The connection between assessment and learning outcomes

Introduction: When learning outcomes are written, it is important that they are written in a way that they can be assessed. Clearly, it is necessary to have some form of assessment tool or technique to determine the extent to which learning outcomes have been achieved. The challenge for teachers is to ensure that there is alignment between teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes. This link between teaching, assessment and learning outcomes helps to make the overall learning experience more transparent.

Purpose: To describe assessment techniques and see if there is an alignment between teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes.

Materials and methods: Analysis of assessment techniques used by teachers at “Isa Boletini” secondary school, Tirana. Two aspects were used to carry out the research: student survey and teacher survey (interview). These surveys aimed to see if students are helped to understand how they should achieve learning outcomes and how clearly the assessment techniques and assessment criteria are defined by the teacher.

Results: From the analysis of gender data, (45%) were male and (55%) were female. The age group surveyed is 16-18 years old. 100 students participated in the study. The analysis of the students’ survey shows that the answers given by them state that teachers use diverse methods during teaching and do not stick strictly to traditional teaching. The analysis of the teachers’ survey shows that they find it difficult to coordinate or align teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes, since most students are not interested during the lesson, they do not have cooperation with each other, or the spirit of group work, thus making it difficult to increase the performance of the students and their maximum involvement during the teaching process.

Conclusion: The use of appropriate teaching and assessment strategies leads to more accurate and clear learning outcomes. The quality of teaching increases when students can interact with teachers and teachers show genuine interest in solving their problems.