Q.1 Define evaluation. Differentiate between internal and external
examination. Critically analyze the process of evaluation in Pakistan.
Course: Secondary Education
Course code 8624
Level: B.Ed (1.5 Years)
ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Answer:
Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project, or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim, realizable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of any such action that has been completed. The primary purpose of evaluation, in addition to gaining insight into prior or existing initiatives, is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change. Evaluation is often used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice, foundations, non-profit organizations, government, health care, and other human services. It is long-term and done at the end of a period of time.
Differentiate between internal and external examination: It is
possible to have an examination that is not external. The end-of-semester test
or exam for Year 12s is not unusual in Queensland schools under a system of
school-based assessment. It has all the properties of an external exam except
that it is set and marked by teachers in the school. School assessment in the
form of an end-of-semester test could actually be called an internal exam because
they have so much in common.
Both are
designed to function according to the definition of an examination:
to assess “the attainment and skill of students in a
particular subject, whether by objective-type or conventional written, oral or
practical questions” and “all of the papers refer to a syllabus”. Typically, an
external exam has a “paper” (or two) for a particular subject and the questions
on the paper are unknown to students in advance of the exam. All students do
the exam on the same day at the same time, with the same restrictions on
equipment (e.g. pencil or pen and paper, calculator or not), and are given the
same time to complete the exam (3 hours is the norm). The exam is closely supervised.
The end-of-semester test that is part of the assessment program for some
subjects in Queensland, and which has been labeled an "internal
exam" above, has similar features although the exam might be of two hours
duration rather than three.
The key difference is the locus of control. The point being
made here is that the exam experience is not foreign to Queensland students.
Nor is it associated with the senior public exams of the period from about 1890
to 1972. The same is the case for Queensland teachers unless they are older
than 60 or were educated outside Queensland. It is worth mentioning here that
the QCS Test is not an external exam even though it does have an external locus
of control (set by QSA) and is administered under standardized conditions. But
it is not subject-specific and based on a subject syllabus; it assesses
cross-curriculum skills.
It belongs to a family
of tests that are developed according to some technical specifications not
elaborated on here. An aspect of the QCS Test pertinent to this discussion is that
it is seven hours in duration (over two days) compared with the two hours
proposed for the new external assessment. In Queensland's current system of
school-based assessment, teachers devise and mark the assessments – projects,
reports, investigations, orals, art facts, practical work, performances,
presentations, essays, rich tasks, constructed responses, mid-semester tests, and so on. The locus of control is internal (moderation brings an external
quality assurance element – not relevant in this discussion) and the variation
in assessment modes is vast. We use the term school assessment rather than a school-based assessment to describe teachers-devised assessments and reserve
the term school-based assessment for describing the system. School assessments
have the capacity to provide evidence of student achievement that is not
possible to obtain from an external exam. The point being made here is that a
combination of School Assessment and External Assessment is more valid than one
of those assessments alone. What is the external assessment in the review's
proposed model? Is it the same as an external exam? Table 3 compares and
contrasts the proposed external assessment and an HSC-like exam.
Process of evaluation in Pakistan:
Evaluation in education always varies in different contexts.
What may seem suitable in one context may not be appropriate in another context.
Event the purposes and procedures of educational evaluation will vary from
instance to instance. What is quite appropriate for one school may be less
appropriate for another. Looking at the current Educational Evaluation in the Pakistani
context, it is observed that educational evaluation was practiced at the institutional level only and even that was not structured and organized. The Deans
or the Administrative Heads applied various tools for the course and faculty
evaluation, even that appraisal varied in approach inequality of tools.
Program Evaluation was
a rare practice and that was done by very few prestigious private sector
universities. With the emergence of the Higher Education Commission Pakistan, it
was realized that a separate Quality Assurance Agency needs to be established
for a structured Academic Evaluation. The Agency established Quality
Enhancement Cells in Public and Private sector universities in a phase-wise
manner for conducting program evaluation through self-assessment. At the same time,
course evaluation and faculty evaluation were also added to the program assessment
along with other feedback tools.
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Define evaluation. Differentiate between internal and external examination
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