0.1 Assessment and assessment support  (Page 3/8)

• Marking homework
• Baseline assessments
• Diagnostic assessments
• Group work
• Class discussions
• Oral presentations
• Self-assessment
• Peer-assessment

These activities are expanded on in the next section on assessment support and suggested marking rubrics are provided. Where formal assessment tends to restrict the learner to written assessment tasks, the informal assessment is necessary to evaluate and encourage the progress of the learners in their verbal mathematical reasoning and communication skills. It also provides a less formal assessment environment that allows learners to openly and honestly assess themselves and each other, taking responsibility for their own learning, without the heavy weighting of the performance (or mark) component. The assessment for learning tasks should be included in the classroom activities at least once a week (as part of a lesson) to ensure that the educator is able to continuously evaluate the learners’ understanding of the topics covered as well as the effectiveness, and identify any possible deficiencies in his or her own teaching of the topics.

Assessment support

A selection of explanations, examples and suggested marking rubrics for the assessment of learning (formal) and the assessment for learning (informal) forms of assessment discussed in the preceding section are provided in this section.

Baseline assessment

Baseline assessment is a means of establishing:

• What prior knowledge a learner possesses
• What the extent of knowledge is that they have regarding a specific learning area
• The level they demonstrate regarding various skills and applications
• The learner’s level of understanding of various learning areas

It is helpful to educators in order to assist them in taking learners from their individual point of departure to a more advanced level and to thus make progress. This also helps avoid large "gaps” developing in the learners’ knowledge as the learner moves through the education system. Outcomes-based education is a more learner-centered approach than we are used to in South Africa, and therefore the emphasis should now be on the level of each individual learner rather than that of the whole class.

The baseline assessments also act as a gauge to enable learners to take more responsibility for their own learning and to view their own progress. In the traditional assessment system, the weaker learners often drop from a 40% average in the first term to a 30% average in the fourth term due to an increase in workload, thus demonstrating no obvious progress. Baseline assessment, however, allows for an initial assigning of levels which can be improved upon as the learner progresses through a section of work and shows greater knowledge, understanding and skill in that area.

Diagnostic assessments

These are used to specifically find out if any learning difficulties or problems exist within a section of work in order to provide the learner with appropriate additional help and guidance. The assessment helps the educator and the learner identify problem areas, misunderstandings, misconceptions and incorrect use and interpretation of notation.