Assessment is often considered a necessary evil today. It is often associated with evaluation, test and examination, and each of these words have become cursed in the education sector. And the reason for that is deeply rooted in misunderstanding and its appalling misuse.
Assessment is a process of gathering and analyzing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences (summative). The assessment process culminates when assessment results are used by teachers to adjust their learning-facilitation strategies, and by students to adjust their learning strategies (formative).
Assessment, teaching, and learning are inextricably linked, as each informs the others. It is a powerful process that can either optimise or inhibit learning, depending on how it is applied. In our current school system, the assessment process is often misused and thus become a burden to the teacher and a bane for the students.
Assessment is needed in learning simply because we have learning objectives. Assessment in learning is directly derived from the learning objectives; and without objectives, assessment will not have any relevance. Likewise, until and unless the teacher have a thorough understanding of the aims of education and schooling, and know and understand the objective of teaching and learning a particular subject and its contents, assessment is meaningless.
Education, schooling, teaching and learning have aims and objectives. We can very well dismiss assessment and keep only the objectives. But it is in human's nature to want to know where we currently stand, if we are in the right track, or if we have achieved what we set-out to do. If I invest money and time in educating myself, I'll definitely want to know if I am getting my money's and time's worth, and how best to optimized my investment. And the only way to know that is through assessment.
Assessment is necessary, but it need not be evil. Assessment is a continuous process, and can be and must be done continuously. It need not be in the form of test or exam either in written and/or oral format. Assessment can take any form of interaction, observation and conversation which are very much part of our normal life and can be and must be done as such.
