Evaluation

Undertaking evaluation, the highest level in the hierarchy of terms, is based upon assessment interpretations of the colleted data. With the information gained from measurement and assessment, educators are in better position to make value judgments which are invariably expressed as written comments. The important feature of educational evaluation, however, is that it is based upon assessment data and not upon whim or fancy.In schools, teachers participate continually in product evaluation (i.e. making judgments about student performance) as well as curriculum, teacher andprogram evaluation. Typical product evaluation, or what most teachers refer to as simply evaluation, takes the form of evaluative comments on school reports and record cards. Evaluative statements could also be oral in nature and teachers often make these comments on student performance to parents. Alternatively, an evaluative report, based on interpreted data, may be written on teacher performance, on a curriculum or a program used in any teaching-learning situation.The interrelated nature of the three evaluative components (measurement, assessment, evaluation) in the following example shows how the concept of evaluation may be conducted in schools using data from tests, student work samples and interviews, a teacher has determined that a student has achieved a final semester/year mark of 72 percent in English (measurement). When interpreted, using norm-referenced assessment, this information was translated into a grade of A as the student's mark was near the top of the class in English (assessment). On the student's school report, the A grade was noted (as well as an interpreted score such as percentiles, stanines, or deciles) and judgmental comments made about the student's performance based upon the interpreted data (evaluation).