Assessment And Evaluation

FOREWORD

Assessment and evaluation of learning have always been of great concern in our educational system. Various committees and commissions have made several observations on evaluation and examination practices in the country, particularly in school education. They have consistently emphasised on reducing the burden of learning, removal of examination fear and anxiety, and on the improvement of the quality of learning. The National Curriculum Frameworks on school education (1988, 2000 and 2005) have constantly drawn the attention of educators and teachers to the fact that there is a need to change our perspectives about the learner and the learning process-what a learner is capable of doing, what is important in learning, how classroom environment should adapt itself, what is the role of a teacher in the changing context of teacher-centredness to learner-centredness, and so on. Consequently, attempts have been made in school education to address the current views and perspectives related to classroom processes and assessment through various innovative measures that lead to quality learning.

Why is there such a need to change our ways of thinking about learning, classroom processes, and the learner? And how do these changes affect the ways we assess learners? This book, Assessment and Evaluation for a two-year B.Ed programme, addresses these questions in its chapters dealing with the teaching-learning process and assessment, their interrelationships, and the influence of different perspectives on learning and assessment. The content in the textbook aims at building an awareness about the evolutionary trend that had taken place from behaviourism to cognitivism, which has resulted in a transition from the instructional paradigm to the learning paradigm. It highlights this transition in a simplistic manner, so that the student teachers not only understand but also experience the dynamics of human learning in real classroom contexts.

The changes that have occurred over the past few decades in the area of teaching and learning have also influenced the perspectives on assessment. This book not only discusses the regular modes of assessment but also highlights authentic assessment, which is learner-centred, contextual, and assesses higher order thinking and reflective skills. It focusses essentially on assessing and evaluating