Identification of Students' Developmental and Academic Assessments

IDENTIFICATION OF STUDENTS' DEVELOPMENTAL AND ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS Inclusive education is a term that is not unfamiliar to hear in educational discussions. In Indonesia itself, the term inclusive education is always associated with children with special needs. However, at this time, new views or paradigms related to inclusive education put forward by education experts are changing the old paradigm. Education experts also explain that inclusive education is not only education aimed at children with special needs but also at all children. They explain that the broad meaning of inclusive education is education that is friendly and able to meet the developmental needs of children. Even UNESCO (2001: 17) explains that inclusive education is education that is open and friendly to learning by prioritizing actions to respect and embrace differences. Then in the Salamanca statement (1994) inclusive education is an education system designed by paying attention to the diversity of characteristics and needs of children. From the two explanations above, it can be seen that inclusive education is not only aimed at children with special needs, but inclusive education is aimed at all children. Inclusive education can also be interpreted as an education system that provides opportunities for children with special needs to experience, participate in and carry out education in regular/public schools. To implement and implement the concept of inclusive education in every educational institution, inclusive education management activities are very necessary. In this inclusive education management, there are several parts or components of education that are the targets or objectives in this inclusive education management activity that must be adjusted and modified. Inclusive education management also gives the principal full authority to plan, organize, direct, coordinate, supervise and evaluate the components of a school's education which include students, curriculum, education personnel, education facilities and infrastructure, education financing and relations between the community and schools. On this occasion the author had the opportunity to discuss Inclusive Education Management related to Student Management and Management of Educators and Education Personnel in the Concept of inclusive education. This management activity aims to make adjustments between the existing education concept and the needs of children who will undergo education, so that children's needs are met and are able to achieve optimal self-development. 1. Academic Assessment Mechanism Surapranata, S. & Hatta (in Juhairiyah, 2017, p. 66), explained that the procedure in determining the assessment should collect information about the learning progress that has been achieved by students. As is generally known about the variety of strategies, techniques, and assessment procedures, educators need to know several principles that can be used as a guide in determining meaningful learning assessments in order to obtain accurate information related to student learning outcomes. a. The learning targets to be assessed must be clear. Before assessing a student, educators must truly understand what is meant by knowledge, skills, and performance, because the information to be collected is related to these three aspects. Learning targets are the knowledge, skills, and performance that will be learned and mastered by students. If the clarity (validity) of the learning targets to be achieved has been met, then the process of selecting the right assessment technique will be even better. b. The selection of assessment techniques is adjusted to the learning objectives or learning standards of the educator. The objectivity of the assessment must focus on the aspects that will be studied by the educator, for example how students solve problems in learning a particular subject or how students put forward their arguments and are there any student responses to their friends' opinions in discussion activities? If so, then the educator must conduct a process assessment. c. The selection of assessment techniques is able to accommodate the needs of learners. The selection of the right assessment instrument is not only able to help educators to obtain data or information about a process and learning outcomes, but will also be very meaningful for students so as to improve their memory. The assessment techniques chosen must provide an opportunity for learners to determine specifically to find out how much competence has been mastered and follow-up to improve performance and provide meaningful feedback for them. d. Various assessment formats. Avoid assessment formats that tend to emphasize only one aspect of complex learning objectives, because these assessment formats cannot reach the learning objectives to be achieved in their entirety. Therefore, if educators are able to obtain information about learner achievement from various evaluation techniques or procedures, then it will have an impact on increasing the validity of the assessment applied. Matching exercises, for example, emphasize efforts to recall or recognize factual information; questions that must be answered in the form of essays emphasize students' ability to organize ideas and writing skills with certain time limits; and a project that lasts about one month emphasizes the free use of resources, research, and deeper analysis of a particular topic. All three assessment techniques can be needed to determine the extent to which students have achieved certain learning objectives. e. When educators interpret assessment results, educators must consider their weaknesses even though they use several types of assessments, because the information obtained is only a portion of the competencies that have been achieved by learners from the overall learning objectives. In other words, information obtained from the assessment process has errors or sampling errors. In addition, a number of factors such as students' physical and emotional conditions also limit the level of accuracy of the information obtained. Therefore, if educators conclude decisions based on information from assessment results, a number of limitations or shortcomings that arise must still be taken into account. 2. Techniques for Implementing Academic Assessment Marlina & Mukhsim (2020, p. 5) stated that there are 9 (nine) techniques in implementing assessments, namely: a. Observation Observation is one of the assessment techniques carried out by systematically observing and recording the symptoms of the object to be observed. Observation is used to obtain information about specific behaviors such as social skills, academic skills, and learning habits. b. Sample Analysis/Work Examples Work sample analysis is an assessment technique carried out by observing and analyzing children's work results, such as notes, drawing results, homework books, and so on. The work sample analysis that is often used is error analysis and response analysis. In analyzing errors, the child's work results are assessed in order to determine the error, then the child's errors are described and categorized to determine the error pattern. c. Criterion Reference Test A criterion reference test is an assessment technique that compares learning achievement with several criteria that have been determined in the curriculum. This test is often used in academic assessments. Most of these criterion reference tests are made by teachers. This criterion-referenced test is also conducted based on the curriculum and learning. d. Informal Inventory Formal inventory is an assessment technique conducted to determine the learning needs of children that include reading, arithmetic, and writing. The most frequently used formal inventory in the classroom is the informal reading inventory. This technique is more complete than the criterion-referenced test. e. Task Analysis Task analysis is an assessment technique conducted by describing learning tasks into several detailed components/units that are taught to achieve learning objectives. Task analysis is also defined as the process of separating, sorting and describing all components of a task in the form of detailed units. Analyzing tasks into task units is also called functional task analysis. Task analysis is used to break down tasks into parts that can be taught in the form of task units. For example, in learning to wear shoes. First take the shoes and socks, then place the socks and shoes in front of the child. The child sits on a chair facing the shoes. Take the right sock and put it on. Take the left sock, then put it on, and so on. f. Checklist A checklist is an assessment technique used to assess unobserved behavior. A checklist reveals information about behavior that is arranged in the form of a number of questions, and the child matches the statements with his/her condition. The aspects expressed also vary, for example academic achievement, behavior in class, and child development. g. Rating Scale A rating scale is an assessment technique used to record symptoms according to their levels. A rating scale consists of a list containing behavioral characteristics that must be recorded in stages. So it is almost the same as a checklist but the factors to be observed are arranged in stages according to their needs. h. Interviews and Questionnaires A questionnaire is an assessment technique that is carried out by making a list containing a series of questions regarding a problem or area to be assessed. Questionnaires are often used to obtain information, opinions, and attitudes. i. Normative Reference Test A normative reference test is an assessment technique that is carried out by comparing a child's abilities with the abilities of other children (groups) of the same age. This test is carried out on a group of children, then the scores are compared with the group scores.