Evaluate Vs. Rate

We are doing something wrong when evaluating whether at the end of the semester there are only students who are tired, unmotivated, stressed and on the verge of mental breakdown due to final exams that measure more memory than learning. Many teachers evaluate to check whether the students are learning or not, forgetting that the evaluation also serves to give us an idea of ​​the quality of teaching.

In this sense, it is very important to differentiate the concepts of evaluation and qualification. The rating is only a result of the evaluation; on many occasions, a score that says little.

However, assessment is another way of learning. It is of little or no use when it does not offer information on how to improve. Does a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 tell us something beyond that we have obtained an expected or unexpected result?

Assess to learn

Evaluation is – perhaps better to say “should be” – an opportunity to put knowledge into practice, express ideas. A moment for doubts and questions to arise.

It makes sense when it is at the service of the learners, when the proofreader uses the green pen, highlighting the successes and giving the errors only the starting point entity. When the evaluation is done to qualify and not to improve, it becomes a sad and poor act.

Today, the idea in many countries is for teachers to focus more on competencies than content. Not everything that is taught should automatically become an object of evaluation, nor is everything that is learned evaluable.

Teaching is not so much or just a question of knowledge, but of ways of reasoning. Learning is not just accumulating knowledge, but internalizing it and integrating it into our way of thinking.

Exams to qualify

Many tests consist of memorization and repetition of content. Easy to pose, easy to correct. They are part of an apprenticeship where parents and teachers expect students to repeat what is established or seen, not what is found out, thought or imagined.

On the other hand, something that many ignore is that an exam has enormous power: to capture the attention of the student. Something that is a kind of magic and that many also insist on shortening, leaving very short times to respond.

Thus, a well-designed test can be a continuation of the student’s learning, a time to think about what has been read and heard.

Finally, they are rarely related to personal or social content, only school. They do not work on basic skills and are done in an automated way without thinking critically about what is being written.

Evaluate by rubrics

To the extent that evaluation tasks are diversified to favor the development of competencies, adequate instruments are also required to evaluate.

The instruments used to evaluate learning outcomes are diverse, but among the different tools it is the rubrics that, due to their versatility and didactic potential, have received the most attention.

Rubrics are scoring guides used in evaluating student performance that describe the specific characteristics of a product, project, or task at various performance levels, in order to clarify what is expected of the student’s work, to assess its implementation and facilitating the provision of feedback. (Andrade, 2005; Mertler, 2001).

Advantages for students

Students have much more information than with other instruments (feedback). They know in advance the criteria with which they will be evaluated. Criteria that promote learning and self-evaluation, facilitate global understanding and the development of different capacities.

Advantages for teachers

They are easy to use and explain to students and increase the objectivity of the evaluation process. They provide feedback on the effectiveness of the teaching methods that have been used. They are versatile and meet the demands of the competency assessment process.

A new way of understanding evaluation

Formative assessment is characterized by being democratic and at the service of teaching and learning. Very valuable when we need to have relevant and useful information, focusing attention on both the processes and the contexts involved in teaching and learning.

An effort must be made to regain the meaning of the terms “evaluation” and “qualification”.