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Improving Student Performance In The Summative Assessments

 Most teachers today, thanks to Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation CCE, understand the importance of ongoing assessment of student learning for improving it and the benefits of both Formative and Summative Assessment.

A key concern for teachers is the performance in each. Many teachers have spoken about their concern at the student variations in performance in the Formative and Summative Assessment, pointing out how most students perform well in the Formative Assessment but falter in the Summative Assessment. According to them, with the introduction of CCE students do not take studies seriously, see the Formative Assessment tasks as ‘fun’ and ‘play’ and say the students are able to do better on the ‘small sections’ of the syllabus included for the Formative Assessment tasks and are not able to deal with the ‘bigger syllabus’ on which the SA is based.

Educators would say that if the learning is sound and if the Formative Assessment shows this, (after all the FA is assessment to improve learning), then students will naturally, as a corollary, do well at Summative Assessment.

But let’s understand the issue from a different perspective and some ways to deal with it.

Summative Assessment ‘covers’ a larger syllabus compared to the Formative Assessment and is in the form of the pen paper test done by each student individually. In the context of CCE, it constitutes the traditional way of assessment, different from FA in form and of course purpose. Seen this way and keeping in mind what the teachers have said about it, negotiation with the Summative Assessment calls for a well defined approach.

This article will discuss some strategies for helping students negotiate with the Summative Assessment.

Decode each Formative Assessment task and learning activity

The process of helping students perform well at the Summative Assessment starts perhaps with the Formative Assessment. For each Formative Assessment task and learning activity that is done, the teacher should explain what was done and what has been learned through and from it. So for example, when a debate is conducted, the teacher should explain

·         what was done– that through the debate the students looked at the topic from two different perspectives

·         the purpose– to help in a better, fuller understanding of the topic .

·         result– the different ideas everyone pooled in for this and so learnedThe teacher should synthesize the points on the topic and present them to the students to help them gain a clear understanding of the topic. Such a conclusion will enable students to understand the learning objectives of the activity (here the debate) and the learning from it. This should be done for every activity whether it is role play, model making, project or any other. This helps students take note that the activity was ‘fun’ to do but had a learning objective.

Another form of this could be to ask students to reflect on each activity – what did we do, how did we do it, what did we learn from it, how has it helped me learn the topic better, are there some aspects of it which I still do not understand and how do I understand these. This will ensure that students focus on the targeted learning and gather the content in a structured way well and so be prepared for answering the questions in the Summative Assessment paper.

·         Some specific strategies for the Summative Assessment

·         Hand out / give the syllabus for each term at the beginning of the term

Most often, teachers give the syllabus at the end of a term, after the completion of the teaching and just before the SA. Giving the syllabus at the beginning of the term helps students to orient and warm into syllabus and track it as the topics are studied over the term. This can be strengthened by the teacher pointing out the topic in the syllabus as it is studied. Such tracking of the syllabus helps in reducing stress as they see and experience chunks being done in a paced way over a period of time. It gives them an important sense of control over their studies.

Link the new topic with the preceding one; recapitulate the preceding one

Research and daily classroom experiences clearly show that learning is best when there is ongoing reinforcement and revision. Thus as each topic or chapter is being studied, the teacher must try and link it with the preceding topic and at the end of each topic/chapter do a loop back or recapitulate the preceding one. This helps to sharpen retention and understanding and serves to show students how learning is cumulative; specifically enable them to understand that the short sections on which FA tasks are based together form the base for the SA paper.

Show sample Summative Assessment papers to students through the term

It is said we are comfortable with the familiar. Showing sample Summative Assessment papers to students helps them become comfortable with the paper requirements and format and so better attuned to attempting them in the SA. Showing here does not mean merely holding up the paper and pointing to the sets of sheets to a class but giving each student a copy of each sample SA paper (and at least 3-4 per term) and going through every part of it with them-explaining the design, the type of questions, the marks for each, the word limit (many questions across subjects have different word limits), the general instructions in the paper (number of questions to attempt, the choice given).

Share the Marking Scheme of the Sample Summative Assessment papers with the students so they ‘see’ what is expected in the answers and how they are assessed. This will strengthen their Summative Assessment paper knowledge and skills.

Explain the question terms and the questions

Critically explain to the students the meaning of each question—what it asks for i.e. its requirements and how to answer it. The SA paper in different subjects use words –Explain, Describe,Find out, Solve, Calculate, List, Mention, How, What, Why, Account For, Prove, Define, Simplify, Distinguish, State, Name, Derive –in the questions. Are we sure that our students understand all the words, that they know the difference between ‘Explain’ and ‘State’ and that between ‘Mention’ and ‘Account for’? Every subject teacher needs to collate all such question terms and explain what each means in their respective SA paper, what the question asks for and then explain what the answer entails.

Such exam terms is one element of the question. Many students do not understand the wording of the entire question and what it calls for. A clear and regular explanation of different types of questions will prepare students for the Summative Assessment paper.

Practice Summative Assessment papers

Explanation must be followed by Practice. ‘Learning by Doing’ is the buzz in the teaching learning process; this is not always affected in assessment, specifically Summative Assessment. Teachers must ask students to attempt the Summative Assessment sample papers as timed assignments or as home tasks so they become familiar with the pattern and become comfortable with the Summative Assessment paper.

Time management in Summative Assessment is often a problem for many students and timed practice of sample Summative Assessment papers will help them. Another way is to explain to students how to divide the time between different questions and how to make the choice between questions in the Summative Assessment paper efficiently and effectively.

Get Students To Make Questions and Summative Assessment sample papers

As the students understand the Summative Assessment papers, the types of question, their phrasing and requirements, they should be asked, in groups to make questions and sample Summative Assessment papers. A fitting conclusion to this exercise could be: The teacher selects the best questions made by the students and gives the questions to the class as an assignment; then asks students in pairs to assess each other’s answers with the help of the Mark Scheme(peer assessment-an important CCE tool). The same could be done with sample SA papers i.e. the students make sample SA papers- the teacher selects the best one and sets it a as practice task for the class to do individually or in groups. The students then do peer assessment of the answer scripts. This will effectively help student learning and preparation for the actual SA. How will this help them?

To make the sample paper, the student will need to study the required topics, understand the question terms, work out the answers, allocate the marks and time. They will indirectly be assessing their own learning.

In making a sample paper, they will prepare for the actual Summative Assessment paper! A tremendously enabling and empowering exercise!

Within the context of the quote by Robert Stakes at the beginning of the article, the students will be the cooks tasting the soup while making the questions and papers even as they prepare for the guests to pass the judgment on their assessment.

Assessment can be stressful and CCE is aimed to reduce the stress and improve the learning through a more transparent ongoing process, making the learner an active participant, in fact a co-assessor in the process. All the strategies described here are some steps in that direction for Summative Assessment and for helping students negotiate effectively with it.

By

Linda R

Source: progressiveteacher.in

My India My Pride

By

Linda.R

HOS LP2

Why we need Inspiration?

According to Psychology Today, by the time a child reaches the age of 18, the concept of "No, you can't!" has been reinforced 187,000 times, whereas the concept of "Yes, you can!" has been reinforced only about 25 - 30 times.

With this in mind, is it any wonder why so many people grow up to be failures... or less than successful?  Today's society 'programs' us this way.  We simply do not "believe" we can win.
In order to be truly successful financially, emotionally and spiritually, you've got to be passionate about what you are doing.  Talent is a gift, but it must first be discovered, then nurtured and developed.  Once this passion grows into a highly trained skill, you become an extremely knowledgeable, a highly sought and highly paid specialist.

"The more wisdom we know, the more we may earn. Those who seek to learn more of their craft shall be richly rewarded."

To identify your talent(s), you must first search for your major interests.  When you find something you truly love doing, study and training seems effortless.  Soon, you create a mindset, a burning desire to learn and improve every day, to be better than most, if not the absolute best in your field.  This is difficult to do if you are working in a field, or a job, you can hardly stand one more day.
For generations, it has been proven world wide.  The small percentage of people, who worked and studied extremely hard to learn their craft and become successful, were motivated by someone (parent, teacher, coach, etc., usually at an early age) to learn and grow every day.  They were encouraged to read inspirational books, to practice positive affirmations, to set goals and formulate plans to achieve them, and to remind themselves to never get discouraged.

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”


By
Linda.R
HOS LP2
Source: inspire21.com

Earth's Cousin

NASA's Kepler Discovers First Earth-Size Planet In The 'Habitable Zone' of Another Star

Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth.

The diagram compares the planets of our inner solar system to Kepler-186, a five-planet star system about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The five planets of Kepler-186 orbit an M dwarf, a star that is is half the size and mass of the sun.
 

 "The discovery of Kepler-186f is a significant step toward finding worlds like our planet Earth," said Paul Hertz, NASA's Astrophysics Division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Future NASA missions, like the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the James Webb Space Telescope, will discover the nearest rocky exoplanets and determine their composition and atmospheric conditions, continuing humankind's quest to find truly Earth-like worlds."

Although the size of Kepler-186f is known, its mass and composition are not. Previous research, however, suggests that a planet the size of Kepler-186f is likely to be rocky.

"We know of just one planet where life exists -- Earth. When we search for life outside our solar system we focus on finding planets with characteristics that mimic that of Earth," said Elisa Quintana, research scientist at the SETI Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science. "Finding a habitable zone planet comparable to Earth in size is a major step forward."

Kepler-186f resides in the Kepler-186 system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The system is also home to four companion planets, which orbit a star half the size and mass of our sun. The star is classified as an M dwarf, or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

"M dwarfs are the most numerous stars," said Quintana. "The first signs of other life in the galaxy may well come from planets orbiting an M dwarf."

Kepler-186f orbits its star once every 130-days and receives one-third the energy from its star that Earth gets from the sun, placing it nearer the outer edge of the habitable zone. On the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon is only as bright as our sun appears to us about an hour before sunset.

By Ayisha

EVS Faculty