levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
• Explain the functions of evaluations.
• Develop a table of specifications for test using.
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of true/false, multiple-choice, completion, matching, essay and problem-solving test items.

Body

ISSUES ON CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

As we have already observed there are a number of factors that influence learning. Some are directly connected to the individual students while others are external to the students. Some of them are inherently external to the teaching skills of the teacher but do greatly facilitate/hinder the teaching/learning processes. All these factors are present in the class and the teacher has to take them into account while teaching i.e. managing the class for effective learning. Elliot et al. (2000) define classroom management as the use of rules and procedures to maintain order so that learning may result. In acknowledging the possibility of having classroom not conducive to learning the teacher uses rules and procedures to facilitate learning.

Our experiences in years of living in the classroom setting we are aware of some chaotic situations where learning is hardly possible; students fighting among themselves; occurrences of bullying;  shouting in arguments; ridiculing others; and even some students arguing with the teacher to the extent of refusing orders from the respective teacher. The same class in a different day or occasion may have atmosphere that is peaceful and serious learning taking place in a friendly manner. 

Santrock (2004) has Walter Doyle (1986) description of the characteristics that reflect the complexity of classroom environment:

• Classrooms are multidimensional. Classrooms are setting of both cognitive and social activities. The students are simultaneously demanded to understand the content while interact with others in a given schedule. Students have to learn an appropriate way of functioning in this situation. The teacher has to be in position to monitor all what is going on in the classroom and at the same time facilitate learning of academic and social skills.
• Activities occur simultaneously.  Many activities occur at the same time. Some students may be concentrating on learning while another group of students are having their own discussion, one student is looking outside the classroom, others are seeking permission to enter and a big number looking indifferently to the instruction and whatever is happening in class. One can never be sure about the number of activities that can take place in a classroom at the same time.
• Things happen quickly. Events often occur rapidly in classrooms and frequently require an immediate response. Two students can start a fight out of nowhere and the teacher has to stop teaching immediately and fast deal with the ensuing condition; a student can just get sick when a moment a go s/he looked fine and the teacher has to take appropriate response; or a student grabbing another student’s book without concert.
• Events are often unpredictable. The school activities are supposed to be planned from the beginning of the year and teachers always plan for their classes beforehand. However, the above identified occurrences not only happen quickly but they were also unpredictable. Also the teacher can be pressured to change what had been planned by school management. Sometimes with all well preparations a teacher cannot anticipate what will happen in the next moment.
• There is little privacy. Whatever actions occur in the classroom they happen in clear view of most students. The students observe what the teacher is doing in terms of interacting with students and his/her reactions to the events taking place. This situation may make a teacher uncomfortable in the classroom. Teacher’s actions and emotional state form students’ perceptions on the teacher and have some influence on the classroom teaching/learning process.
• Classrooms have history. Classroom life is daily influenced by what happened in the classroom on the previous days (or a year if a cohort and with the same teacher). Students have memories and remember how the teacher treats/mistreats students, and his/her emotional reactions to different occurrences. They also remember what/how they (individual student) and fellow students reacted on teacher’s actions. In short a classroom has got its own personality. It is imperative for a teacher to be aware what s/he does today will have a bearing on classroom atmosphere in the future. 

Adding on the above complexities it is important to observe some characteristics that are specific to the situation in schools in our country. Some of them include:

• Overcrowded Classrooms. Some classrooms in our country have up to a hundred students. It is very demanding to manage all of them and at the same time effectively give instructions. According to Doswell (2007) overcrowded classrooms tend to exhaust the energy of the teachers and also prevent optimum learning since they do not give students time for exploration, discourse and creativity. Without extra aide normally learning activities are not in orderly form. Also Zorigian (2009) points out that as class sizes grow and the demands on teachers increase, many teachers feel there is little they can do to control misbehaviour in the classroom.
• Lack of basic facilities. Some classrooms lack desks and as a result the teacher is not in position to observe the whole classroom and his/her movement is restricted to just in front of the class. The students lacking desks find it very difficult to engage in writing activities related to learning. Just imaging students taking notes on their laps! Things are more complicated during assessment sessions.
• In some areas there is lack of adequate physical structures for classroom. Some of the rooms are exposed to outside elements such as leaking of the rain and wind/cold due to lack of windows.
• Welfare of students. Some of the students in the classroom lack adequate basic needs such as coming to school hungry and low prospects of getting nutritious meal. Classroom atmosphere in the afternoon may be affected in schools that do not provide lunch to students.  

CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The objective of classroom management is to have an environment that is conducive for learning. According to Everton (retrieved 2011) classroom management includes teacher actions to create, implement, and maintaining a learning environment within the classroom. She further points out that everything a teacher does has implications for classroom management including creating the setting, decorating the room, arranging the chairs, speaking to students and handling their responses, putting routine in place, developing rules, and communicating those rules to the students. This implies the teacher is the significant factor in classroom management in several interwoven aspects. Teachers have to know how to create safe (intellectually, emotionally, and physically) and productive learning environments i.e. classroom environment where all students can learn.

The classroom learning environment does not come into existence naturally but it has to be created by the teacher. We say to create since this environment in the classroom is a result of teacher’s style of management. You are aware that learning environment of the classroom differs in relation to the respective teachers of that classroom. With one teacher the classroom is always harmonious while with another teacher the same classroom is in state of chaos with little learning taking place.

There are several teacher management styles and each of the systems indicating to the students about teacher’s beliefs on content and learning processes. Students’ perception of the teacher’s style of management have influence on the way they approach learning, the content being delivered and some aspects of their personalities in the future.

The management styles are identified in terms degree of control and level of involvement. Baumrind (1971) and Phelan (2005) describe these management styles as follows:

• The authoritative style. Characterized by behavioural principles, high expectations of appropriate behaviour, clear statements about why certain behaviours are acceptable and others not acceptable. It is a relatively hard style to establish and maintain. Students under the teacher with this style know s/he is positive, kind, supportive, and they know when s/he serious. They trust him/her and the classroom atmosphere has more time for academics. This style helps to produce students who are socially competent and responsible. 
• The authoritarian style. It tends to be characterized by numerous behavioural regulations. The teacher is seen as rather punitive and restrictive; and students have neither a say in the management, nor are they seen to need explanations from the teacher. Teachers using this style normally jump on any behaviour that is not acceptable by shouting to get attention, acting angrily, seem to be shocked when a student does not follow directives and rarely do they support students or use reinforcement. So, this style gets students compliance immediately because of fear. In the long run it produces students who are ineffective at social interactions, and somewhat ineffective.
• The permissive style. It is characterized by lack of involvement, the environment is non-punitive, and there are few demands on students, and there is a lot of freedom. Teachers using this style hope to be liked by their students by being supportive without setting limits on the students. They ignore disruptive behaviour or handle it with weak reprimands. In this environment the classroom becomes out of control and constructive learning hardly occurs. This style produce students that are immature, show poor self-restraint, and exhibit poor leadership skills.
• The indulgent style. Under this style there are no demands of any sort on students. Here the teacher cares more about the student’s emotional well-being than his/her behaviours. The students are actively supported in their efforts to seek their own ends at any reasonable means. The teacher is detached from the ongoing learning activities by doing something else e.g. instead of supervising students working on assignment in groups s/he might be marking or engaging on something else outside the classroom. Such teachers miss important signs from students indicating having academic or behavioural problems. This style produces students like those under the permissive style.
• Balanced style. As described in kabbalawww.kabbalah.com/Free-Teacher (retrieved 2011) the balanced classroom management style combines the authoritative and indulgent management styles. The teacher sets the rules and conduct an orderly classroom but also keep the classroom student-centered by allowing the students freedom to give their views and thoughts creatively through group discussions. Students under this style grow to behave like teachers using this style of management.

Based on the above styles we see that in one extreme some teachers takes complete control of the classroom by guiding all student activities in the classroom. Students have very little room on creating the learning environment in the classroom. In other extreme some teachers have very little control of the classroom and seem to be not responsible for the learning environment. In the middle of the two extremes we have teachers who encourage and teach students assume responsibility of their behaviour and consequently the learning environment in the classroom. Of the above styles of classroom management the authoritative style is more significant in creating constructive learning environment where students feel safe and the teachers feels empowered by the positive development of his/her students.

Instruction as part of classroom management

Instruction is part and parcel of creating learning environment in the classroom. Instruction has two components, namely teaching (what the teacher does) and learning (what the students do) (Marshall, 2003). A teacher cannot only focus on delivering the material in absence of managing the classroom. Research in 1980s has demonstrated that management and instructions are not separate, but are inextricably interwoven and complex (Everton, Retrieved 2011). The goal of the teacher should not only facilitate learning to the students but rather use classroom management to facilitate student growth in self-control and acceptance of responsibility in management (Savage & Savage, 2010).

Some aspects of teaching (the content and the way it is delivered) have a direct impact on the learning environment in the classroom. The teacher has to make the content in the curriculum relevant, interesting, meaningful, and/or enjoyable. Presenting a lesson in an interesting way is a mechanism of managing the classroom since it keeps the students in the learning process and they have little room for engaging in the other irrelevant activities. We have already discussed on how to make pupils be motivated to learn. In managing student academic work an effective teacher-led instruction is free of ambiguous and vague terms; unclear sequencing; interruptions; and students must be held accountable for their work (Kizlik, 2010).  In citing several sources Santrock (2004), for increasing academic learning time the teacher should:

• Maintain activity flow of the instruction and avoid unnecessary interruptions.
• Minimize transition time i.e. the time used to move from one learning activity to the next one.  If the transition between activities is too long this provides for an opportunity for students to engage in disruptive behaviour. The teacher has to maintain flow of instruction by develop skills of moving students smoothly from one activity to another, both physically and cognitively.    
• Engage students in a variety of challenging activities.
• Hold students accountable for their work and use of class time.
• Make sure the learning has a purpose.

Having seen the importance of teacher in creating learning environment now we discuss specifically on other things that the teacher has to take into account in creating and maintaining learning environment.

Physical environment of the classroom

The way the classroom is set up is a crucial component in management and conveys the learning environment in the classroom. In a good physical environment the students have the sense of security i.e. feeling safe in a secure place for learning. The structure has to shield students from adverse external elements (such as sun, rain, and cold) and yet be comfortable in terms of chairs, temperature, ventilation and lightings.

In citing several sources Santrock (2004) suggest teachers to use the following steps in making a classroom arrangement:

                                                               i.      Consider what activities students will be engaged in.

                                                             ii.      Draw up a floor plan before you actually move the desks and chairs.

                                                            iii.      Involve students in planning the classroom layout.

                                                           iv.      Try out the arrangement and be flexible in redesigning.

Whatever arrangement you plan to use, according to Kizlik (2010) one should consider the following aspects:

• Permit the teacher to observe all the students at all the times and to monitor work and behaviour.
• Frequently used area of the room and traffic lanes should be unobstructed and easily accessible.
• Students should be able to see the teacher and presentation without undue turning and movement.
• Commonly used classroom materials, e.g. books and student reference materials should be readily available.

“While good room arrangement is not a guarantee of good behaviour, poor planning in this area can create conditions that lead to problems” (Kizlik, 2010). Many classrooms in our country have all the desks arranged in rows facing in front and the teacher (all students facing the teacher and the chalkboard). In developed countries this referred to as the “traditional classroom setup” or “standard classroom arrangement”. This arrangement implies that the teacher and the lesson are centre of learning processes. This setup is appropriate if the lesson is being presented in a lecture mode. Although the teacher has access to any part of the room the students are limited to communicate among themselves. In this setup the teacher arrange walk ways for easy movements (for the teacher and students too) but the desks should not be too far apart. In the front the teacher and his/her table should be out of way and not blocking students’ view of the chalkboard or materials; and/or interfering with learning activities taking place at the front of the classroom.

The teacher can rearrange the traditional setup to enhance instruction depending on the size of the room, number of students in the classroom, availability and types of desks in the classroom. In face to face style students sit facing each other; for cooperative learning use off-set style whereby three or four students sit around arranged tables together (in form of a circle or squire) forming a learning group;  and for collaborative learning use seminar style where a large number of students sit in desks arranged in U-shape, squire or circle. 

Setting classroom rules and procedures

Classroom is like any society as it needs rules and procedures to function properly. Classroom devoid of rules becomes chaotic. So, in classroom management the teacher has to establish and enforce rules and procedures to have an effective learning environment. Rules focus on expected standards of behaviour while procedures indicate the expected routine of specific activities in the classroom. The objectives of rules and procedures are for classroom as a group to function smoothly with the aim of achieving something. Rules and procedures pre-describe how, where, who and when one is expected to function in the classroom. Very rarely do rules change but procedures can and do change. To appreciate their significance in determine learning atmosphere just imaging a school/classroom without rules and procedures where anything goes at anytime.   

Some of the rules relate to explicit behaviours such as fighting, making noise and running in the classroom as unacceptable. Other rules relate to implicit behaviours like when is one allowed to go out or what to do when feeling uneasy. So, in managing the classroom the rules and procedures have to be clearly defined through discussion with students. Rules on addressing implicit behaviours should have specific procedures to be followed by all. In many circumstances student first has to raise hands to draw teacher’s attention.

The processing of establishing the rules and procedures start on the first day of the academic year. They are planned to last for the whole year. It is advisable whenever possible to involve students in establishing the rules and procedures of the classroom. Students sometimes do not understand the functions of having classroom rules and subsequently do not respect them, especially adolescents (DesSpain, 1996). In discussing the rules the students are in position to think about the need for rules in the classroom and consequently in their lives. It has been observed that where students were involved in establishing rules they come up with similar as those intended by the teacher; and in some circumstances they suggest tougher ones relative to the teacher’s rules. Students are more likely to have success when they understand the rules and have a supportive teacher who leads by example (Savage and Savage, 2010). In the same vein the consequences of breaking the rules and procedures should be stated clearly to the students. In the discussion the students and the teacher can make a list of consequences for breaking any of the rules.

When establishing the rules and procedures consideration should be on cognitive space necessary for a learning environment (Everton, Retrieved 2011). They should facilitate learning rather than undermining creativity and motivation to learn. The rules and procedures have to be appropriate for the level of students’ development. Rules for young children cannot be appropriate for high school students’ learning environment, and the vice versa. Also the rules and procedures have to revolve around the learning activities of students in the classroom.

In addressing this concern Elliot et al. (2000) based on several sources suggest the following steps in formulating meaningful rules for classroom activities:

                                                               i.      Define the class activity.  Specific activities require specific rules e.g. rules for laboratory have to be different from those for theatre class.

                                                             ii.      Determine the social behaviours necessary for activities.

                                                            iii.      Determine which activities need lists of rules.

                                                           iv.      Make a list of rules for the selected activities.

                                                             v.      Be sure to formulate a set of general activity rules.

Santrock (2004) in citing Weinstein (1997) advance the following teaching strategies for establishing classroom rules and procedures:

                                                               i.      Rules and procedures should be reasonable and necessary. There must be good reasons for having the rule. Avoid making unnecessary rules and the class should have few rules so that students remember them.

                                                             ii.      Rules and procedures should be clear and comprehensible. They have to be stated clearly and be specific on what they mean.

                                                            iii.      Rules and procedures should be consistent with instructional and learning goals. Effective rules are those that teach students acceptable behaviours. In preventing disruptive behaviour is to include course and behaviour norms and expectations for students and instructors in the syllabi (McKinney, retrieved 2011).

                                                           iv.      Classroom rules and procedures should be consistent with school rules.

                                                             v.      Zorigian (2009) adds that the rules should be stated in positive terms i.e. students should know what the teacher wants them to do, not what s/he doesn’t them to do.

MAINTAINING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Although setting classroom rules at the beginning of school is significant it is not enough for instruction. A teacher is responsible for maintaining a learning environment throughout the year for the curriculum objectives to be realised. S/he has to be aware that students as a group or as individuals sometimes go against established rules that undermining learning environment due to developmental factors and the prevailing emotional state.

The first aspect in maintaining classroom learning environment is through instruction. In this aspect Everton (Retrieved 2011) based on some observations (especially those of Kounin, 1970) cited the following strategies teachers use for eliciting high levels of students’ work involvement and minimizing student misbehavior: 

Ø  With-it-ness. The teacher has to communicate awareness of student behaviour i.e. students consciously knowing that the teacher is aware of whatever they are doing. The teacher is required at all times to monitor students responses and actions; furthermore be in position to anticipate areas that the students will have problems and have a plan on how to address them if need be. This is the most effective strategy for preventing misbehavior. Remember prevention is better than cure in classroom behaviour management. “Students know that teachers who ‘have eyes in their back of the head’ are surely much more effective at maintaining order because they pre-empt problems by being right there in potential trouble spots before the trouble has a chance to start” (unknown author, Copyright 2009-2011 classroom-management-success.org). This is normally accompanied by verbal comment that does not interfere with flow of instruction. Kizlik (2010) adds that you have monitor students carefully and frequently so that misbehavior is detected early before it involves many students or becomes a serious disruption.

Ø  Overlapping. The teacher has to be capable of doing two things at a time. A number of things can happen in the classroom at the same moment e.g. some students concentrating on the instruction while a group is having a discussion. The teacher has to stop group making discussion and return to instruction with minimum interruption to flow of instruction.

Ø  Smoothness and momentum. This refers to moving in and out of activities smoothly, with appropriately paced and sequenced instruction.

Ø  Group alerting. This refers to keeping attentive in a whole-group focus. Students in the classroom have a sense that they are learning as a group rather than just as single individuals.

Ø  Attending students’ needs. In monitoring students a teacher has to actively detect students’ individual behavioral and learning needs. During instruction student’s behaviour and expressions may imply a student is uncomfortable, confused and/or mentally somewhere else. The teacher has to have an eye on such students and make an appropriate decisions and actions.

Ø  Planned activities. Learning activities should be paced to make sure that students have enough in relation to their level of attention span and interests. Instruction should include a variety of activities and the way they are to be conducted.  

Causes of misbehaviour in classrooms

With all planning and engaging students in creating learning environment; and close monitoring by the teacher some sort of misbehaviour is highly likely to occur during instructions.  In discussing primary causes of behaviour one educationist pointed out that all behaviour has purpose i.e. a well-behaved student behaves well for a reason, likewise misbehaving student acts have a purpose(Copyright 2010 The Incredible Art Department, retrieved 2011). So, before looking on how to control misbehaviour let us look at some of causes of misbehaviour:

Ø  Attention. Some students feel that the only way they can get attention and noticed is through misbehaving. These are students who constantly talk in the class or make noise to draw attention. There are positive ways of getting attention but misbehaving students draw attention by making other students and teacher annoyed.

Ø  Power. Student in need for power argue a lot and refuse to follow rules. For them following rules is taken as sign of weakness and admitting defeat. They feel more power will be an answer to their problems. When as a teacher you feel threatened by act of a student then know power seeking is behind the misbehaviour.

Ø  Revenge. In case of failure they want to regain power, attention and personal satisfaction by being mean or violent against their fellow students or the teacher. Sometimes revenge is expressed by writing in prohibited places, through vandalism or/and beating other students.

Ø  Self-confidence. Students who lack confidence believe that they do not have the ability to function in the classroom and as thus expect to fail. However, you find that they have self-confidence in activities not connected to instruction. Such students escape participating in classroom learning by engaging in play or other disruptive acts. Teachers feel angry about this type of student since the teachers are aware that the student is capable of participating in learning but decide to opt out. Such students are very frustrating when encouraged to learn.

Ø  Feeling inadequate. Students who feel are bad, act bad. They rarely try new things but rather engage in bragging, boasting or fighting. They believe they are unpopular and cruel and as a result mistreat other students.

Ø  Boredom. Linsin (2009) pointed out that boredom is one of the leading causes of misbehavior in the classroom. Some teachers present material in very small pace and in monotonous tone that can make a student to sleep. Boredom makes a student to engage in acts of misbehaviour like playing silly games and chatting with other bored students.

Ø  Student’s personal problems. A student experiencing personal problems may engage in misbehaviour. For example, a student may come from a family with internal conflicts or problems that cause frustrations to the student; who in turn releases it by acts of misbehaviour. Also, peer pressure can make a student misbehave in the classroom as the mean of being accepted in the group.

Controlling classroom

The teacher is the leader in the classroom, and leadership means taking control of the situation. To be successful in classroom the teacher must be in control. It is impossible to manage your classroom if you are not in control. Control refers to being responsible and having the power of taking charge of all activities in the classroom. Classroom control is part and parcel of what teacher’s responsibility when with students in any setting.

As implied in the previous parts of this lecture teaching style determines how the teacher controls the classroom. According to Savage and Savage (2010) in the long run it is better if a teacher empowers students and enables them to learn and gain self-control and develop their own characters, since both the teacher and students gain. So, effective classroom management begins with teaching students how to control themselves. Also you have already realized the significance of establishing classroom rules and procedures classroom management. Most of your control will relate to them. Now we look at other significant components related to classroom control.

Effective teacher’s behaviour is very significant in classroom control

Teacher’s behaviour is a concept that is very broad and also complex to describe. Here we only explain it in segments for easy understanding and also as means of teachers developing aspects of behaviors and characteristics that are effective in classroom control. The list of effective behaviours identified here is not exhaustive in any measure. However, you should bear in mind that anything you do (or you do not do) and how you are perceived as a teacher by your students has a bearing on how you control the classroom and consequently the learning environment (either positively or negatively). Also be aware that effective behaviour can be developed by the individual teacher as s/he progresses in his/her professional development.

There are several things a teacher can do to establish positive environment before entering the classroom. The first is the teacher believing that s/he has the capability to have a complete effective classroom control. One must have self-confidence in handling students and eventualities in the classroom. Also s/he must have more proactive approach to classroom management by establishing clear rules, expectations, and consequences to make improvements in academics and increased instructional time (Zorigian, 2009). We have already discussed rules and procedures; now let us look at teacher’s expectations and other aspects as related to teachers and classroom control.

Teacher’s expectations should be clear to all students in the classroom. They need to know from the first encounter the behaviour that you as their teacher expect of them. McKinney (2011) strongly suggests discussing the norms and expectations on the first day; telling students you expect them to act appropriately. The students should fully be aware that the teacher expects them to be accountable for their academic performance and actions in the classroom. Have a system in place to reinforce expectations since it is unwise to believe that just having rules and expectation is enough to control all students. So, clear teacher expectations from the beginning are preventive and eliminate (or minimize) future possible problems.

Elliot et al. points out that as a teacher you should not cause any problems yourself by:

Ø  Being fair to all students. Avoid being unfair by treating all students equally. Show that you respect all your students since those feeling they are not liked are more likely to cause you problems. Treat each with respect that you want accorded to you as a person. Avoid controlling the classroom on some preconceived view of certain students.

Ø  Being consistent. React to the similar situation in a similar manner. Adhere to the established classroom procedures and regulations. To be effective in classroom management it takes time. You need to be consistent in using appropriate approaches when you start your profession as a teacher from the first day with the classroom. Every day work based on the prescribed schedule and before the entering the class know exactly what you are going to do at all moments.

Ø  Avoiding being boring. You must be conversant with subject matter of your lesson and be in position to deliver it in an interesting way.

Ø  Controlling your temper. Do not perceive all students actions as directed to you. However, some of the students’ unacceptable actions may be directed to you personally and you have to respond in a controlled manner. Savage and Savage (2010) says a teacher has to remain calm and speak to students in a respective way; not to act in anger or wrath, but deal with issue that occur in the classroom with as much care and concern as possible.

Santrock (2004) in controlling the classroom effectively he suggests that:

Ø  The teacher should develop positive relationship with students. The students have to sincerely believe that you genuinely care about them as individuals. So show caring attitude.

Ø  Be a good communicator. This involves developing speaking skills (clarity in speaking, being assertive, and avoiding to criticize, name calling, threatening and moralizing); listening skills (active listening by paying careful attention to the student when speaking and giving feedback in a competent manner); and nonverbal skills (facial expressions and eye communication, touch, observing personal space appropriate use of silence).

Savage and Savage (2010) add that:

Ø  Discourage misbehaviour, encourage desired behaviour. Only giving attention to acts of misbehaviour make students realize that attention is gained by such acts. Dave Scott (2008) observed that in many classrooms students who conform receive little or no recognition for their efforts, while students who challenge the rules and expectations receive endless sanctions and when they manage to control their behaviour and conform they also receive a lot of praises and rewards. Recognizing desired behaviour when it occurs motivates a student to engage in that specific behaviour.

Ø  Create an environment where students care about and respect one another.

Ø  Exhibit management qualities. The teacher has to lead by example by being a warm demander; being a decision maker; holding high standards and be success-oriented; and creating a predictable.

Carolyn Everton (Retrieved 2011) recommends that:

Ø  Create motivational climate. A teacher has to create a climate that encourages students to do their best. S/he has to be excited by students’ work; demonstrate that their work has value and worthwhile to their expectations and interests; and that effort, time, energy and creativity used by students in their work holds value at all times. Remember that you can have a well organized classroom with no occurrence of misbehaviour and yet little learning taking place. The students need to be motivated to engage in and complete the task at hand for effective learning. In motivating students a teacher need to identify what motivates each student.

Using punishment and rewards as means of controlling classroom.

A teacher cannot avoid using punishment and rewards in controlling classroom since misbehaviours are to occur frequently. Punishment in this context is taken as aversive stimuli to the student. You need to determine which types of punishment are allowed in your country. In this part it is taken in the context of controlling the students’ behaviours in the classroom. Praise can be stimuli that are pleasant to the students or as reinforcement based on operant conditioning perspectives. Below are some suggestions on using punishment and praises in classroom management:

Ø  Scott (2008) points out the need to maintain the right balance. One way of managing behaviour is to punish for the unacceptable behaviours and reward the desired ones. In many occasions teachers readily and consistently use punishment whenever misbehavior occurs. Teachers must maintain an effective balance by being especially vigilant about continuing to reward those students who are consistently well behaved. In addressing balance, rewards and punishment have to be hierarchal and distributed fairly and constantly.

Ø  For Effective praise. Kizlik (2010) suggests the following guidelines. The praise:

• Is delivered contingently upon student performance of desirable behaviours or genuine accomplishment.
• Specifies the praiseworthy aspects of the student’s accomplishments
• Is expressed sincerely, showing spontaneity, variety and other non-verbal signs of credibility.
• Is given for genuine effort, progress. Or accomplishment which are judged according to standards appropriate to the individual.
• Provides information to students about their competence or the value of their accomplishments.
• Attributes student success to effort and ability, implying that similar success can be expected in the future.
• Encourages students to appreciate their accomplishments for the effort they expend and their personal gratification.

Ø  In regard to punishment the he points out that:

·         Frequent use of punishment is associated with poor classroom management and should be avoided.

·         When used the punishment should be related logically to the misbehaviour.

·         Milder punishments are often as effective as more intense forms and do not arouse as much negative emotion.

MANAGING INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

As we have already seen in classroom management prevention is always better than cure. However, since students are human beings and they vary so much some misbehavior will occur at times. I read somewhere that an effective teacher plans for the best environment but is always prepared for the worst. So, in this section we look at what to do in controlling the classroom learning atmosphere when misbehavior occurs.

Kizlik (2010) points out that most inappropriate behaviour that is not seriously disruptive can be managed by relative simple procedures that prevent escalation. Most of the minor problems you to deal with daily involve talking without order, making noise, mentally wandering and/or out-of-seat behaviour.  However, you have to remember that some of the minor misbehaviors are caused by teachers themselves by boring the students or having the transition between activities being too long. The control procedures for minor issues include:

Ø  Act to stop the appropriate behaviour so as not to interrupt the instruction activity. Also handling it promptly keeps it from continuing and spreading to others.

Ø  Moving closer to the student misbehaving, making an eye contact and giving a nonverbal signal to stop the disruptive behaviour.

Ø  Calling a student’s name or giving a short verbal instruction to stop behaviour.

In minor issues always try not to interfere with the flow of instruction. However, some of the misbehaviours are quite serious needing a stronger intervention. The first thing to do is to stop continuing with instruction whenever classroom rules are being broken until you have the attention of the students misbehaving. In citing Everton et al (2003) Santrock (2004) suggests the following moderate interventions:

Ø  Withhold a privilege or desired activity.

Ø  Isolate or remove the students misbehaving.

Ø  Impose a penalty or detention.

In dealing with students who are really disruptive McKinney (2010) suggests to do the following:

Ø  Walk over to the talkative students and conduct class standing next to them whenever possible.

Ø  Stop whatever you are doing and wait as long as it takes for the students to quiet down while you look at the disruptive students. Then begin again.

Ø  Note who the disruptive students are and speak to them after class or ask them to your office hours.

Ø  Discuss the disruptive behaviour in private outside of class with some of the non-disruptive students.

Ø  Sometimes break the students into groups for some work. Call on these and other students to come forward and lead the discussion.

Ø  Consider changing the structure of the whole class.

Ø  Spend some time in class discussing the whole situation openly and honestly with all students. They should know that their disruptive behavior does not fit your criteria for participation in learning and that they are being unfair to other students.

Ø  Talk to your colleagues on how to handle the situation

For students involved in very serious offences like aggression and bullying use the school guidelines.

• Behaviour modification
• Making students to cooperate
• Collaboration with parents

To be effective a teacher has to make decisions that will facilitate effective student learning. The decisions depend on a number of factors; some have already been discussed in the previous lectures e.g. age, mental ability, and appropriate teaching strategies based on the condition of individual student in the class. In this lecture we take an overview on assessment of learning in the classroom context. Details of concepts described here are available in detail in Test and Measurements Course.

EVALUATION

Educational evaluation is an evaluation process of characterizing and appraising some aspects of an educational process (Wikipedia, 2011). The aim is to determine the worth of or to find the value or amount of the component of education. The amount or value is often expressed in time on a numerical order. Data collected demonstrates effectiveness to the stakeholders; provide a measure of performance for marketing purposes, and for educators to undertake continuous review and enhance learning. So, evaluation in education encompasses different aspects of determining if the goals and objectives of the curriculum have been realised. The information obtained indicates success and failures that form the bases of improving the curriculum.

WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?

It is not that easy to differentiate evaluation and assessment. Sometimes these two terms are used interchangeably. However, for most educationists evaluation is broader than assessment since it is used to make judgment on the merit of something.  Assessment is part of evaluation. Assessment in education is the process of gathering information about a student’s abilities or behaviour for the purposes of making decisions on the student (Elliot, et al. 2000).  The definition has three main points i.e. assessment is not one off act but rather a process of gathering information about the student. As a teacher you have to know the student well before you determine your plan of action. Wrong information or personal biases can have detrimental effect on student’s performance and undermine effective teaching e.g. labeling a student as mentally retarded while s/he is a student at-risk. The second point is, assessment in school setting mainly focuses on student’s abilities and behaviour as related to education matters and learning. The third point, assessment has an objective of making decision on the student. We do not assess just for sake of assessing. Some of the feedback may validate the strategies that are successful and identify those needing to be improved. Teachers use the information gathered (feedback) to make decisions that have positive effect on the student and the society.

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching process. Before preparing instruction for your class you need to know your students in terms of their abilities, background and previous academic performance i.e. pre-instruction assessment. My tutor used to tell us that before preparing a lesson, as teachers, we need to have answers for the following questions: Who am I going to teach? What material am I going to present? How am I going to present the material? After having the information on these questions the teacher can embark on preparing a lesson. Results based on assessments of the student and the learning materials determine the instruction part of teaching.

A teacher is continuously making assessment during instruction i.e. formative assessment. The aim is to assess activities of the ongoing teaching so as to improve the processes of teaching and learning. Formative assessment is generally not graded. Assessment during instruction is done through observing students’ faces and reactions when they are listening; listening to students’ answers and questions or lack of questions/answers. Information gathered during teaching indicates the progress of students in understanding the material and if need be make some modification to facilitate learning. It is ineffective to wait till the end to make assessment. 

After the instruction is completed a teacher has to determine the performance of the students in regard to the objective of the lesson i.e. summative assessment. These are activities to find out the level of performance of students against the objectives of the curriculum. Normally this assessment is done at the middle of the term/semester; and/or at the end of semester; and/or at the end of academic year. Summative assessments are generally graded. Thus an effective teacher is constantly making assessment in all processes of teaching. Assessment is used to set learning goals, as strategy for reaching the goals and as mechanism for determining if the goals have been achieved. A teacher lacking assessment skills or not using assessment in the teaching processes cannot be called a teacher.

Assessments have other functions more than just for making decisions. Assessments are used as diagnosis tools for determining students with learning problems. Parents and other stake holders use results of assessment to know the performance of students and consequently use it in regard to their specific needs e.g. selecting students for the next level in the academic ladder or for recommending them for specific professions. Also, assessments make students active in learning by engaging in answering questions, and as a mechanism for motivating students to learn (both extrinsically and intrinsically). Some students study because they know the significance of assessment in determining their future life, while others just want to have good performance based on assessment.  However, assessment can cause anxiety among students and undermining their performance.

What is the difference between assessment and measurements?

Measurement refers to expressing the students’ ability or performance in quantitative form by assigning it numbers. Test score is one form of measurements. However, not all performances can be quantified and it is important to acknowledge the limitations of measurements. Motivation to learn cannot be quantified and a student who scores very low in Kiswahili test does not imply that s/he can’t communicate in Kiswahili.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

A teacher needs to plan on his/her classroom teaching.  Planning involves many aspects of making preparations for instruction and activities during teaching. A teacher without a plan is likely to waste students’ abilities, and time, and worse, undermines the objectives of establishing school system. According to Santrock (2004) instructional planning involves developing a systematic, organized strategy for planning lessons. A lesson plan includes aspects of what needs to be done; sequence of events during learning; and time needed to cover the material. A lesson plan prepares the teacher mentally by having a mental picture of the lesson in the context of class learning, minimizes missing important aspects of the lesson and going to the class with confidence.

An effective teacher has a mechanism of determining clearly what s/he is going to accomplish in the class. Also, it is important for a student from the very beginning to know what s/he is going to achieve at the end of period or course. The teacher has to formulate clear objectives that precisely describe what students will accomplish at the end of instruction. Clear objectives make the teacher focused and students know what is expected of them. Objectives in education are goals which focus on students’ observable behaviours that are a result of instruction/learning. Objectives focus on the performance that is expected of the student.

In preparing objectives, Mager (1962) a proponent of behavioural learning theory suggested that the teacher has to use procedures, content and methods that are appropriate to the set objectives. The statement of the objective describes what the students will be able to do when they complete a unit; methods and motivation to acquire information/or skills intended; and the mechanism of determining if students have acquired the intended information/or skills. So, the statement indicates the behaviour to be acquired by the student through learning, conditions of acquiring it and the performance criteria i.e. level of performance acceptable to demonstrate that student has learned.   

Educational objectives include expected learner outcomes (ELOs). Normally, ELOs are established by official institutions and are intended to facilitate communication between the school and parents; and between school and responsible organs of the education system of the society. Learning outcomes are derived from needs assessments that indicate the gap that exists between the students’ existing conditions and the desired state. ELOs consist of objectives that can empirically assess students’ level of performance in cognitive and behavioural aspects of the curriculum i.e. knowledge, skills and/or attitudes a student has to demonstrate as a result of instruction. ELOs have the following three specific characteristics: the specific actions of the learners must be observed; the actions must be measured; and the specific actions must be done by the student. So, in making preparations the learners outcomes make the teacher to focus on the student‘s behaviour that is going to change; serve as guidelines for content, instruction, and evaluation; to be specific on what should be learned; and to convey to learners exactly what is to be accomplished. To achieve the above, ELOs statements have to avoid unclear verbs (know, become aware of, appreciate, learn, understand, become familiar with, like) and rather use active verbs that clearly indicate what the student will do (state, show, explain, define, describe, predict, recognize and criticize).

TASK ANALYSIS

In the above section we have seen that establishing objectives of instruction is imperative for effective teaching. Once an objective has been established the next natural step is to determine the procedure to achieve it. Normally educational objectives are broad and cannot be achieved by a single task. The teaching procedure includes a number of several tasks to be undertaken to reach the ultimate goal. Task analysis involves breaking down a complex task into smaller tasks or subtasks. A sub-task can further be broken down into actions. The sub-tasks have relationships and must be connected as they lead to the general objective. The relationship can be in form of:

·         Method, whereby the plan is a combination of a number of steps in a specific sequence. In learning to write a student has to follow certain steps of holding and forming letters.

·         Iteration, the sequence of the task is repeated until a certain level of performance is achieved.

·         Selection, there are some tasks that require some inputs in form of making selection among several choices. The student has to make correct choice to realize the objective of the task.

According to Jonassen, Tessmer and Hannum (1999) instructional designers perform a task analysis in order to:

1. Determine the instructional goals and objectives.
2. Define and describe in detail the tasks and the subtasks that the student will perform.
3. Specify the knowledge type (declarative, structural, and procedural knowledge) that characterizes the task.
4. Select learning outcomes that are appropriate for instructional development.
5. Prioritize and sequence tasks.
6. Determine instructional activities and strategies that foster learning.
7. Select appropriate media and learning environment.
8. Construct performance assessments and evaluations.

Method of task analysis to be used depends on the characteristics of the students and the context to be presented (Jonassen, et al. 1999). They identified five kinds of task analysis:

Ø  Performance analysis.

Ø  Learning analysis.

Ø  Cognitive task analysis.

Ø  Content or subject matter analysis.

Ø  Activity analysis.

Thus, in instructional preparation the teacher indicates these sub-tasks and their respective objectives. Citing several sources Santrock (2004) points out that in making analysis a teacher can proceed in the following steps:

• Determine what skills or concepts the student needs to have to learn the task.
• List any materials that will be required in order to perform the tasks.
• List all the components of the task in order in which they must be performed.

APPLICATION OF BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

We have already discussed the Bloom’s taxonomy in the lecture on thinking and problem solving. In this lecture we look on how to apply the taxonomies in assessment of instruction. However, before proceeding we have to be aware that Bloom’s taxonomy does not only refer to cognitive processes but also include affective and psychomotor components of learning i.e. there are three domains, namely cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Affective domain refers to objectives related to emotions while psychomotor domain refers to objectives related to motor activities. In developing objectives the teacher points out the strategies in terms of instruction and assessment to be used to cover the expectations of the lesson/course.  Some objectives may cover some of the domains but it is not easy to have an objective/topic that includes all the levels in the respective domain. It is imperative to cover lower levels before proceeding to more complex levels.

The Cognitive domain

There are six levels in the taxonomy. As one moves up the hierarchy the upper levels require the student to use more complex mental skills. Below are the levels and objective of assessing the student’s performance starting from the basic to more complex ones:

1. Knowledge level

 This is the lowest level in which the objective is to determine if a student has acquired specific information in the lesson. Knowledge can be in form of specifics, knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics, and knowledge of the universals and abstractions in a field. The assessment is on the ability of the student to remember information. The questions that are commonly used in assessing include words like tell, list, label, give definition, name, recall, state, write, record and outline.

2. Comprehension level

This level is achieved after mastering the previous level by giving meaning to the information. Instead of just recalling, the student processes the gained knowledge in terms of interpreting the facts to show degree of understanding. Comprehension includes translation, interpretation, and extrapolation. The student can give explanation in his/her own words. Questions for assessment in this level use describe, contrast, discuss, formulate, interpret, summarize, classify, rewrite, measure and predict.

3. Application

Application implies a student using knowledge and principles gained in concrete situations that s/he encounters in real life e.g. solving problems. A student may boil drinking water to avoid water borne diseases.  The term “application” is often interpreted inaccurately. For example asking, “Demonstrate how you will apply the Bloom’s taxonomy as a teacher.” If you narrate what has been described in this course you are only recalling information (knowledge level) rather than application of knowledge. Application in this regard, involves having a lesson plan based on the taxonomy and mechanism of assessing the objectives. Words of assessment used for this level include apply, solve, demonstrate, change, compute, manipulate, use, employ, modify, predict, produce, relate, assess, operate, verify and illustrate.

4. Analysis

A student goes beyond application by breaking down the knowledge into parts, seeing its patterns and relating the information into new information. Question related to analysis use words like analyze, explain, investigate, evaluate, break down, differentiate, diagnose, categorize, question and infer. 

5. Synthesis

With synthesis student uses gained information to form new knowledge, putting parts together into a whole, create new theories and make predictions. In this level the student creates something new that did not exist before integration. Synthesis questions include words like invent, imagine, create, organize, plan, formulate, account for, alter, argue, derive, revise, suggest, prepare, design, propose, relate, arrange, modify, construct and compose.

6. Evaluation.

This is the highest level of Bloom’s hierarchy. In evaluation a student is required to assess previously learned knowledge against a designated standard and make a sound conclusion or judgment. Questions use words like judge, select, debate, discriminate, invent, appraise, value, question, determine, assess, evaluate, conclude, criticize, contrast and recommend.

The affective domain

Affective domain includes the manner in which students deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivation and attitudes (Krathwohl et al. 1973). The affective domain is significant in teaching since students’ attitudes towards learning and the subject, and motivation to learn have a bearing in their academic performance (think of the poor performance of students who have negative attitudes towards mathematics and science subjects and as a result have rejected these subjects completely). Teachers’ teaching methods, nonverbal communications, and management styles should encourage student’s interest in their respective subjects.

This domain has the following five steps starting from the very basic (as described by Krathwohl et al, 1964) showing the intensity of feelings and attitudes:

1. Receiving

This objective refers to a student willingly attending stimuli. The student becomes aware of attitudes and a value determined in the instruction, and selectively and actively attends specific experiences. Examples of learning objects include: to differentiate to accept, to listen for, and to respond to.

2. Responding

The student willingly becomes committed to actively engage in doing something specific. Examples include: to comply to, to follow, to commend, to volunteer, to spend leisure time in, and acclaim.

3. Valuing

Valuing infers expressing a belief or attitude about worthiness of something or event. A student willingly expresses and is perceived by others as being committed to be identified with a value of certain ideas, materials or phenomena. Examples include: to increase measure of proficiency, to relinquish, to subsidize, to support, and to debate.

4. Organizing

It means organizing two or more values into an internalized system by conceptualizing the new values in the existing ones. Examples include: to discuss, to theorize, to formulate, to balance and to examine.

5. Value characterization

This occurs when a value becomes a way of life of the student e.g. a student increasingly values the history course as part of his/her professional development in law. Examples include: to revise, to require, being rated high in value, to avoid, resisting, to manage, and to resolve.

The Psychomotor Domain

This domain includes physical movements, and use of the motor skills (Simpson, 1972). The developments of these skills depend on practice and are assessed in terms of speed, duration, precision, distance, procedures or techniques in execution (accessed from www.nwlink.com 2007). Examples of courses in our schools demanding psychomotor activities include handwriting, reading, fine art, manipulating equipment in science laboratories; and of course athletics and sports.

Below are the major six steps of (listed from the simplest behavior to the most complex) psychomotor domain as described by Santrock (2004):

1. Reflex movements

Responding to stimuli by movements that are involuntary i.e. actions not under the control of the individual. They include blinking the eyes.

2. Basic fundamentals

 Students make basic voluntary movements that are directed towards a particular object. Examples include switching a switch correctly or holding an object appropriately. The key here is student being capable of correctly making movements on things considered basic in normal life.

3. Perceptual abilities

 Students are capable of using sensory cues to guide motor activity. They may use seeing, touching or/and touching to guide their skills e.g. properly adjusting a science equipment as a result of directions from the teacher;  or in domestic science course a student adjusting heat of the cooker based on the smell of the food being prepared. The sensory stimulation is used as a cue to act. Words used in this level include a student: chooses, describes, detects, differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, isolates, relates, and selects.

4. Physical abilities

Students develop general skills in endurance, strength, flexibility, and agility. An example includes enduring in an activity that is physically demanding such as running.

5. Skilled movements

Students perform complex physical skills with degree of proficiency. The overt response of the student indicates skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement patterns. The initial stages of learning may include imitation and by following instructions leading to habitual movements performed with some confidence and proficiency. Performance is achieved by practice. Examples of this level include effectively making a sketch.

6. Nondiscussive behaviours

Students communicate feelings and emotions through body actions. Student may use body movements in dancing or drama to express certain emotions.

Words used to make assessment of psychomotor skills include perform, execute, operate and manipulate.

TESTS

There are assessment instruments for the objectives in the three domains in the Bloom’s taxonomy. In this lecture we will solely focus on tests related to cognitive domain.

I know by reaching this level in the academic ladder you must have done many tests/exams (in this section I will use the term “test” in referring to either test or/and examination). Tests are part and parcel of students’ life and that of teachers too. As a teacher you will be involved with tests in various situations. In one situation you may have to decide which test is appropriate for your students; in another you construct tests of subjects you teach; prepare students for tests, in another situation invigilate students doing tests; mark and score tests; evaluate the test results; and use test results as a teaching tool or for making predictions or for grading students. So, it is imperative for you to be conversant with all aspects of tests in your role as a teacher.

In many normal school-learning settings test is one form of assessment intended to measure learners’ knowledge and skills, referred to as achievement tests. However there are tests for other students’ components related to their capabilities to learn that will not be discussed here, including aptitude, attitudinal tests; and physical fitness tests. Although these tests are important they are not widely available or used in our educational system.

Tests are administered in various ways and situations in our education system including orally, in written form; in confined areas or in the field, on computers, in a closed book test (not allowed to bring any books in the examination room) or open book test (e.g. literature or law tests; or allow use of calculators), at the beginning of the course or/and during the course or/and at the end of the course.

Some tests are administered informally by parents or teachers while others are administered formally by a recognized authority in an education system. Most of the tests in schools are formal and are administered by teachers and they (tests) result in a learner getting a test score or a grade (Thissen & Wainer, 2001).  The scores and grades can either be interpreted on basis of individual student or a population of students. They can be evaluated to norm (comparing the score of the student in relation to the scores of other students). They can also be evaluated to a criterion (determine if the score of a specific student has or has not reached a specific level of performance). Norm-referenced tests evaluate performance relative to norm (average) while criterion tests evaluate performance relative to pre-determined standard. An English language test results ranking students in the order of the score is an example of a norm referenced test, however if the student’s score is based on level of mastery in the language then it’s a criterion referenced test.

The tests used in education have to meet the following criteria:

Validity

Messick (1989) defines validity as integrated evaluative judgment of the degree to which empirical evidence and theoretical rationales support the adequacy and appropriateness of inferences actions based on test scores. This implies that there has to be relationship between the measurements and the characteristic/variable being measured. A characteristic in education can be in form of skills and abilities as related to performance e.g. student’s academic performance. So, validity in test means the test measures what it is supposed to test (characteristic) and the measurements derived from the test relate to the respective characteristic so that accurate and appropriate inferences can be made. If the test is supposed to measure mastery of language then it must have the qualities of measuring the mastery of the respective language and the score should reflect the level of mastery. There are three types of validity, namely content validity, criterion validity; and concurrent validity. Content validity refers to the degree of instructional content in the test. Test has content validity when it encompasses all aspects of the material intended to be learned by a student. The test lacks content validity if it covers only a portion of the content as indicated in the curriculum. Criterion validity implies the extent in which the test measurements can predict the student’s performance as set by another external standard. This validity is used in predicting student future level of performance in a specified condition.  Concurrent validity refers to viability of the test in relation to other tests available at that specific time and in the prevailing conditions. A good example is that the tests prepared at school should be of the same quality with that of the national examination for it to have concurrent validity. If a student gets a high score in the school test while his/her score is very low in the national examination then the school test lacks concurrent validity.

Reliability

This term refers to the consistency of the measurements of the test i.e. if the same results are obtained repeatedly whenever the test is retaken. A student’s score on the trait should be similar if the student had to repeat the same test under similar conditions. If a test is meant to measure language proficiency, then each time the test is administered to measure language proficiency the results should more or less be the same.

Although it is difficult to determine reliability precisely, there are several different ways of estimating the reliability of the test: test-retest reliability estimates the variation in the test by the same person taking it at different times but under same conditions. It is assumed that there will be no variation in results over a period of time if the test is reliable. Test-retest is normally applied on traits that are consistent over a period of time. If the test-retest is applied on achievement test there is high chance that the performance on the second sitting will be higher. In Alternate-forms reliability two similar tests (but not identical) in context and level of difficult are constructed and then are administered to the same group of students at two different occasions. If the tests are reliable the individual’s scores from the two tests should be same. In split-half reliability is determined by having two sets of questions of same content in the same test and then administering it to the same group of students. The questions of the two sets can be randomly divided in the test; or grouped in odd-numbered questions for the first set and even-numbered questions for the second set.

The tests can either be standardized tests or non-standardized tests. According to Santrock (2004) a standardized test has uniform procedures for administration and scoring. He also points out that standardized tests have the following functions:

Ø  Provide information on student’s progress. They indicate areas where the student is proficient in or weak at; and determine if one can graduate or not. Graduation leads to getting a certificate that is recognized nationally.

Ø  Provide evidence for placement of students in specific programmes. Based on individual results some students are selected to take science or arts courses. Also some high learning institutions use the results to select (based on passing and the credit obtained) and place students in respective programmes (based on subjects passed and credit obtained in these subjects). For example, pass in physics, biology and chemistry lead to studying degree in medicine; pass in History, English and Kiswahili to studying degree in law or journalism.

Ø  Provide information for planning and improving instructions. Results are used by the nation as a mechanism for determining quality of education in its institutions and where necessary make changes on the way material is presented.

Ø  Help administrators to evaluate programmes.

Ø  Contribute to accountability. Schools are judged by the overall results and performance of their respective students. Schools that have poor results are required to improve and the school administrators may be penalized.

In some circumstances standardized tests have legal basis that apply in specific country(ies) and recognized by several institutions (in respective country or/and other countries). A good example is the examinations of The National Examinations’ Council of Tanzania administered at several levels of Tanzanian education system. As you are aware these kinds of tests are widely used (whole of Tanzania), meant for students at the same educational level; have the same level of difficulty and in same format; administered at the same time (at a particular day and hour) and in pre-described conditions. Depending on the examination body the test can be administered by the class instructor or by another authorized person. The results can be used to compare the performance of the student with others covered by the examination body. In many countries the standardized tests are used to manage quality of education and institutions.

In some countries like Tanzania it is compulsory for all students at a given level to take the recognized standardized test (there are no options for these tests!). Normally the results are crucial in student’s life. Results determine who graduates and/or whether one to progress or not to progress to the next level in the academic ladder. The significance of these tests can be measured in terms of the amount of national and parental resources devoted to preparing students for the tests; anxious moments waiting for the tests to commence; reactions of the way they are administered; another anxious moments waiting for the results; and finally the individual and public reactions when the results are released.

TEACHER DEVELOPED TESTS

In planning a test the teacher is required to be guided by the curriculum from which the course objectives are operationalised. On constructing a test the teacher has to make sure that it is valid in respect of the respective subject i.e. a language test should assess elements of language, and science test should assess elements of science. The teacher should also construct a test with high degree of reliability to have the results that are usable for decision making.

A course has objectives that are achieved through a number of topics which are further divided into several lessons, each having its own specific objectives. In realizing the objectives of the course there is classroom teaching, use of textbooks, references materials, practical work and other relevant learning activities. All these approaches of teaching/learning form part of learning at different levels of the Bloom’s cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.

The process of developing a test varies based on the objectives and significance of the test, type of questions to be used, time needed to develop the test, time allocated for students to do the test, duration of the test, time needed to derive the scores and released to the stakeholders, class size and students’ proficiency in test taking.

TYPES OF TESTS

Non-standardized tests, compared to the standardized tests, are more frequently used by teachers. As one way of assessing students’ learning, teachers construct tests that are administered at different times of the academic year. In Tanzania some schools have a policy of having tests at the end of month for all subjects. So, teachers spend a lot of time on matters relating to test i.e. constructing tests, preparing students for the tests, invigilating, marking the questions and grading the scores and finally giving feedback to the students; other stakeholders and to the teacher himself/herself.

There are several formats used to develop tests and each has its merits and limitations. The developer decides which format to use depending on the objectives of the assessment. One test may contain different formats. Below are some of the widely used formats of tests in most schools:

Ø  Multiple choice questions. In this format a student is given a number of set answers for each question in form of statement and s/he has to choose which answer/group of answers is correct. The statement can be a direct question, an incomplete statement, and/or in some circumstances a student has to choose “One-Best-Answer” since some or all of the set of statements is correct. The incorrect statements are known as distracters. Multiple choice questions require little time to answer; are easy to score and grade; provide great coverage of the material; allows a wide range of difficulty; and can be used to detect student’s problem with certain concepts or areas of the course. In providing feedback the student learns from the teacher’s description why some of the answers are wrong and why one is correct. On the limitation side multiple questions are difficulty to develop if one has to use meaningful distracters; a student does not have an opportunity to demonstrate his/her level of understanding beyond the answer that is provided; sometimes the student may guess the correct answer (hiding student’s lack of understanding); and this format does not test student’s feelings towards learning and the course.

Ø  True/False questions. A question statement with binary choice is presented to a student i.e. s/he has to indicate if the statement is true or false. A student is required to identify if the statements, opinions, facts or definitions of concepts are correct or not correct. This type of question can cover a wide area of material but it has the same weaknesses as multiple choice questions and more seriously, it is susceptible to guesswork and it is restricted to the lowest levels of taxonomy of objectives of the cognitive domain. It is quite possible for a student passing the test by just guessing the answers.

Ø  Matching item questions. In matching item questions a student is provided with pairs of terms/characteristics that are required to be associated. It has the same advantages as the above type of questions and furthermore they can easily be written on the chalkboard and a student just records the answer on sheet of paper.  Its main disadvantages include restricting itself to the lowest levels of taxonomy of objectives of the cognitive domain.

Ø  Fill-in-the-blank questions/short-answer questions. A student is provided with a question that requires a brief answer in form of a name, phrase, word or symbol. These type of questions are easy to develop, is more demanding cognitively than matching item questions and true/false questions, and guessing is highly minimized. Main limitations include getting unexpected but plausible answers.

Ø  Essay questions. This type of question requires a student to write an answer in form of an essay to meet certain requirements. The questions are easy to construct, demand skills of high levels of taxonomy objectives in the cognitive domain, require demonstration of writing skills (transferable skill which are needed in many professions and occupations), and it is very difficult to guess the correct answer. Limitations include being time consuming and tedious in marking and grading, getting poorly written answers since a student does not have enough time to make corrections, subjectivity of the marker can influence marking and grading (a teacher may give substantially different scores and grades to different students with similar answers or to the same answer if remarked at a different occasion), also student’s handwriting and spelling can influence score/grade, and it is limited to cover only a portion of the course and may not assess all the objectives of the course.

Ø  Mathematical questions. Most questions in mathematics do not fall in the types of questions mentioned above; although they were times multiple choice questions were used in Tanzanian primary school level examinations. Math’s questions require a student to solve it and score is given based on correctness of the answer and steps used to solve the problem.

Table of Specifications for test

Table of Specifications is a blue print for guiding teachers in constructing achievement tests to ensure course content validity. Also, Notar et al. (2004) point out that in order to measure students’ learning across a wide range of content and reading; and assessing students’ achievement at the higher learning levels of comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation a teacher should make use of Table of Specifications. The table identifies which areas of the course content are covered in relation to the different domains.

The above authors in citing other sources they further suggest that the table should be developed before the test is constructed with the following major elements: 

Ø  Balance among the goals selected for test.

Ø  Balance among the levels of learning.

Ø  The test format.

Ø  The total number of items.

Ø  The number of test items for each goal and level of learning.

Basic specifications of the table include:

Ø  Heading. Table heading containing information needed to construct the test.

Ø  Course title. It is required to be exactly as stated in school official documents and in the time table.

Ø  Subject matter. It shows what will be taught and tested. It provides the limit of subject matter that will be covered in relation to the stated objectives. This helps in guiding the test and focusing on the topics.

Ø  Learning objectives of every lesson. It is possible to list all learning of objects of all lessons of the course. Each objective should be operationalised. Also should indicate the level of domain expected for each objective.

Ø  Relative weight of each area. This is based on time devoted on teaching each concept and types of materials to be learned. Normally all concepts and materials are important however they differ in their levels of importance and this also taken into consideration in developing the table. Also indicate weight of mental activity relative to different levels of the cognitive domain. The weight can be expressed in terms of the percentage (%). If the topic has not been taught it should obvious have 0% i.e. no questions relating to this specific topic.

Ø  Types of tests to be developed. As mentioned above there are several types of tests. A test can solely have short answers or essay or combination of short answers and essays. One should indicate if the instrument is based on one type of test or different types of tests (number of questions of each type of test e.g. 30% matching items, 30% multiple choice and 40% essay).

Ø  Time allowed and available for testing. This depends on the purpose of the test. A test designed to assess comprehension should not have too many aspects of application while the one assessing application should have many items assessing application. Sometimes the student is given ample time to respond while in some occasions the aim of the test is to determine the speed at which a student can perform a task.

Summary

We looked at classroom management in different aspects namely complexities of classroom, instruction and management; steps involved in establishing classrooms and procedures; maintaining and controlling classroom; causes of misbehaviour and strategies of dealing with them. Also this topic dwelled on assessment of instructions. We looked at different concepts in the area and identified different tests and their characteristics. Also we engaged in activities suggested in the lecture