Measurement in 20 th centuary

    The process of measurement is an essential component of the learning system. Measurement is always done of a quality, attribute or variable of a thing or a person. The process of measurement converts the variable into variety which is used for drawing inferences. For example, intelligence is quantified in terms of IQ and achievement variable is measured in terms of scores.

         E.L. Thorndike stated that ‘anything that exists at all, exists in some quantity; and anything that exists in some quantity is capable of being measured’. Measurement of any kind is a matter of determining how much or how little, how great or how small, how much more than or how much less than.

        James M. Bradfield defined measurement as’ the process of assigning symbols to the dimension of phenomenon as precisely as possible’.J.P.Guilford defined measurement as the ‘assignment of numerals to objects or events according to certain rules’.

 1900-1915:

It is the period marked for the development and research for different methods in the field of measurement. It is conveniently be described as the motivational period in the field of psychological measurement.

The Binet, in this period, developed his intelligence test in America. The development of different standardized achievement tests were also developed during this period. The group intelligence test was also developed during this period by Ottis.

1915-1930:

Motivated by the pioneers in the field of measurement, educationists and psychologists developed numerous tests during this period. Standardised tests were developed almost for all areas of school subjects.

It is the period when achievement batteries were developed. Several group intelligence tests were also developed during this period.

Hence the movement of group intelligence tests started during the first World War in the shape of ‘Army Alpha’ took momentum during this period. Woodworth’s Personal Data Sheet, which was the result of the effect of First World War, resulted in the development of several personality tests and inventories during this period.

1930-1945:

The rapidity with which development of testing movement took place during 1915 to 1930, was further stabilized during this period. The test developers were not interested in developing the test only, but they become concerned to their utility as well, during this period.

Intelligence tests and achievement tests were employed indiscriminately during this period. In the areas, where injustice was done to individuals due to wrong decisions, test results were accepted without any criticism and hitch. Encouraged by objective measurement, test developers, never evaluated their tests critically, nor they interpreted the results of their tests properly.

This attitude resulted in a severe criticism of objective tests. The well-known heredity vs. environment controversy became bitter during this period. The categorization and classification of school classes on the basis of test scores met a severe criticism during this period.This severe criticism left a healthy effect on testing movement. Now people started weighing their tests critically. The projective techniques to measure the whole personality were developed during this period.

1945-1960:

The main feature of this period was excessive use of Test Batteries and Test Programmes. Due to the success during the Second World War, a number of Aptitude tests and tests for special ability were developed during this period.

This period is a golden era in the field of psychological movement from the point of view of test administration and their use. It is in this period that Edward developed a personality inventory based on Murray’s personality theory.

1960-1981:

Similarly several tests were developed and standardized during 1961 to 1981. With the emergence of new problems in the field of psychology, tests were developed to meet these problems during this period. Specially tests were developed to measure frustration, creativity, different needs, self-concept and self-disclosure.

Today, measurement is common to everyday life. If we analyse a day’s activity we find that we use measurement in some form or other. It can be said that almost every aspect of human life, from birth to death, is touched by measurement.

In social sciences too, we employ measurement for better interpretation of data. In almost every research project in social sciences emphasis is laid on the use of statistics to quantify the data collected through various instruments. In psychology and education, measurement and quantification are very important.

      When we think about tests in schools, we often picture students shuffling papers at their desks. They fill in short answers to questions, respond to multiple-choice style options, or write brief essays. The majority of their cognitive effort is focused on searching their memory to find appropriate responses to the test items, or applying formulae to familiar problems. This style of educational assessment targets the types of skills that were seen as important throughout the 20th century—the skills of storing relevant information and retrieving it upon demand, often as these processes related to literacy and numeracy.

However, from a measurement perspective, the issues are more complex. Meaningful measurement requires defining what one intends to measure, as well as a consistent system to define the magnitude of what is being measured. This is straightforward for physical measurements, such as weight in pounds and height in inches, but not for cognitive measurements. Although we have been assessing numeracy and literacy skills for over a hundred years, measuring these skills is not as simple as it seems.

Product Evaluation

 PRODUCT EVALUATION

The CIPP Evaluation Model was developed by Daniel L. Stufflebeam in 1966, and further updated throughout the years, with the latest update in 2002. The CIPP Evaluation Model is a comprehensive framework for guiding evaluations of programmes, projects, personnel,products, institutions, and systems. It is a popular alternative to the Kirkpatrick / Kirkpatrick's Learning Evaluation Model, and is widely used around the world, especially by educational institutions.

CIPP stands for Context, Input, Process, Product, and these 4 main aspects comprise the CIPP Evaluation Model. The intention of this model is not to prove, but rather, to improve upon the programme itself. The CIPP Evaluation Model may be applied to educational / training

programmes, to best determine the merit and worth of the training programme, as well as to determine how to improve upon it.The Product Evaluation stage of the CIPP Evaluation Model measures outcomes. The impact / reach of the training programme, and its effectiveness in fulfilling the objectives.Transportability seeks to determine if the training programme can be transferred, adapted, or used in a different setting. Sustainability is another aspect to be measured, accounting for how durable / long-lasting the benefits were. Adjustments to the training programme may also need to be performed at this stage.

OBJECTIVES OF PRODUCT EVALUATION

● To collect descriptions and judgment of outcomes

● To relate outcomes and judgment of outcomes

● To relate outcomes to goals and to context, input and process information

● To interpret the efforts’ merit and worth

Methods of product evaluation

● By operationally defining and measuring outcomes

● By collecting judgments of outcomes from stakeholders

● By performing both qualitative and quantitative analyses

● By comparing outcomes to assessed needs, goals, and other pertinent standards Relation to decision making in the change process

● For deciding to continue, terminate, modify or refocus a change activity

● For presenting a clear record of effects (intended and unintended, positive and negative)

● For judging the effort’s merit and worth

Product Evaluation (P): evaluation of the outcome of the program to decide to accept, amend, or terminate the program, using criteria directly related to the goals and objectives (i.e. put desired student outcomes into question form and survey pre- and post-). Loop back to the original objectives in the Context Evaluation (C) to see if and how these would be changed or modified based on the data.

Product evaluation

Product evaluation includes the outcomes of the school. The focus of the product is not on the student’s achievement of grades but the skills, attitudes,knowledge, learning and abilities they attain which the student is going to use in life to benefit society. The aim of the school is to make the students productive so that they can stand on their feet in society. (Scriven, 1994).

Some important questions with respect to Product for school evaluation are:

1. What are the achievements of the students of the school in co-curricular and extracurricular activities?

2. What are the different summative and formative assessment strategies used by the school?

3. How will students practically implement what they have learned?

4. Are there registers for recording of different activities of the students?

5. How could the quality of teachers and school reputation be improved?

The CIPP model deals with products or outcomes not only at the end but

also at different points during the beginning, implementation and designing of the educational

program. Outcomes are then mapped with objectives, weaknesses are noted and expected

changes are made for the betterment of the quality of education.

Purpose: Decide to accept, amend, or terminate the program

Task : develop the assessment of the program

For example, Product-oriented evaluation focuses on the final product of an assignment, like an essay, and offers a grade only for that. Process-oriented evaluation, on the other hand, focuses on the entire process of an assignment and calculates a grade based on performance of each activity in the series that creates the final product.

Characteristics

● It is a kind of evaluation where the evaluator views and scores the final product made and not on the actual performance of making that product.

● It is more concerned with the outcome of the performance of the learner.

● It also focuses on the achievement of the learner.

● Product evaluation focuses on evaluating the result or outcome of a process.

● To determine the extent to which the goals of the program have been achieved.

● Measure, interpret, and judge a project's outcomes by

● Product evaluation includes the outcomes of the school.

● The focus of the product is not on the student’s achievement of grades but the skills,attitudes, knowledge, learning and abilities they attain which the student is going to use in life to benefit society.

● The aim of the school is to make the students productive so that they can stand on their feet in society.

Questions for product evaluation

To determine

● How do students use what they learned

● Is there any informal assessment

● What the quality of the assessment

● Is the evaluation carried out for the whole process

● What are the main"lesson learned "

● Is there one final exam at the end or several during the course

● How was the overall experience for the teachers and for the students

Methods : traditional research methods, multiple measures of objectives, and other methods

CIPP evaluation model

 

CIPP evaluation model

The CIPP Evaluation Model is a comprehensive framework for guiding evaluations of programmes, projects, personnel, products, institutions, and systems. It is a popular alternative to the Kirkpatrick / Kirkpatrick's Learning Evaluation Model, and is widely used around the world, especially by educational institutions.

The model was proposed by Stufflebeam in 1983. The CIPP Model (Context, Input, Process, and Product) can be used for both type of evaluation, summative and formative. The most important thing about this model is that it provides the holistic view of every element by evaluating context, input, process and output from each and every angle. With the help of this model, evaluation can be done systematically, fulfilling the general needs of evaluation. The important element which makes this model different from other models is that it focuses on the context for the evaluation of teaching learning and development process (Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007).

The intention of this model is not to prove, but rather, to improve upon the programme itself. The CIPP Evaluation Model may be applied to educational / training programmes, to best determine the merit and worth of the training programme, as well as to determine how to improve upon it.

4 main aspects comprise the CIPP Evaluation Model are as follows:

 

 

1.Context evaluation

Context evaluation helps to assess the needs and opportunities within a defined context or environment (Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007). The objectives of context evaluation are to define, identify and address the needs of the target population, identify the problems and assess if the goals are responsive to the desired needs or not (Khuwaja, 2001; Stufflebeam, 2001). The different types of methods for the evaluation of context include surveys, document reviews, data analysis and interviews (Stufflebeam, 2003). Some questions that context deals with are the following:

1. Are the aims of the school suitable or not?

2. Do the objectives generate from aims?

3. Are the courses taught relevant to the aims?

4. Is the school fulfilling social needs?

Example:

If an educational program is to be launched for the learners with  special needs. A  thorough needs analysis is required before the  launch of the program. It is imperative to understand the problems faced by these learners and the learning environment should be tweaked to provide them with easy access to the learning tools .

 

2.Input evaluation

The purpose of this type of evaluation is to provide information for determining the resources used to meet the goals of the program (Khawaja, 2001). The resources include time resources, human resources, physical resources, infrastructure, curriculum and content for evaluating the quality of education at school. Some questions that come under the context of input are:

1. What are the different learning skills that students will gain?

2. Is there any balance between the practical and theory work?

3. What type of resources should the school use for effective teaching and learning?

 4. Are there science laboratories and library? Are they well maintained?

5. How are teachers using their teaching skills for effective teaching learning?

6. Do the teachers have appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude for teaching?

EXAMPLE :

For input evaluation of an education program for learners with special needs. The budget for the program , the schedule for the classes, infrastructure , learning strategies, media, teaching staff etc. Should to taken into consideration.

3.Process evaluation

Process evaluation focuses on the running of the program and teaching learning processes. Implementation is a phase in which the inputs are used in effective manner to achieve the desired aims, objectives, goals of the product. The evaluator assesses the processes to understand how the school is working and which processes are responsible for better working and maintaining the quality of education. In this phase, implementation decision are taken (Patil & Kalekar, 2014). Processes of the school include systematic approaches, teaching learning activities, parent teacher meetings, annual functions, co-curricular and extracurricular activities; it also includes student’s board examinations based on both summative and formative assessment (Print,1993). Process deals with the following questions:

1. Has ICT been used in many school practices?

2. Are teachers and students of the school actively participating in different activities?

3. Is there effective two-way communication between administration, teachers and other staff?

 4. Can formative evaluation of teaching learning process be done?

5. Which types of activities are conducted in the school?

EXAMPLE :

If it is found that the learners with special needs are not performing well in the tests. There is need to evaluate the process and find out the reason.

This can be done by talking to these learners, observing them in the class, interacting with the teachers, and having focused group  discussions.

4.Product evaluation

Product evaluation includes the outcomes of the school. The focus of the product is not on the student’s achievement of grades but the skills, attitudes, knowledge, learning and abilities they attain which the student is going to use in life to benefit society. The aim of the school is to make the students productive so that they can stand on their feet in society. (Scriven, 1994). Some important questions with respect to Product for school evaluation are:

1. What are the achievements of the students of the school in co-curricular and extracurricular activities?

2. What are the different summative and formative assessment strategies used by the school?

 3. How will students practically implement what they have learned?

 4. Are there registers for recording of different activities of the students?

5. How could quality of teachers and school reputation be improved?

EXAMPLE :

For the learners with special the data for product evaluation would be gathered through instruments like test sheets, interview sheets ,examination results, research outputs , publications, etc.

Conclusion

The CIPP model deals with products or outcomes not only at the end but also at different points during the beginning, implementation and designing of the educational program. Outcomes are then mapped with objectives, weaknesses are noted and expected changes are made for the betterment of the quality of education (Sancer, Baturay & Fadde, 2013).

 

Conceptual framework

 

                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of implementation of CIPP model for quality evaluation

 

According to Figure 1, there are four dimensions studied for quality evaluation at school level which focus on the aspects of educational objectives, mission and goals, including the different dimensions of context, input, process and product. Context refers to the need and opportunities that defines the goals and objectives on the basis of which the outcomes are attained. Input involves the resources, infrastructure, curriculum and content needed to implement the teaching learning processes. Process includes the teaching learning processes, evaluation and activities; it includes all the processes that are necessary for the implementation of different activities and their formative evaluation. Product evaluation involves skills, values, attitudes and results that are needed to identify the outcomes and effectiveness of the educational program (Stufflebeam, 2003)

Based on Stufflebeam’s (2003) evaluation model, this study was undertaken for quality evaluation by assessing the context, inputs, processes and product of schools (Stufflebeam, 2000). The researchers studied all the four dimensions and focused on how context, inputs and processes affect the product or outcomes of the school. This dimension involved the background of the educational institute, its missions, goals and objectives, type of resources, content, curriculum and strategies used for implementing the teaching learning processes, including skills of instructors, equipment and evaluation techniques that are responsible for achieving outcomes or product.