India is home to different alternative and complementary treatment streams. The main among them are Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Siddha, followed by Unani, Naturopathy, Yoga, etc. Before the advent of Allopathy into the land by British rulers, Ayurveda and Siddha were the only treatment options available. The suppression of natural cure methods for the sake of Allopathy has dwindled the importance of Ayurveda, Yoga and Siddha over time.
Now there is newfound revival for Ayurveda and other alternative medicines. The single most important reason why people turning away from Allopathy and towards Ayurveda is the fact that side effects so common with Allopathy and an almost total absense of side effects with Ayurveda medicines.
Now Government has recognized courses for all types of alternative medicines. Ayurveda medical colleges under direct government control are the main centers of ayurveda education in India. Ayurveda medical colleges and research centers in private sector are relatively new to Indian medical scenario.
Employment Opportunities in Alternative Medicine
With surge in demand for Ayurveda and other medical sciences by people of India and from around the world, persons educated in alternative medicines today have worldwide opportunities. Training centers, treatment centers, hospitals, resorts with Ayurvedic treatment facilities etc are main places where they can try employment.
Independent trainers and recognized doctors also have lot of scope in Ayurveda research, development and treatment industries.
Different Ayurveda Universities work from India. A common resource center to get information on all systems of medicines in India is at http://www.IndiaMedicine.nic.in/.
Alternative Medicine Training Courses Offered by Kerala Ayurvedics
Masseur Training
Panchakarma Assistant Training
Ayurveda Pharmacist
Ayurveda Nurse
Ayurveda Nursing Assistant
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An adequate educational evaluation enhances instruction. Just as evaluation impacts student learning and motivation, it also influences the nature of instruction in the classroom. There has been considerable recent literature that has promoted evaluation as something that is integrated with instruction. To her, when evaluation is integrated with instruction it informs teachers about what activities and assignments will be most useful, what level of teaching is most appropriate, and how summative evaluations provide diagnostic information. For instance, during instruction activities informal, formative evaluation helps teachers know when to move on, when to ask more questions, when to give more examples, and what responses to student questions are most appropriate. Standardized test scores, when used appropriately, help teachers understand student strengths and weaknesses to target further instruction.
Good assessment is valid and considers validity as a concept that needs to be fully understood. Like reliability, there are technical terms and issues associated with validity that are essential in helping teachers and administrators make reasonable and appropriate inferences from evaluation results (e.g., types of validity evidence, validity generalization, construct underrepresentation, construct-irrelevant variance, and discriminant and convergent evidence). Both intended and unintended consequences of evaluation need to be examined with appropriate evidence that supports particular arguments or points of view. Of equal importance is getting teachers and administrators to understand their role in gathering and interpreting validity evidence.
Good evaluation is fair and ethical and there are four views of fairness: as absence of bias (e.g., offensiveness and unfair penalization), as equitable treatment, as equality in outcomes, and as opportunity to learn. It includes entire chapters on the rights and responsibilities of test takers, testing individuals of diverse linguistic backgrounds, and testing individuals with disabilities or special needs.
According to his text, there are also three additional areas characterized as also important:
- Student knowledge of learning targets and the nature of the evaluations prior to instruction (e.g., knowing what will be tested, how it will be graded, scoring criteria, anchors, exemplars, and examples of performance).
- Student prerequisite knowledge and skills, including test-taking skills.
- Avoiding stereotypes.
Evaluation that is fair, leading to valid inferences with a minimum of error, is a series of measures that show student understanding through multiple methods. A complete picture of what students understand and can do is put together in pieces comprised by different approaches to evaluation. While testing experts and testing companies stress that important decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score, some educators at the local level, and some (many?) politicians at the state at the national level, seem determined to violate this principle. There is a need to understand the entire range of evaluation techniques and methods, with the realization that each has limitations.
Good evaluation is efficient and feasible. Teachers and school administrators have limited time and resources. Consideration must be given to the efficiency of different approaches to evaluation, balancing needs to implement methods required to provide a full understanding with the time needed to develop and implement the methods, and score results. Teacher skills and knowledge are important to consider, as well as the level of support and resources.
We may consider a lot the importance in the fact of good evaluation appropriately incorporates technology. As technology advances and teachers become more proficient in the use of technology, there will be increased opportunities for teachers and administrators to use computer-based techniques (e.g., item banks, electronic grading, computer-adapted testing, computer-based simulations), Internet resources, and more complex, detailed ways of reporting results. There is to him, however, a danger that technology will contribute to the mindless use of new resources, such as using items on-line developed by some companies without adequate evidence of reliability, validity, and fairness, and crunching numbers with software programs without sufficient thought about weighting, error, and averaging.
To summarize, what is most essential about evaluation is understanding how general, fundamental evaluation principles and ideas can be used to enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness. This will be achieved as teachers and administrators learn about conceptual and technical evaluation concepts, methods, and procedures, for both large-scale and classroom evaluations, and apply these fundamentals to instruction.
Good assessment is valid and considers validity as a concept that needs to be fully understood. Like reliability, there are technical terms and issues associated with validity that are essential in helping teachers and administrators make reasonable and appropriate inferences from evaluation results (e.g., types of validity evidence, validity generalization, construct underrepresentation, construct-irrelevant variance, and discriminant and convergent evidence). Both intended and unintended consequences of evaluation need to be examined with appropriate evidence that supports particular arguments or points of view. Of equal importance is getting teachers and administrators to understand their role in gathering and interpreting validity evidence.
Good evaluation is fair and ethical and there are four views of fairness: as absence of bias (e.g., offensiveness and unfair penalization), as equitable treatment, as equality in outcomes, and as opportunity to learn. It includes entire chapters on the rights and responsibilities of test takers, testing individuals of diverse linguistic backgrounds, and testing individuals with disabilities or special needs.
According to his text, there are also three additional areas characterized as also important:
- Student knowledge of learning targets and the nature of the evaluations prior to instruction (e.g., knowing what will be tested, how it will be graded, scoring criteria, anchors, exemplars, and examples of performance).
- Student prerequisite knowledge and skills, including test-taking skills.
- Avoiding stereotypes.
Evaluation that is fair, leading to valid inferences with a minimum of error, is a series of measures that show student understanding through multiple methods. A complete picture of what students understand and can do is put together in pieces comprised by different approaches to evaluation. While testing experts and testing companies stress that important decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score, some educators at the local level, and some (many?) politicians at the state at the national level, seem determined to violate this principle. There is a need to understand the entire range of evaluation techniques and methods, with the realization that each has limitations.
Good evaluation is efficient and feasible. Teachers and school administrators have limited time and resources. Consideration must be given to the efficiency of different approaches to evaluation, balancing needs to implement methods required to provide a full understanding with the time needed to develop and implement the methods, and score results. Teacher skills and knowledge are important to consider, as well as the level of support and resources.
We may consider a lot the importance in the fact of good evaluation appropriately incorporates technology. As technology advances and teachers become more proficient in the use of technology, there will be increased opportunities for teachers and administrators to use computer-based techniques (e.g., item banks, electronic grading, computer-adapted testing, computer-based simulations), Internet resources, and more complex, detailed ways of reporting results. There is to him, however, a danger that technology will contribute to the mindless use of new resources, such as using items on-line developed by some companies without adequate evidence of reliability, validity, and fairness, and crunching numbers with software programs without sufficient thought about weighting, error, and averaging.
To summarize, what is most essential about evaluation is understanding how general, fundamental evaluation principles and ideas can be used to enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness. This will be achieved as teachers and administrators learn about conceptual and technical evaluation concepts, methods, and procedures, for both large-scale and classroom evaluations, and apply these fundamentals to instruction.
As with any project you take on, there is always the chance for burnout. Here are some simple steps you can take to help avoid burning out on home schooling.
1. Don’t try to do more than you or your child are capable of doing. Most students are average. Don’t expect your 3 year old to read novels or your teenager be able to ace the SAT test and get a full ride into college. These things happen, but they are not the norm.
2. Set a routine and skip the strict schedules. Do your children know what is expected of them each day? They need to get up, eat breakfast, do some chores, read, write, do arithmetic and a few other things that you set for them to do. They should not be playing on the computer or playing outside until their normal routine is finished. Some days are easier to accomplish than others. On the low motivation days, you can always throw in some fun or an occasional incentive.
3. Enjoy your children and develop your relationship with them. If you have a habit of relating with your child, with mutual listening, then you can work through any curriculum struggle or lack of motivation. You and your child should enjoy learning together and separately. If you are interested in a certain topic like cooking or gardening then your children should see you pursuing that knowledge. We all learn better when we are motivated to learn something ourselves.
4. When you home school you don’t have to mimic what the schools do. They have to structure their days a certain way because of the volume of students they have and the tests they have to pass. Homeschoolers can learn in many different ways using unusual methods like hopping up and down a step when you answer a flashcard or problem correctly. Use the flexibility of home schooling to avoid burnout by changing the atmosphere a little bit. Play music one day. Light some candles another day. Declare a “game day”.
If you keep your life and day in proper perspective, you can easily avoid burning out on home schooling. Your children probably won’t remember the lesson of the day although they will build on their knowledge and grow in their intelligence, just as they won’t remember the meal they eat, but it will help them grow physically. Your children will mostly remember the atmosphere of your home and how you treated them.
1. Don’t try to do more than you or your child are capable of doing. Most students are average. Don’t expect your 3 year old to read novels or your teenager be able to ace the SAT test and get a full ride into college. These things happen, but they are not the norm.
2. Set a routine and skip the strict schedules. Do your children know what is expected of them each day? They need to get up, eat breakfast, do some chores, read, write, do arithmetic and a few other things that you set for them to do. They should not be playing on the computer or playing outside until their normal routine is finished. Some days are easier to accomplish than others. On the low motivation days, you can always throw in some fun or an occasional incentive.
3. Enjoy your children and develop your relationship with them. If you have a habit of relating with your child, with mutual listening, then you can work through any curriculum struggle or lack of motivation. You and your child should enjoy learning together and separately. If you are interested in a certain topic like cooking or gardening then your children should see you pursuing that knowledge. We all learn better when we are motivated to learn something ourselves.
4. When you home school you don’t have to mimic what the schools do. They have to structure their days a certain way because of the volume of students they have and the tests they have to pass. Homeschoolers can learn in many different ways using unusual methods like hopping up and down a step when you answer a flashcard or problem correctly. Use the flexibility of home schooling to avoid burnout by changing the atmosphere a little bit. Play music one day. Light some candles another day. Declare a “game day”.
If you keep your life and day in proper perspective, you can easily avoid burning out on home schooling. Your children probably won’t remember the lesson of the day although they will build on their knowledge and grow in their intelligence, just as they won’t remember the meal they eat, but it will help them grow physically. Your children will mostly remember the atmosphere of your home and how you treated them.
Homeschool curriculum and books are plentiful. Choosing from the huge selection can be overwhelming. Do you really need to purchase a home school curriculum or can you save some money and home school with books alone? Here are some thoughts that can help you make your decision:
1. You need a core plan - Whether you purchase a home school curriculum or develop your own, you need to know what you want to accomplish. What do you think your child should be doing each day? What do you want them to know and understand by the time the school year is over?
2. Focus on reading, writing and arithmetic - Any good home school program focuses on the basics. Make sure you address the core subjects and know what you want to accomplish there before you add any other subjects to your list.
3. Know how you and your child learn best - Learning style plays a key role in how you and your children will learn. In public school teachers can’t really teach based on learning style because of the volume of students they have to work with. But a home school parent can certainly know their child’s learning style and use resources to support that. If you don’t know yours or your child’s learning style you can take an assessment online and find out. http://www.hjresources.com/hsrecommend Then when you decide to choose curriculum or books you will know what types of resources you need. You might even save yourself a lot of frustration in the long run.
4. Use your resources - In the early days of home schooling there wasn’t much available to parents. That is definitely not the case now. There is almost too much information available now. You have the internet, library and a host of used curriculum sites where you can get books and resources at a fraction of the cost.
5. Do you use a curriculum to learn something yourself? Think about what you do when you want to learn about something. Do you buy a curriculum to learn or do you read books, listen to audio and watch videos? Your children need to see you have a love for learning. You can learn about how to cook, sew, garden, remodel your house, improve your skills at a job, etc.
Even though purchasing a curriculum can give you a feeling of security knowing that everything your child needs to know will be covered, be careful that you don’t take on too much and get burned out. If you focus on the basics and know what you want to accomplish, then you can make an informed decision as to whether you will need to purchase a curriculum or whether you can just use books and resources to accomplish the same goals.
1. You need a core plan - Whether you purchase a home school curriculum or develop your own, you need to know what you want to accomplish. What do you think your child should be doing each day? What do you want them to know and understand by the time the school year is over?
2. Focus on reading, writing and arithmetic - Any good home school program focuses on the basics. Make sure you address the core subjects and know what you want to accomplish there before you add any other subjects to your list.
3. Know how you and your child learn best - Learning style plays a key role in how you and your children will learn. In public school teachers can’t really teach based on learning style because of the volume of students they have to work with. But a home school parent can certainly know their child’s learning style and use resources to support that. If you don’t know yours or your child’s learning style you can take an assessment online and find out. http://www.hjresources.com/hsrecommend Then when you decide to choose curriculum or books you will know what types of resources you need. You might even save yourself a lot of frustration in the long run.
4. Use your resources - In the early days of home schooling there wasn’t much available to parents. That is definitely not the case now. There is almost too much information available now. You have the internet, library and a host of used curriculum sites where you can get books and resources at a fraction of the cost.
5. Do you use a curriculum to learn something yourself? Think about what you do when you want to learn about something. Do you buy a curriculum to learn or do you read books, listen to audio and watch videos? Your children need to see you have a love for learning. You can learn about how to cook, sew, garden, remodel your house, improve your skills at a job, etc.
Even though purchasing a curriculum can give you a feeling of security knowing that everything your child needs to know will be covered, be careful that you don’t take on too much and get burned out. If you focus on the basics and know what you want to accomplish, then you can make an informed decision as to whether you will need to purchase a curriculum or whether you can just use books and resources to accomplish the same goals.
If you want to learn a new language, then why not learn it in the comfort of your very own car. There are hundreds of excellent courses around that will help you do just that. I have put together the top four tips on how to go about learning French in your car. It's so easy that you could start today!
I think your car is one of the best places to learn a new language. The best thing about learning in your car is that you can do it alone. Trying to pronounce new words and copying strange accents is difficult, not to mention embarrassing. French is a beautiful language but, recreating an authentic accent can create some very comedic results. Thankfully, you can do this in the privacy of your own car. No one can hear you making mistakes, so you can repeat words over and over again without annoying the hell out of anyone.
Some people find it difficult to maintain a structured learning pattern. The best results can be seen from learners who set aside time each day, which they to dedicate to learning. This shouldn't even be a concern for you as you could use ever journey in you car as a learning session. Be sure not to learn during those longer journeys – be sure to keep the sessions short. Your drive to work, the school run or even the weekly trip to the supermarket would be perfect. It's proven that short bursts of learning are the most effective and help you retain maximum amounts of information.
Listen, repeat and learn. This is the mantra for the most popular CD and audio courses on the market. Repeating and learning is simple, but listening is the most difficult thing to do. Sometimes you think you are listening, but really it's going in one ear and out of the other. Listen as many times as possible. The more times you hear a word or phrase the more likely you are to commit its meaning and how to pronounce it to memory. Listen for the subtleties in the accent and the rhythm of the language. Recreating an authentic accent is far more difficult than remember words.
Now you know the benefits and best techniques for learning French in your car – you are going to need a French tuition course. Because you are learning in your car, the best solution would be for you to purchase an audio course. Many of these courses are created specifically to use in a car. All teaching will take place in the car and there will be no written work involved. You won't have to worry about scary French grammar, allowing you to fully concentrate on your French conversational skills.
It's easier than ever to learn French in your car. You now know the best and most successful ways to go about it, so all you need now is a French CD or MP3 Audio course – oh and a car.
I think your car is one of the best places to learn a new language. The best thing about learning in your car is that you can do it alone. Trying to pronounce new words and copying strange accents is difficult, not to mention embarrassing. French is a beautiful language but, recreating an authentic accent can create some very comedic results. Thankfully, you can do this in the privacy of your own car. No one can hear you making mistakes, so you can repeat words over and over again without annoying the hell out of anyone.
Some people find it difficult to maintain a structured learning pattern. The best results can be seen from learners who set aside time each day, which they to dedicate to learning. This shouldn't even be a concern for you as you could use ever journey in you car as a learning session. Be sure not to learn during those longer journeys – be sure to keep the sessions short. Your drive to work, the school run or even the weekly trip to the supermarket would be perfect. It's proven that short bursts of learning are the most effective and help you retain maximum amounts of information.
Listen, repeat and learn. This is the mantra for the most popular CD and audio courses on the market. Repeating and learning is simple, but listening is the most difficult thing to do. Sometimes you think you are listening, but really it's going in one ear and out of the other. Listen as many times as possible. The more times you hear a word or phrase the more likely you are to commit its meaning and how to pronounce it to memory. Listen for the subtleties in the accent and the rhythm of the language. Recreating an authentic accent is far more difficult than remember words.
Now you know the benefits and best techniques for learning French in your car – you are going to need a French tuition course. Because you are learning in your car, the best solution would be for you to purchase an audio course. Many of these courses are created specifically to use in a car. All teaching will take place in the car and there will be no written work involved. You won't have to worry about scary French grammar, allowing you to fully concentrate on your French conversational skills.
It's easier than ever to learn French in your car. You now know the best and most successful ways to go about it, so all you need now is a French CD or MP3 Audio course – oh and a car.
Do you know that you can now learn to speak French free online? All you have to do is know where to look. I have put a list of the four best places to start looking. If you follow my simple ideas you could start learning French for free online - today!
Do you ever come across French words and have no way of finding out their accurate English translation? If so, the Google language tool may just the thing that you've been looking for. It so simple to use and best of all it's absolutely free! Go to the Google search engine and type – “google language tool”. Click on the link and you will be taken to the translation page. Type in the word, choose the language (in this case it will be French), then choose the language you want it translated into (this will be English), hit enter and you'll have instant translation. Remember this can work the other way too.
There are hundreds if not thousands of online companies that will try and sell you all kinds of online French courses. Because there is so much competition, these sites will often offer freebies as incentives. Some will even offer free trails of their products with no obligation to buy. Why not take advantage of this? All you would need to do is sample a handful of these courses and you'll have enough French tuition to last you the next couple of months. When you eventually run out, all you would need to do is sign up for some more free courses. It's so simple and you'll never have to spend a dime!
I am sure you have heard about the new craze of streaming video sights such as youtube.com and Google video. You can literally find clips on any subject you search for. Have you ever thought about searching for French tuition? Give it a try. You'll be amazed at how many free video clips there are available. You don't have to stop there, you could even check out some current French TV and music Videos – the possibilities are endless.
There are numerous websites such as the UK site bbc.co.uk that simply offer free tuition. All you have to do is know where to look for these sites. Fortunately, there are search engines that can do all the hard work for you. All you need to do is type “learn to speak French free online” and hit enter. This search will instantly return one and a half million sites for you to choose from (depending on your internet connection). You don't have to look at all of them out (that would take forever), just check out a handful from the first page and you will bound to find some great information - free of charge.
Most people underestimate the amount of free information that is available to them via the internet. I hope my handy hints have helped you realise just how easy it can be to learn to speak French free online.
Do you ever come across French words and have no way of finding out their accurate English translation? If so, the Google language tool may just the thing that you've been looking for. It so simple to use and best of all it's absolutely free! Go to the Google search engine and type – “google language tool”. Click on the link and you will be taken to the translation page. Type in the word, choose the language (in this case it will be French), then choose the language you want it translated into (this will be English), hit enter and you'll have instant translation. Remember this can work the other way too.
There are hundreds if not thousands of online companies that will try and sell you all kinds of online French courses. Because there is so much competition, these sites will often offer freebies as incentives. Some will even offer free trails of their products with no obligation to buy. Why not take advantage of this? All you would need to do is sample a handful of these courses and you'll have enough French tuition to last you the next couple of months. When you eventually run out, all you would need to do is sign up for some more free courses. It's so simple and you'll never have to spend a dime!
I am sure you have heard about the new craze of streaming video sights such as youtube.com and Google video. You can literally find clips on any subject you search for. Have you ever thought about searching for French tuition? Give it a try. You'll be amazed at how many free video clips there are available. You don't have to stop there, you could even check out some current French TV and music Videos – the possibilities are endless.
There are numerous websites such as the UK site bbc.co.uk that simply offer free tuition. All you have to do is know where to look for these sites. Fortunately, there are search engines that can do all the hard work for you. All you need to do is type “learn to speak French free online” and hit enter. This search will instantly return one and a half million sites for you to choose from (depending on your internet connection). You don't have to look at all of them out (that would take forever), just check out a handful from the first page and you will bound to find some great information - free of charge.
Most people underestimate the amount of free information that is available to them via the internet. I hope my handy hints have helped you realise just how easy it can be to learn to speak French free online.
Educational Evaluation may be inherently a process of professional judgment.
The first principle, according to Cann, is that professional judgment is the foundation for evaluation and, as such, is needed to properly understand and use all aspects of evaluation. The measurement of student performance may seem "objective" with such practices as machine scoring and multiple-choice test items, but even these approaches are based on professional assumptions and values. Whether that judgment occurs in constructing test questions, scoring essays, creating rubrics, grading participation, combining scores, or interpreting standardized test scores, the essence of the process is making professional interpretations and decisions. Understanding this principle helps teachers and administrators realize the importance of their own judgments and those of others in evaluating the quality of evalution and the meaning of the results.
To Shadish, evaluation is based on separate but related principles of measurement evidence and evaluation.
To Cann, It is quite important to understand the difference between measurement evidence (differentiating degrees of a trait by description or by assigning scores) and evaluation (interpretation of the description or scores). Essential measurement evidence skills would include the ability to understand and interpret the meaning of descriptive statistical procedures, including variability, correlation, percentiles, standard scores, growth-scale scores, norming, and principles of combining scores for grading. A conceptual understanding of these techniques, to her, is needed (not necessarily knowing how to compute statistics) for such tasks as interpreting student strengths and weaknesses, reliability and validity evidence, grade determination, and making admissions decisions. This author has indicated that these concepts and techniques comprise part of an essential language for educators. They also provide a common basis for communication about "results," interpretation of evidence, and appropriate use of data. This is increasingly important given the pervasiveness of standards-based, high-stakes, large-scale assessments.
Another point of view, offered by Shadish considerates evaluation concerns merit and worth of the data as applied to a specific use or context. It involves a systematic analysis of evidence. Like students, teachers and administrators need analysis skills to effectively interpret evidence and make value judgments about the meaning of the results.
Evaluation decision-making is influenced by a series of tensions to Cook. His basement parts of idea that competing purposes, uses, and pressures result in tension for teachers and administrators as they make assessment-related decisions. For example, good teaching could be characterized by assessments that motivate and engage students in ways that are consistent with their philosophies of teaching and learning and with theories of development, learning and motivation. Most teachers want to use constructed-response evaluation because they believe this kind of testing is best to ascertain student understanding. On the other hand, factors external to the classroom, such as mandated large-scale testing, promote different evaluation strategies, such as using selected-response tests and providing practice in objective test-taking.
These tensions, to the same author suggest that decisions about evaluation are best made with a full understanding of how different factors influence the nature of the assessment. Once all the alternatives understood, priorities need to be made; trade-offs are inevitable. With an appreciation of the tensions teachers and administrators will hopefully make better informed, better justified assessment decisions.
Evaluation influences student motivation and learning. Wilde and Sockey have used the term 'educative evaluation' to describe techniques and issues that educators should consider when they design and use evaluation methods. Their message is that the nature of evaluation influences what is learned and the degree of meaningful engagement by students in the learning process. While Wiggins contends that evaluation tools should be authentic, with feedback and opportunities for revision to improve rather than simply audit learning, the more general principle is understanding how different evaluations affect students. Will students be more engaged if evaluation tasks are problem-based? How do students study when they know the test consists of multiple-choice items? What is the nature of feedback, and when is it given to students? How does evaluation affect student effort? Answers to such questions help teachers and administrators understand that evaluation has powerful effects on motivation and learning.
Teachers and administrators, to Shadish, need to not only know that there is error in all classroom and standardized evaluation, but also more specifically how reliability is determined and how much error is likely. With so much emphasis today on high-stakes testing for promotion, graduation, teacher and administrator accountability, and school accreditation, it is critical that all educators understand concepts like standard error of measurement, reliability coefficients, confidence intervals, and standard setting.
To Cann two reliability principles deserve special attention. The first is that reliability refers to scores, not instruments. Second, teachers and administrators need to understand that, typically, error is underestimated.
COOK, J. Evaluating Knowledge Technology Resources. LTSN Generic Centre, 2002.
CANN. E et al. English Language Arts: A Curriculum Guide for the Middle Level (Grades 6-9). Saskatchewan Education. 1998.
HIRSCHMAN, L; THOMPSON, H. Overview of Evaluation in Speech and Natural Language Processing. In J. and Mariani, editor, State of the Art in Natural Language Processing, pages 475 -- 518.
SHADISH, W. Some evaluation questions. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(3), 1998.
WILDE, J.; SOCKEY, S. Evaluation Handbook. Clearinghouse. 2000.
The first principle, according to Cann, is that professional judgment is the foundation for evaluation and, as such, is needed to properly understand and use all aspects of evaluation. The measurement of student performance may seem "objective" with such practices as machine scoring and multiple-choice test items, but even these approaches are based on professional assumptions and values. Whether that judgment occurs in constructing test questions, scoring essays, creating rubrics, grading participation, combining scores, or interpreting standardized test scores, the essence of the process is making professional interpretations and decisions. Understanding this principle helps teachers and administrators realize the importance of their own judgments and those of others in evaluating the quality of evalution and the meaning of the results.
To Shadish, evaluation is based on separate but related principles of measurement evidence and evaluation.
To Cann, It is quite important to understand the difference between measurement evidence (differentiating degrees of a trait by description or by assigning scores) and evaluation (interpretation of the description or scores). Essential measurement evidence skills would include the ability to understand and interpret the meaning of descriptive statistical procedures, including variability, correlation, percentiles, standard scores, growth-scale scores, norming, and principles of combining scores for grading. A conceptual understanding of these techniques, to her, is needed (not necessarily knowing how to compute statistics) for such tasks as interpreting student strengths and weaknesses, reliability and validity evidence, grade determination, and making admissions decisions. This author has indicated that these concepts and techniques comprise part of an essential language for educators. They also provide a common basis for communication about "results," interpretation of evidence, and appropriate use of data. This is increasingly important given the pervasiveness of standards-based, high-stakes, large-scale assessments.
Another point of view, offered by Shadish considerates evaluation concerns merit and worth of the data as applied to a specific use or context. It involves a systematic analysis of evidence. Like students, teachers and administrators need analysis skills to effectively interpret evidence and make value judgments about the meaning of the results.
Evaluation decision-making is influenced by a series of tensions to Cook. His basement parts of idea that competing purposes, uses, and pressures result in tension for teachers and administrators as they make assessment-related decisions. For example, good teaching could be characterized by assessments that motivate and engage students in ways that are consistent with their philosophies of teaching and learning and with theories of development, learning and motivation. Most teachers want to use constructed-response evaluation because they believe this kind of testing is best to ascertain student understanding. On the other hand, factors external to the classroom, such as mandated large-scale testing, promote different evaluation strategies, such as using selected-response tests and providing practice in objective test-taking.
These tensions, to the same author suggest that decisions about evaluation are best made with a full understanding of how different factors influence the nature of the assessment. Once all the alternatives understood, priorities need to be made; trade-offs are inevitable. With an appreciation of the tensions teachers and administrators will hopefully make better informed, better justified assessment decisions.
Evaluation influences student motivation and learning. Wilde and Sockey have used the term 'educative evaluation' to describe techniques and issues that educators should consider when they design and use evaluation methods. Their message is that the nature of evaluation influences what is learned and the degree of meaningful engagement by students in the learning process. While Wiggins contends that evaluation tools should be authentic, with feedback and opportunities for revision to improve rather than simply audit learning, the more general principle is understanding how different evaluations affect students. Will students be more engaged if evaluation tasks are problem-based? How do students study when they know the test consists of multiple-choice items? What is the nature of feedback, and when is it given to students? How does evaluation affect student effort? Answers to such questions help teachers and administrators understand that evaluation has powerful effects on motivation and learning.
Teachers and administrators, to Shadish, need to not only know that there is error in all classroom and standardized evaluation, but also more specifically how reliability is determined and how much error is likely. With so much emphasis today on high-stakes testing for promotion, graduation, teacher and administrator accountability, and school accreditation, it is critical that all educators understand concepts like standard error of measurement, reliability coefficients, confidence intervals, and standard setting.
To Cann two reliability principles deserve special attention. The first is that reliability refers to scores, not instruments. Second, teachers and administrators need to understand that, typically, error is underestimated.
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