My Ideal Assessment by Waylon

My Ideal Assessment by Waylon - June 2015 Scholarship Essay

According to dictionary.com, the definition of assessment is evaluation. Many businesses and schools use assessment tests. An assessment test is a helpful method to find out what you know and how it will assist you in what you are applying for. Analyzing the characteristics of four of the most widely used assessments, multiple-choice test, performance tasks, portfolios, and essays, will show which assessment is my ideal form of assessment.
Multiple-choice tests are the most widely used form of assessments today. It is commonly used for standardized testing in schools, and has proven to be the most efficient form of testing for large scales due to the speed and simplicity. Standardized multiple choice tests are generally scored electronically, significantly reducing the amount of human error, favoritism, and bias. Another positive about standardized testing is that the test results can be used for statistical studies e.g., gender, poverty, race, grade. It also allows others to track the student’s progression. Multiple choice tests are not without some negatives though. They are often subject to item-writing flaws, such as the answer always being the most detailed, and the NOT’s and ALWAYS’s that are easy to overlook. Not all students who take the test have sufficient outside information to understand some of the activities on the test. Brighthubeducation.com gave a story on this account. A tutor from their website tutored a girl who had no idea what a recipe was, while most fifth graders knew what a recipe was, she did not. Therefore hampering her ability to answer some reading comprehension questions. Multiple-choice testing has negatives that pertain to teachers as well as students. School funding is often effected by the scores of the standardized test, which often leads to teaching to the test. Standardized testing has become an object of a growing national debate. Multiple-choice tests, despite their downfalls, remain an excellent form of assessment.
A performance task is a type of assessment test in which you are graded on your ability to perform a specific task, such as a driving test. It provides a means in which you may see how a certain student can apply learned techniques. A performance task consists of many correct answers, which encourages creative thinking. Though it is an effective assessment, the performance task cannot test all of the student’s learned skills, while other forms of assessments can. The developing of effective scoring and a clear picture of what you are looking for requires multiple practices with multiple people, making it difficult to objectively evaluate. While it may be the best form of assessment for some situations, it is not useful in all environments.
A portfolio is another great assessment. A portfolio is a record of completed assignments, it shows qualifications and accomplishments. It clearly illustrates the student’s progress, and displays the concepts he greatly understands. A fault is that it may not clearly define those concepts not completely grasped. Something not displayed would leave the evaluator to assume whether or not an objective was achieved yet. A portfolio requires constant management and can be extremely demanding for parents, teachers, students, and others to complete it. Additional time is needed for planning it, realizing educational goals, designing strategies, evaluating logged information, etc. Because of the extensive amount of time needed, it requires great determination and discipline to follow through with it. No permanent or valid judging criteria has been formed yet, so grading is difficult. Also, the information pertains to only one person, which causes it to be nearly impossible to evaluate it objectively in comparison to others. A portfolio can be very helpful in evaluating, but may leave you short on the entire picture.
Essays are good forms of assessments. It allows writing, grammar, and critical thinking skills to be displayed simultaneously. Essays clearly state thoughts and beliefs, especially in debate-type questions. Although it is a great assessment, it can be quite time consuming, not only to score, but to write as well. While there are some computer systems being designed to allow a more objective scoring of essays to take place, they currently do not exist and are still scored by humans. Human scoring is not as quick, objective, or cost effective as the alternative and is always open to human error. Plagiarizing is a problem to consider also, although some great search engines have been developed to terminate it. In short, essays can be helpful, but are not always reasonable.
After analyzing the various characteristics of each of the previous assessments, I have come to my conclusion. Performance task assessments do not test on all skills available, portfolios are nearly impossible to objectively score, and essays can be too time-consuming. Therefore, my ideal form of assessment is the multiple-choice test. Though they are subject to item-writing flaws, they can easily be avoided by re-reading the questions and answers, checking for those mistakes. While the variety of assessments are needed for different skills, my ideal form remains the multiple choice.