EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF TEACHI

Abstract

This essay reflects on educational assessment, understood as a fundamental component of instruction that impacts student learning, demands many hours of work from teachers, and whose results are crucial for decision-making regarding teaching methods and pedagogy, student learning strategies, and curricular and management adjustments within the educational institution. This subject of study has a broad theoretical framework that will serve as a basis for rethinking some of its elements, which every teacher who aims to improve student learning and their teaching methods should understand theoretically and integrate into their daily practice. Some of the elements to be addressed include the definitions of assessment from various authors, as it is a polysemous term given the complexity of its scope; the classification of assessment in relation to two criteria: the agents involved and the timing and purpose of its application; and an integrative prototype called competency-based assessment. Furthermore, the definition of the techniques and instruments used for the systematic collection of information will be presented, along with the criteria to consider for their selection. Finally, this article will explain the aspects raised by Föster (2019) that teachers should consider when evaluating their students, which the author refers to as assessment literacy. This literacy is understood as the ability to understand, interpret, and use assessment consciously and formatively to improve learning. Therefore, the purpose of this scientific essay is to elucidate educational assessment as a transformative agent of teaching and, at the same time, a catalyst for educational quality. The methodological approach will focus on a rigorous and systematic analysis of the theoretical contributions of contemporary authors.