Internal and external Evaluation

INTRODUCTION               

                                                   The process of teaching and learning in any subjects of the school curriculum always works for the realization of the stipulated teaching – learning objectives by following a well thought program. The teachers always strive hard for the achievement of the desired aims and objectives of teaching social studies within the specific time period . He naturally become eager to know about thr result of his striving either for providing necessary directions or for making educational or administrative decisions in the interest of the student. For the purpose , teacher needs some data derived through various means like test, measurement and evaluation.

Evaluation is a broad and comprehensive term than process of ascertaining or judging the value or amount of something by use of a standard of appraisal.

Internal and external Evaluation

Internal Evaluation

The new concept of educational evaluation include not only quantitative assessment done externally but qualitative appraisal done by the teachers concern also. “ Assessment of learning behavioral changes qualitatively by way of internal judgment is known as Internal Assessment / Evaluation. By internal assessment the effectiveness of the instructions imparted also assessed along with the level of achievement of the learner. It can also be used for the continues appraisal of students progress during a particular period . But it is important that , the Internal assessment is not a substitute for the traditional annual external examination. The Internal assessment should be continues and comprehensive . The system of internal assessment has to be so organised as to help us in changing attitudes of the students favourably towards motivated and active participation in day to day programs associated with their education . Internal evaluation should as objective and biased as possible ,for which it should based on their performance in a number of items such as the records of written test, oral tests, practical tests, home work , as well as participation in seminar ,discussion , projects etc. Pooling of the results of observation by the various teachers , done with the help of checklists ,rating scale etc will be immense help for assessing personal and social qualities.

A teacher should provide as many activities as possible and maintain detailed records about the nature of participation of each student.

Advantages

1.      Examination based on mere rote memory of the student can be avoided

2.      Help to minimize the over anxiety and nervousness among the students at the time of examination.

3.      Motivation to active participation in both curricular and Non curricular activates.

4.      Help in identifying the strength and weakness of the student in the various aspect and to impart remedial instructions if necessary.

5.      It is a universally accepted principal that one who imparts instruction is the best person to assess the students. Internal assessment make this possible.

                        

External evaluation/ Examination

                     In some states in our country, there is a common examination conducted for all the students of a region at the end of the primary and upper primary stage. Almost invariably, there is an examination conducted by a Board at the end of high school or secondary stage and higher secondary stage for the pupils of all the schools in a region/ state.

                      Examinations are also conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education Delhi and the Anglo Indian Board in respect of schools affiliated to them. Similarly, universities conduct examinations for all students of all colleges affiliated to them. All such examinations are called External examinations or Public examinations. These are called external examinations as these are conducted not by the teachers who teach the students but by an external organization other than the school or college. To pass External examination, it is often necessary to obtain minimum pass marks in all the subjects prescribed for the examination or a certified number of specific subjects. Failure in one or two subjects may lead to the student being required to appear in those subjects at a supplementary examination. Marginal failures in one or more subjects are often condoned, on the basis of certain rules or through discussions in certain committees by the award of grace marks. In addition to the declaration of results in terms of pass and fail, the common practice is to classify candidates into three divisions: first, second, and third. Successful candidates are issued mark lists and certificates. These certificates are recognized by all the Boards and Universities on reciprocal basis for admission to various classes and also by different departments/ organizations in states for purposes of eligibility for various posts.

Aspects of External Evaluation

Objective	Assessment of the level of achievement of the students.
Coverage	Only scholastic aspects of student's growth.
Evaluation Techniques	Primarily written examinations and practical examinations.
Evaluation tools	Question papers
Periodicity	Generally after the end of a stage of education
Organizational  Structure	Top heavy administrative structure
Use of Results	Classification, grading, certification, selection to admission  courses of higher education and jobs.
Examinee status	Merely an incognito roll number
Teacher status	An insignificant and usually a mistrusted tool in  the examination machinery.
Acceptability	Universal in spite of limitations.

                                        

               Formative and Summative Evaluation

   Formative Evaluation

Definition and Meaning  

                In the words of A.J. Nitko,(1983), “Formative evaluation is concerned with judgments made during the design and or development of a program which are directed towards modifying, forming or otherwise improving the program before it is completed”.

                Gilbert Sax (1989) states: “Formative evaluation takes place during instruction by letting the teacher or evaluator know if the students are meeting instructional objectives, if the program is on time and if there are ways that the program might be improved. Formative evaluation helps current students to learn more effectively”.

Characteristics of Formative Evaluation

               Formative evaluation has the following characteristics:

·         It relatively focuses on molecular analysis

·         It is cause seeking

·         It is interested in the broader experiences of the program users

·         Its design is exploratory and flexible

·         It tends to ignore the local effects of a particular program

·         It seek to identify influential variables

·         It requires analysis of instructional material for mapping the hierarchical structure of  the learning tasks and actual teaching of the course for a certain period.

Summative Evaluation

Definition and meaning

              According to A.J Nikto (1983),”Summative evaluation describes judgments about the merits of an already completed program, procedure or product.”

                 In the views of Ebel R.L and Frisbie(1986) “Summative evaluation is conducted at the end of an instructional segment to determine if learning is sufficiently complete to warrant moving the learner to the next segment of instruction.”

Characteristics of summative evaluation

·         It lends to the use of well-defined evaluation designs

·         It focuses on analysis

·          It provides descriptive analysis

·         It tends to stress local effects

·         It is unobtrusive and non-reactive as far as possible

·         It is concerned with broad range of issues

·         Its instruments are reliable and valid

Difference between Formative and Summative Evaluation

                   M. Seriven explains the difference between these terms as follows in his book Evaluation Thesaurus (1980), “Formative evaluation is conducted during the development or improvement of a program or product (or person). It is an evaluation conducted for in-house and normally remain in-house but it may be done by an internal or external evaluator or a combination. Summative evaluation on the other hand is conducted after completion of a program (or a course of study)and for the benefit of some external audienceor decision maker(e.g. funding agency or future possible users) though it may be done by an internal or an external evaluator or by a combination.”

Following are the main differences between these two types of evaluation:

·         They differ in purpose, nature and timing

·         Formative evaluation is the assessment made during the instructional phase to inform the teacher about progress in learning and what more is to be done but summative evaluation is the terminal assessment of performance at the end of instruction.

·         The main consideration in formative evaluation is to reveal the process by which the examinee achieved the outcomes. On the other hand the main consideration of summative evaluation is the determination of the extent to which the examinee mastered these knowledge and skills associated with a course.

·         Formative evaluation takes the form of a dialogue between the student and the teacher in which the task is determined by both. In summative evaluation, the assessment is done to test outcomes against a set of objective criteria without revealing the details of the rout to the teacher which the student followed in reaching that point.

 Both are intended to examine the worth of a particular entity. Only timing, the audience requesting it, and the way its results are used can indicate whether a study is formative. Moreover the same study may be viewed by one client as formative and by another one as summative.

CONCLUSION

            Even if appearing in many forms and types, the main purpose of Evaluation is the assessment of teaching- learning outcomes. Both internal-external evaluation and formative-summative evaluation helps the teacher and students to know the level of their achievement which is essential for diagnostic and remedial teaching and improving method of teaching on the part of teachers and to find out the shortcomings in learning and the ways of improvement on the part of students.

REFERENCES :

Aggarwal J.C (2000) , Essentials of Examination System Evaluation, Tests, And Measurement, Vikas  publishing House, New Delhi.