ASSESSMENT TRAINING PROGRAM BY THE CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT EVALUATION AND RESEARCH (CAER)

Agenda  -  Improving Classroom Assessment Practice to Meet the Requirements of Continuous and  comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)  - Module 1

The training  program was organized as a part of the endeavor  to meet the  challenging scenario of Indian Education which is presently  undergoing significant reforms . Continuous  and comprehensive Evaluation is an integral part of these reforms meant to bring in world class quality in assessment during the teaching – learning process.   This integrated program of 4 modules intended professional development  in assessment  for teachers  by introducing to them  The Principles of Modern Assessment Theory. 

Around 40  teachers from different CBSE Schools  participated in this  Module 1 of the Training Program  conducted in two days.

Day 1 - The  day started  with an introduction to the objectives and  purposes  of  modern assessment.    The concept of Developmental Continuum which aims at constructing items , questions and tasks that give the students the opportunity to demonstrate what it is they know and can do in relation to the learning  objectives  was discussed  in detail.  This was a useful piece of information as to locate the student on the developmental continuum is imperative in proper assessment.

The program also had discussions on Bloom’s Taxonomy And the differences between cognitive and difficulty levels . Participants were very interactive   and many shared their experiences that gave everyone a good insight on the topic.     

 The best part of the workshop was the Guided practice activities carried out in groups for each subject.  The main focus of this  module   was the formulation of Multiple Choice Questions.  The groups were asked to analyze multiple choice items  subject wise , identify errors  and  modify them to meet the learning objectives.  

Day  2 -   On the second day the main focus was on  Writing Multiple Choice Items for Own Classroom Test  and  Building a table of specifications . This was an individual  activity and each participant has been asked to identify an area of the curriculum which he /she will be going to assess in his / her  class in the coming week. This provided everyone of us an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in the training  and witnessed the complete involvement  of each participant.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The program ended with awarding certificates for the participants. At the outset it was a wonderful learning experience and provided food for thought for everyone.