SHORT
NOTES
|
FIRST
ARTICLE
“Educating M’sia the right
way” by P. Gunasegaram
·
The bad effect of abolishing
these exams is we will have no clue as to the standard of our students until
they reach Form Five.
·
We need UPSR and PMR at
least as a gauge to measure the standard of our students.
·
We should look at other
means to reduce the emphasis on exams by introducing year-long programmes which
are project-based and will take into account extra-curricular activities.
·
Suggestion for better
education system:
1. Better
quality of teachers
2. Ensure
a minimal standard of physical facilities.
3. A
syllabus that reflects holistic education.
4. Real
emphasis on extra-curricular activities.
5. Single-session
schools.
6. Provisions
for English Language education.
7. Provisions
for mother tongue education.
8. Less
politicisation and greater professionalization of education.
9. Continuity
of planning- 20- years plans will be good.
10. Keep
up to date with education everywhere.
SECOND
ARTICLE
“SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT:
Will it spur healthy competition?” by Harintharavimal Balakrishnan
·
PBS is holistic and assesses
the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, encompassing the intellectual,
emotional, spiritual and physical aspects.
·
Teachers are given due
recognition and have the autonomy to conduct formative assessment during the
learning process and also summative assessment at the conclusion of a learning
unit or any other suitable time during the school year at their own discretion,
taking into account their pupil’s readiness.
·
Four components in PBS
Component
|
Explanation
|
Central assessment
|
Tasks set by the
Examination Syndicate but administered and graded by teachers
|
School
assessment
|
Set,
administered, graded and reported by school
|
Psychometric
assessment
|
Measures
pupil’s innate and acquired abilities
|
Assessment
of physical
|
Sport
and co-curricular activities
|
·
Four reasons why PBS need to
be implemented:
·
Enhance the meaningfulness of assessment
|
·
Reduce the over-reliance
on data (grades and scores)
|
·
Empower the school and teachers to conduct
quality assessment of pupil
|
·
Ensure the
performance of pupils is comparable to
world standard
|
·
Learners’ achievements are
reported as:
Band
One
|
Knows
|
Band
Two
|
Knows
and understands
|
Band
Three
|
Able
to apply knowledge
|
Band
Four
|
Ability
to solve an elementary mathematical operation using the correct protocol
|
Band
Five
|
Learners’
ability to solve problems
|
Band
Six
|
Ability
to make value judgement and is creative or innovative in solving mathematical
problems
|
·
No matter how well organised
and well planned PBS might appear to be, the evaluation is still too
subjective.
o The
schools may differ in the way they grade their students
o Previous
system encouraged pupils to score higher to improve their performance in a
subject.
o Lack
of proper introduction on PBS to parents means they may not able to play an
important role to support the system.
o The
streaming system via PBS is still ambiguous.
o The
ability of PBS to fill the gap left by the previous teaching system is
questionable.
THIRD
ARTICLE
“Designing and Using Tools
for Educational Assessment” by Madhabi Chatterji
Subtopic:
Sources of Random Error in Assessment Situation
·
Random errors can also come
from the individuals being assessed, as their concentration, motivation,
fatigue, or interest in the assessment activity fluctuates during the
assessment process.
·
Random errors can be rooted in
a poorly constructed tool and badly written direction or uncontrolled
assessment.
·
Ways to overcome:
1. Obtaining
an adequate sample of behaviours
o Refers
to the number of items, tasks, observation or behaviour samples.
o The
greater the number of observations, items, tasks in assessment, the greater the
dependability of the results, and the higher the quantitative estimates of reliability.
2. Controlling
errors in assessment conditions
o If
the timing for or environment in which the assessment is conducted distracts
test-takers, random fluctuations in performance unrelated to the trait being
measured can result.
o It
makes sense to alter the time or conditions of test administration to improve
reliability of results.
o Unreliability
in result can caused by sudden changes in the temperature in the room, sounds
in the environment, the mental state or metabolism, inadequacies in directions
or materials.
o Incorporate
human observers or scorers within the assessment system: human beings are
fallible and inconsistent.
o Cause
for low reliability:
Some Sources Of Random
Measurement Error
|
-Too few items, tasks, or
behaviour samples are collected to obtain a consistent reading of where a
person stands on a construct domain.
|
-Distractions or poor
conditions in the assessment environment cause respondents to fluctuate in
their concentration or focus.
|
-Misleading or inadequate
directions cause inconsistencies in how respondent react to the items.
|
-Persons who take the
assessment behave inconsistently during the process due to random causes
outside the control of assessor
|
-Inadequate time is
allocated for assessing all or most of the examinees.
|
-Subjectivity or random
biases of raters or observers affect the consistency of the result.
|
FOURTH
ARTICLE
“Scrapping UPSR & PMR A
Good Move?” by Tony Pua
·
The abolishment is part of
government efforts to restructure the learning system that as seen as too
examination oriented and failed to provide a holistic education.
·
Its noble objective is to
avoid producing machines.
·
Why should be retained?
1. First
changing the teaching systems to encourage creativity, critical thinking and
innovation.
o If
the quality and ability of the teachers remain unchanged, then quality of
output will make little difference.
o This
is because of lack of a standardised assessment system and lack of objective
measurement.
2. The
nature of questions.
o If
the examination questions are oriented towards memorised answers, then
understandably the students will be focused on memorising answer.
o Use
HOT (High Order Thinking) questions to encourage greater critical thinking.
FIFTH
ARTICLE
“Improvements in Exam
Results are The Best Way to Evaluate Teachers” in www.suttontrust.com
·
Study by Richard Murphy, Testing Teachers shows that the
contribution that teachers make to improving exam and test results is the most
reliable way to predict a teacher’s long term success.
·
Most common ways of
assessing teachers:
1. Improvements
in pupils test scores
2. Student
surveys
3. Classroom
observations
·
The evaluation are more
effective when value added score are combined with other classroom measures,
such as observations.
·
Schools should distinguish
between observing teachers to help them improve and doing so to assess their
performance.
·
10 Tips for effective evaluation of teachers:
School
should not rely on one single approach to teacher appraisal or evaluation.
|
A
clear system should be developed: fairly and consistency.
|
External
advice should be used: to assess the quality and standard of school’s system
and staff’s fairness.
|
Staff
session should be used to discuss the new system.
|
Staff
involved should be properly trained.
|
Good
feedback: proper one to one discussion
|
Evaluation
focus on classroom activity and teachers’ contributions
|
Value
added or progress measures should be used in evaluation performance.
|
Evaluation
carried out separately to promote honest feedback.
|
Pupil
surveys should be clearly structured.
|
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