Assessment in Mathematics Education

Abstract

This section sets the stage for the rest of the volume as it discusses purposes, principles, goals and traditions of assessment in mathematics education, with a view to discussing commonalities as well as differences between large-scale and classroom assessment. We recognize and discuss some strong differences between the traditions, practices, purposes, and issues involved in these two forms of assessment. Purposes of AssessmentAssessment has been used for multiple purposes, such as providing student grades, national accountability, system monitoring, resource allocation within a district,

Questioning the world by questioning the exam

“…It could be an interesting endeavor to cover all teaching for the one year mathematics through sequences of SRAs, with all exam exercises then relying on thematic projects. The study by Jessen (2015, to appear) exemplifies the idea that the change of examination drive the change of teaching, as proposed by Suurtamm et al (2016), in the sense that writing the best possible thematic project delivered yet another incentive for students to engage in the SRAs.…”

“…Redesign of exam exercises might not be an easy path to changing the teaching paradigm. The studies of Romberg (1987), Schoenfeld (1988), Webb (1992), Cheng and Curtis (2004) and Suurtamm et al, (2016) all indicate that radical changes of the exam are not easy, due to the influence of policy makers, societal stake holders and parents, who all hold strong views regarding the nature of mathematics exams. Representatives of the higher levels of codetermination need to be taken into account when promoting a changed teaching paradigm.…”

“…This was repeated by Christine Suurtamm and colleagues (2016) in the commission for the topic group discussion of assessment at ICME13. Suurtamm et al (2016) emphasise that the exam is most certainly a strong part of the constraints put on teaching from civilisation, society, and school (the higher levels of co-determination). Webb points out the role (and constraints) played by society by claiming that "public has, in large part, been resistant to reform efforts to expand assessment beyond norm referenced testing […]" (Webb, 1992, p. 664).…”

A Comparative Investigation of Assessment Practices in Distance and Online Learning Undergraduate Mathematics in Nigeria

“…Assessment attracts independent practices prominent to mathematical self-efficacy among distance and online learners. Studies have shown that assessment practices affect students' concentration on the tasks and course materials they believe that can be assessed to provide useful evidence to the institution (Suurtamm et al, 2016). Hence, the National Education Policy (The Ministry of Human Resources Department, 2019) proposed a strong adaptive assessment that will enable the instructors evaluate the learners learning progress and offer accurate feedback.…”

“…Kissane et al (2015) pointed out that the availability of technology and its use in mathematics education changes the way assessment is carried out in undergraduate mathematics learning; hence, "current assessment practices are struggling to keep pace with the use of technology for doing and teaching mathematics" (Stacey & Wiliam, 2013, p. 721). Suurtamm et al (2016) clarified some important conceptual principles necessary for sound distance and online mathematics assessment of students. These include assessments containing high-quality mathematics that guarantee learning and ensure equitable students learning opportunities and should be transparent enough to allow conclusions to be made (p. 4).…”