Reality and Standardization (Module 3)

 

In my previous teaching job at a high school in the United Arab Emirates, we instructors from all subjects were asked by the administration to conduct diagnostic tests for students and to create reports on the results as evidence of student learning.  If not for the requirement, I probably would have never done diagnostic tests voluntarily as they mean extra work.  That’s just reality.

But after taking this course, the importance of diagnostic test was reinforced on me.  Yet I have a nagging feeling that there might be some instructors who “teach to the test” when it comes to diagnostic exams, so that results look more favorable.  In short, assessments are a tool, but they must be used properly or the results can be skewed.

And when I had taught in the tertiary level, I have had semesters when I needed to do 5-6 preparations.  That gave me the tendency to make assessments less difficult and/or easier to mark.  For example, I would be more inclined to use objective questions instead of essay questions, etc.  Again, that’s just the reality.

Furthermore, in the UAE, I had also had an opportunity to teach at the tertiary level where the institution had several campuses located in various cities.  When I first started, we instructors had the freedom to choose assessment methods, weighting of assessments, and assessment instruments.  But after five years of working, there began a push for standardization across campuses such that assessments (particularly final assessments) and teaching materials had become the same throughout the entire system.

I guess my point is that standardization would give more meaning to the results obtained from diagnostic tests and summative assessments.  I mean, for example, is taking freshman English in U.P. Diliman comparable to taking the same subject in U.P. Manila or Los Banos?  It also makes me wonder about DepEd—are assessments in different public schools the same, so that we can more easily compare summative assessment results?

Yet while I see benefits in standardization, if I had the choice, I as an instructor would actually prefer to have the freedom to choose the assessment methods and assessment instruments I would use in the classroom.  But to begin with, how many instructors (in elementary, secondary and tertiary levels) have total control over what goes inside a syllabus or course outline?

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