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“Assessment: The cornerstone of Education Process”

The process of teaching and learning is said to be the most vital concern of assessment. We may see that assessment is only about merely measuring the learnings and capabilities of the learners, but it is way much bigger than what we see and what we know. When a teacher uses a correct assessment tool for the learners, it will cultivate the minds and hearts of the learners where the teacher is not the only one who will benefit into it but also the learners themselves because by giving them the right assessment tool the learners will come to identify what are their strengths and weaknesses. It is like planting a seed to choosing a healthy soil. Therefore, assessment plays a very significant role in learning process. That’s why assessment should be seen as an intrinsic part of the learning process rather than something which is just ‘tacked on’ at the end in order to get some marks.The learners do not learn what the teachers teach. It is this simple and profound reality that means that assessment is perhaps the central process in effective instruction. If the learners learned what the teachers had taught, teachers would never need to assess. Assessment is also the reflection of the effectivity of every teachers. Through assessment teachers will be able to identify which his/her teaching approaches and methodologies are helpful and efficient in providing the right learnings of the students. Assessment not only tells how the students are currently doing in progress but it also tells how the effectivity of the teacher has been doing.It is like testing your fertilizer if it is helpful and enriching your plants, if it so, stick to that fertilizer, but if its not so let go of it and find another fertilizer better to your plants. Thus, assessment plays a very significant role not only in the learning process but also in the teaching process. Assessment is not contained in the box of the classrooms and in the perimeters of the school. It works not only for the teachers and learners in the classroom but also works and helps the parents of the learners, administration, program coordinators, policyholders, industry and other stakeholders.No wonder that assessment plays a crucial role in the totalityof education process because of its great impact and rich relevance to everyonewho are the players in the education system. Therefore, Assessment is the cornerstone of education process.

For Assessment as the cornerstone of the education process, what are the impacts and relevance of assessment to the players in the education system?

For Learners, assessment is like a magnifying glass. Assessment is not only given to the learners to just measure their knowledge but also to scrutinize their capabilities and abilities, their strengths and weaknesses, their talents and hidden talents. Assessment is also their tracks and evidence of their holistic progress. Assessment tells the learners, what they can do and what they will do, and that makes Assessment relevant to every Learners.

For Teachers, assessment is like a light. Assessment guides teachers how to begin and how to end. It provides direction as to how teachers can help students more and what teachers should do next. Students Owning Their Own Learning As Rick  Stiggins  (Stiggins,  Arter,  Chappuis,  &Chappuis,  2004)  reminds  us,  the  most  important instructional decisions are not made by teachers—they  are  made  by  students. When students believe they cannot learn, when challenging tasks are just one more opportunity to find out that you are not very smart, many students disengage. And this is perfectly understandable. What students are really doing when they disengage is denying the teacher the opportunity to make any judgment about what the student can do—after all, it is better to be thought lazy than dumb. This is why the most important word in any teacher’s vocabulary is yet. When a student says, “I can’t do it,” the  teacher  responds  with  “yet.”  This is more than  just  sound  psychology. It is actually  what we are learning about the nature of expertise and where it comes from. Of course individuals vary in their natural gifts, but these differences are very small to begin with. What happens is the small initial advantages of some  students  quickly  become  magnified when the students with these small advantages work hard, engage, and improve, while those who are slightly behind avoid challenge, and thus miss out on the chance to improve. Assessment informs instructional practice. Teachers themselves develop, administer  and  analyze the questions, they  are  more  likely  to apply  the results  of the assessment  to  their own teaching. Therefore, it provides feedback on the effectiveness  of instruction and gives  students a  measure of their progress. As Biggs (1999) maintains,  two  major functions  can be pointed  out  for classroom  assessment:  One  is to  show whether  or  not  the learning  has  been  successful, and  the other one is  to clarify  the  expectations  of  the teachers from  the students (Dunn et al.,  2004). Thus, Assessment is now not only just about to the grades of learners, it serves a light to guide teachers on lighting the future of the learners. It is a light to lead you to become an effective teacher- and that makes Assessment relevant to the Teachers. For Parents, assessment is like a document. Assessment certifies the learners' current learning progress for the parents. Learner’s learning is a shared partnership. Through the use of assessment the parents will come to know when to help their children in school, when to act, and when to be proud of. Teachers use meetings to updates the parents about the progress and performances of their children and use assessment to certify or an evidence.

For Administrators and Program coordinators, assessment is like a written report. The results of assessment that was given by the teacher to learners will be compiled by the teacher and it will be a report as a kind of feedback to the designed program for education. They design a program for education with the assessment is one of their sole foundation. The compiled assessments from the majority of the learners will be the basis of the program because it will tell the administrators and program coordinators what are needs of every learners for their betterment. What should be amended to the present program or if its should be replaced by a new one.

For Policymakers, assessment is like a bridge. Assessment provides significant informations about the progress and achievements of the learners. This will be the reflection to the kind of education we have today. The Policymakers or the government agencies will establish an educational law all for the better education. Assessment also helps the policymakers to strengthen the existing educational law, amending some parts of educational law, or replace it by a new one that will be based only to assessments of the learners by the teachers all over the country. Assessment connects the needs of the teachers and learners in the education to the law made by the policymakers.

When we look how big Assessment is, all the players of the education system will be connected and united to one another. That exactly what should be happened to aid the most vital concern of Assessment the teaching and the learning process or the teachers and the learners, to be united. Through Assessment, its all happening. Don’t limit assessment for just to have grades to be computed, think big. Assessment is the cornerstone of education process. It is the most basic yet, the most important part of Education that is all happening inside of the classroom. The relevance of Assessment is all starts to us, teachers. Therefore, we are the cornerstone of the Education.