Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation

Difference between Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation.

What is Measurement?

Measurement is a general term used broadly in physics and mathematics and can be easily understood if we use this term to measure distance between two points due to its physical existence of measuring tool like a scale.

In the field of education, measurements is bit different than physics and mathematics tools, the tools used for education measurement include test, homework, observation, portfolios, project, checklist etc. In education, our measuring tools are not physical and we cannot measure attitude, behavior, and achievement etc. exactly due to an abstract property. These abstract tools give information about students’ learning. The information we got from the tool is measurement.

 What is Assessment?

Now if that measurement is used for the process of making the teaching learning process better than it is assessment. It means an appraisal of something to improve the quality of teaching and learning process for deciding what more can be done to improve the teaching, learning and outcomes.

 What is Evaluation?

Evaluation is the process of making a value judgment against intended learning outcomes and behavior, to decide the quality and extent of learning. Evaluation is always related to your purpose, you aligned your purpose of teaching with what students achieved at the end, with their quality and quantity of learning.

 Difference between Assessment and Evaluation

These terms used for a same concept, but a different process, serving as prerequisite to each other and having unique purpose. Assessment and Evaluation don‘t exist in a hierarchy; they both are parallel and different in purpose. In education field, every process starts with the measurement, and measurements generate tools, i.e. test, quiz, checklist, observation, portfolios, and homework. Measurement is the source to move towards assessment and evaluation because it provides the base and evidence to quantify the teaching learning process. They can give information about students’ learning. The information we got from the tool is measurement.

Now if that measurement is used for the process of making the teaching learning process better than it is assessment. On the other hand, evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject’s merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards.

Example of Difference between Assessment and Evaluation

When a teacher want to assess his students he focuses on  a daily basis that what he teach yesterday was a good way to teach or not, what he taught was the students need, did they understand what he teach, and then he can decide changing which things can cause the improvement in the learning process of students. This is known as assessment.

At the end of the assessment, opinion is not about the individual, it is about the process from which the students or individuals are passing for the betterment of that process. Evaluation is that when the learning process is complete and teacher want to see what are his targets or objectives and how much his students achieved those objectives, then the tools are made and measures come from that tell that how much his student learn and what is the quality of their learning. This process is evaluation.