Assessing vs qualification - similarities and differences

Is the evaluation of students' work the most important in the teacher's work or offering the best conditions for development? Assessing vs qualification - similarities and differences.

It seems that our grading does not fully work if at the end of the term students are only tired, demotivated, stressed and about to fail their final exams. Exams that measure the ability to remember not learn.

Many teachers evaluate to see if students are learning or not. They forget, however, that we also use assessment to illustrate the quality of teaching.

In this sense, it is very important to distinguish between the concepts of assessment and qualification. Grading is only a qualification result. On many occasions, a result that tells us little.

However, assessment is another way of learning. It is of little or no use when it has no information on how to improve. Do the values ‹‹1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 tell us anything more than that we obtained the grade we were expecting or not?

Assess to teach

Assessment is - perhaps it is better to say 'should be' here - an opportunity to put knowledge into practice and to express ideas. Sometimes for questions and doubts.

This makes sense when it serves those who learn. When the teacher uses a green pen to emphasize correct answers, and in case of mistakes, he only gives the beginning of the correct solution. When he evaluates to qualify and not improve, it becomes a sad and negative act.

Currently, many countries are focusing on teachers' focus on competences rather than content. Not everything learned should automatically be assessed. Just like not everything we learn can be assessed.

Teaching is not so much a matter of knowledge as of reasoning. Learning is not only about accumulating knowledge, but also internalizing and integrating it into our way of thinking.

Exams to help you qualify

Many exams involve memorizing and repeating content. Easy to carry out, easy to fix. They are part of the learning process in which parents and teachers expect students to repeat what was presented in the classroom. Not what has been discovered, thought or imagined.

On the other hand, many ignore the fact that the exam has tremendous power: capturing the student's attention. Something that is a kind of magic that many try to shorten, leaving a very short time for a response.

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So a well-designed exam can be a continuation of the student's learning, sometimes reflecting on what we read and hear.

Exams are rarely linked to personal or social content. They focus on school-related content. Core competencies do not work and are performed in an automated manner, without thinking critically about what is being written.

Graded by rubric

As evaluation tasks are varied in order to promote competence development, appropriate evaluation instruments are also needed.

The instruments used to assess student performance vary, but among the various tools, the rubrics (polls) have become the most popular for their versatility and teaching potential.

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The rubrics (questionnaires) are assessment guides used in assessing student performance. They describe the specific characteristics of a product, project, or task at different levels of performance to explain what is expected of a student's work. They are also used to evaluate the performance and improve the feedback index.

Advantages for students

The learners have much more information than other instruments (feedback). They know in advance the criteria by which they will be judged. Certain criteria that promote learning and self-esteem facilitate global understanding and development of various abilities.

Advantages for teachers

They are easy to use and explain to students and increase the objectivity of the assessment process. They provide feedback on the effectiveness of the teaching methods used. They are comprehensive and meet the requirements of the competency assessment process.

A new way of looking at grading

Formative assessment is characterized by being democratic and for teaching and learning. Very valuable when we need relevant and useful information, focusing attention on both the processes and the contexts related to teaching and learning.

Efforts should be made to regain the meaning of the terms "assessing" and "qualifying".