Evaluation continued

In the preparation phase, decision are made which identify what is to be evaluated, the type of evaluation to be used, the criteria against which student learning outcomes will be judged, and the most appropriate assessment strategies with which to gather information on student progress.

The assessment phase is action-oriented. The teacher identifies appropriate information- gathering strategies, constructs or selects assessment techniques in collaboration with the student, continues to make decisions such as indentification and elimination of bias from assessment instruments will be conducted. The teacher collects, organizes and interprets the student information gathered.

During the evaluation phase, the teacher examines the collected student information carefully taking into consideration pertinent points such as the student's particular situation, the curriculum, the time of the year, the variety of resources, etc. to make a judgment on the progress of the student or the level of achievement of student learnings.

The reflection phase allows the teacher to consider possible actions and to make decisions necessary to carry out improvements or modifications to subsequent teaching and evaluation.

Types of evaluation

Diagnostic evaluation is a type of formative evaluation that usually occurs at the beginning of the school year or before a unit of instruction. It is used ot assess interests, abilities (strengths), difficulties (weaknesses) or the level at which a student or group of students is achieving. Diagnostic evaluation provides information essentiel to teachers when making decisions about program or instruction modifications necessary for a student or group of students. It is helpful in ascertaining what your students know or don't know about the topic to be studied. Examples include reading inventories, oral test for second language students, test for identifying learning difficulties, etc.

Formative evaluation is an on-going process, an integral part of the learning process that keeps students and teachers informed of student progress towards program learning objectives. The main purpose of formative evaluationis to improve instruction and student learning. By providing immediate feedback to students, corrective action can be taken to ensure the student achieves the desired learning outcome. This type of evaluation helps teachers understand the degree to which students are learning the course material and the extent to which their knowledge, understandings, skills and attitudes are developing. Students are provided direction for future learning and are encouraged to take responsibility for their own progress. The evaluation, self-evaluation or peer evaluation. Examples include checklists, anecdotal records, etc.

Summative evaluation occurs most often at the end of a unit of study. Its primary purpose is to determine what has been learned over a period of time, to summarize student progress, and to report on progress relative to curriculum foundational objectives to students, parents and educators. It is a judgement of the student's global competence; the evaluation of each student is based on the same requirements. Examples include selection, promotion, certification, etc.

* Teachers should take into consideration both formative and summative evaluation when assigning students final marks on the report card. Diagnostic evaluation should never be a part of a student's mark.

Guiding principles of evaluation in Core French

In the framework of the Core French curriculum you will consider the following guiding principles:

x.	Evaluation should be an integral part of the teaching-learning process;
x.	Evaluation should take place in the context of meaningful activities congruent with the way in which students are taught;
x.	When choosing objectives and evaluation strategies the teacher should take into consideration the individual needs of the student;
x.	Evaluation should reflect development of communicative and linquistic competence of the student for oral comprehension and oral production. Written comprehension and written production will be introduced in later grades. Evaluation should also reflect the cultural and general language education components of the Core French curriculum;
x.	The teacher should use a variety of assessment techniques;
	Evaluation should be based on the Core French curriculum objectives; in general, the teacher will use foundational objectives for summative evaluation and learning objectives for formative evaluation;
x.	Evaluation should be fair and equitable. It should be sensitive to family, classroom, school, and community situations; it should be free of bias. Students should be give opportunities to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, understandings, skills and attitudes.

The multidimensional curriculum model proposed by Stern (1987) on which the new Core French curriculum is based, consists of four syllabi: communicative-experientiel, culture, language and general language education. Evaluation of student learning should therefore include a broad range of assessment techniques that clearly reflect this communicative, learner-centred and activity-based orientation to second language acquisition.

Following are a variety of evaluation techniques with concrete examples that may give teachers ideas for evaluating student performance. It is to be noted that evaluation at the K-3 level should reflect to development of oral skills as no formal reading and writing are introduced until Grade 4 and 5. Daily observations of student performance in communicative, interactive situations recorded in anecdotal records or on checklist and rating scales with specific and objective criteria is a systematic way to monitor student progress and make this type of informal evaluation as valid as a formal evaluation such as a test.

Even at the K-3 level, evaluation is an important part of the learning process. However, it is recommended that the evaluation process be based on observation as the students are too young to be evaluated in a second language. Furthermore, there are too many unknown factors to make a truly accurate assessment of the student's progress.

Keeping the lines of communication open is still one of the best and most successful means of assessing students at this level. Communication should involve not only parents but other staff members as well. Newsletters are a great way of communicating. Newsletters should be primarily written in English as most parents are not comfortable wiht one that is written in a language they may not be familiar with. The newsletter provides an opportunity for the parents to become involved in their child's learning of a second language as it becomes a starting point for discussion.

Students can take part in the development of the newsletter. Whenever a student contributes to the letter his/her name appears under contribution. Placing the name after each contribution encourages participation and involvement from the students. The gathering of materials is done at the end of the month or at the end of the unit of study. If any handouts are done in the unit, the teacher can keep these handouts until the unit and the newsletter are completed. Students can make booklets with the handouts, and the newsletter becomes the cover page. this way all handouts within a theme are kept together rather than sent home separately. Only a few students will be able to contribute to a newsletter at any one time.

A sample of a newsletter can be found at the end of Unit 2.3, "Animals". Other examples of newsletters can be found in A Curriculum Guide for Grades K-3 Core French, 1987 pp. 641-658.

The following examples of evaluation techniques are merely suggestions for teachers. Some examples have several criteria with some blank spaces left so that teachers may add any information they wish. Blank forms of evaluation have also been included. Teachers may reorganize any of the exmples as they wish to better suit their particular needs.

Student Evaluation Techniques

Observation Checklists

When?

During classtime when students are actively engaged in pedagogical activities.

With whom?

With all students either individually, in pairs or in groups.

Why?

To assess the student's abilities, attitudes, or performance in process areas such as communication skills, linguistic skills, extent of participation or interest in the topic.

What?

	x.	Different criteria may be set such as:
		~. ~. ~. ~. ~. ~. ~. ~.	works in groups or pairs completes work follows direction stays on task communicated in French accepts correction as a means to improving takes risks asked for repetition or explanation makes connections of other known languages

How?

Select two to five students to observe each day. If the class is working in groups, evaluate one group per day.

Observation checklists are most effective when collected over time and used in a systematic way.

Grille d'observation

Période de l'évaluation:_______________________

	Objectifs du programme d'études	Commentaires
Nom des élèves