OUR national educational policies have not paid much attention to improving students’ assessment, which has become a major hurdle to students’ learning.

The prevailing traditional assessment in its summative form is administered to large groups of students to broadly assess their knowledge across various subjects. It often focuses on memorisation and recall. The written examination typically tests students’ ability to recall information and apply knowledge under time constraints. Students are asked to write extended responses that demonstrate their understanding of a topic. This type of assessment tests students’ research skills, analysis, and writing aptitude.

Multiple choice questions are used widely in examinations, which test recall and the recognition of correct answers. However, while they can assess factual knowledge they can’t really evaluate students’ thinking skills of a higher order.

In response to the limitations of traditional assessment, various alternative forms of assessment have been developed to better capture students’ learning and skills. Alternative forms of assessment include formative assessment, project-based assessment, performance-based assessment, and competency-based........

© Dawn