The curriculum guide includes three categories of objectives: knowledge, skills/abilities, and values. Each category includes specific learning objective statements which define the expectations of the curriculum. From these statements the teacher will need to identify, in specific terms, those dimensions of the learning objectives that the teacher considers appropriate for the students. The course as a whole and each unit has a set of foundational or core objectives which all students are expected to achieve. The remaining time can either be used for enrichment or for additional help and support. Evaluation should, at the minimum, be based on these foundational objectives.
Teachers should avoid evaluating students' value positions as either right or wrong. This is only appropriate in situations relating to fundamental human rights. In most cases, there are quite a variety of acceptable positions in a pluralistic society. Therefore, teachers should try to pursue with students the reasoning that lies behind their value positions.
Values objectives in the curriculum guide call for the student to appreciate the complexity of many issues related to various aspects of social life. This is not a demand that students adopt a certain value position, but rather a suggestion to students that they should begin to understand some of the underlying moral, ethical, and aesthetic conflicts and contradictions of the social issue in question. Objectives of this sort lend themselves much more readily to informal methods of formative evaluation.
From individual, group, and class discussions, teachers can get a "feel" for what students have learned about a values objective that has been taught in the classroom. Teachers should chart changes which occur in student values rather than evaluate the quality of students' values. These changes may be recorded through the use of anecdotal records and checklists.
A major objective of social studies and Core Curriculum is to teach critical and creative thinking. Teachers must not deny this process to the students by insisting on a single value position in the classroom. Rather, the teacher ought to use these opportunities to stimulate discussion and independent thinking about issues.
Encourage students to develop the thinking and communications skills that allow them to develop legitimate value positions and to express and defend them in open debate. Teachers may evaluate students' work from this perspective, provided it is clear that the skills of thinking, logic, and communication are being evaluated rather than a specific value position. Being specific as to what these skills are and the stages in development that occur in them aids the teacher in constructing assessment instruments to gather such information.
Note: For a more detailed discussion of these issues see pages 46-49 of Saskatchewan Education (1988), Understanding the Common Essential Learnings: A Handbook for Teachers. Regina, SK.
It is important in evaluation to show clearly that there is a relationship or congruence between what has been taught and what is being evaluated. If an important teaching objective has been skills/abilities, then test instruments should also measure skills/abilities. It is important in meeting the objectives of this course to emphasize skills/abilities as well as information in any evaluative instrument used.
It is equally important when evaluating skills that students be asked to demonstrate that they know the skills conceptually and to select and apply the appropriate skill to a particular situation. Students should be asked to apply skills to new material, so that they are not able to use preformed generalizations as a crutch.
It is useful to distinguish between the terms assessment and evaluation. These terms are often used interchangeably, which causes some confusion in their meaning. Assessment is a preliminary phase in the evaluation process. In this phase, various strategies are used to gather information about student progress. Evaluation is the weighing of assessment information against some standard (such as curriculum learning objectives) in order to make a judgment or evaluation about the performance of the student. This may then lead to other decisions and actions by the teacher, student, or parent.
There are three main types of student evaluation:
Teachers conduct all three types of evaluation during the course of the school year.
Recognizing the importance of evaluation as an integral part of the curriculum, Saskatchewan Education has developed five general guiding principles which are closely linked to the Evaluation in Education report and provide a framework to assist teachers in planning for student evaluation.
For a more extensive treatment see Saskatchewan Education (1991). Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook. Regina, SK.
Although evaluation is not strictly sequential, it can be viewed as a cyclical process including four phases: preparation, assessment, evaluation, and reflection. The evaluation process involves the teacher as decision maker throughout all four phases.
