Objectives 

To develop an understanding of: 

• International/ regional trends and rationales for curriculum evaluation and assessment of student’s competencies
• Types and methods of curriculum evaluation
• Restructuring evaluation and assessment systems in view of humanistic-cognitive approaches
• Standard based curriculum evaluation and quality assessment 

Focus 

Curriculum evaluation 

The term ‘evaluation’ generally applies to the process of making a value judgment. In education, the term ‘evaluation’ is used in reference to operations associated with curricula, programs, interventions, methods of teaching, and organizational factors. Curriculum evaluation aims to examine the impact of implemented curriculum on student performance and to revise / readjust the official intended curriculum accordingly.

Assessing and monitoring students’ progress 

Assessment of learning outcomes has always been a powerful influence on how and what teachers teach and is thus an important source of feedback on the official intended curriculum and the way in which it is implemented. The assessment of students’ learning outcomes (knowledge, understanding, skills, competencies…) constitutes integral component of the teaching and learning process and serves a number of purposes, including; 

• providing teachers with information about students’ knowledge, understanding and skills to enable teachers and students to monitor teaching and learning;
• allowing progression through a school system or selection within it;
• providing stakeholders employers with confidence in, and details of, the outcomes of schooling;
• allowing educational authorities to monitor and compare the performance of schools and education systems. 

Fulfilling these diverse roles of diagnosis, certification, and accountability, requires different kinds of assessment instruments and strategies designed to serve each specific purposes.  

Key words  

Evaluation, assessment, assessment instruments and tools, impact, learning outcomes, curriculum evaluation, performance, effectiveness,