UDC 007.51 (045)
DOI: 10.36871/2618-9976.2023.07-2.005
Authors
Ivan N. Drogobytskiy,
Doctor of Economics, Professor, Professor of the System Analysis in Economics Department
of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Abstract
The article constates nontriviality
of the task provided with assessing
knowledge. Here we analyze the scales for measuring
knowledge that have found practical application in various countries
and reveal the evolution of measuring knowledge in our country.
Finally, we prove the inconsistency of the methodology for assessing
knowledge in a 100point
scale, which has become widespread
in the national higher school. Nontriviality
of the task provided
with knowledge assessment is explained by double subjectivity
(the subjectivity of the student's mastering knowledge and the
subjectivity of the assessment of this knowledge by the teacher),
as well as a scanty selection of control questions in comparison
with the total volume of a discipline’s educational material which
is an object of control. Despite this, the established grade is required
to reflect objectively (!) the degree of a student’s mastering
in the entire knowledge arsenal of a controlled discipline.
Here we analyzed some of scales for measuring knowledge. These
are the 4point
scale, used for a long time in our country: the
10point
scale, used in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Romania;
the 20point
scale used in Greece, Peru, Belgium and France, and
the most widely used 100point
scale, which measures knowledge
in the United States, Turkey, India, Egypt and modern Russia. All
marked scales belong to the class of relative or ordinal ones, and
their application consists in assigning to each student a fixed reference
value, reflecting the level of his knowledge in the discipline
being examined. Despite the fact that the reference values of the
measuring scales are denoted by numbers, in fact they are not
numbers and arithmetic operations cannot be performed on them.
Unfortunately, this natural rule is often violated. Many participants
in the educational process have wish to strengthen the ordinal
scale and further objectify the grades. It has led to the synthesis
of ornate methodological superstructures on ordinal
scales, which often do not stand up to scrutiny. Domestic educational
institutions were especially keen on this.
From the standpoint of measurement theory, an analysis was
made of the methodology for applying the 100point
scale for
measuring knowledge, which, with minor modifications, has
been used by national universities since the very beginning
of market reforms. The analysis showed that to assess the
knowledge of students, the mentioned methodology uses three
measuring scales: a 20point
scale at intermediate certifications,
a 60point
scale during a test or exam, and a 100point
scale
when forming the final grade in the discipline. The article proves
the theoretical inconsistency of the applied methodology and
develops recommendations for overcoming it.
Keywords
Assessment (measurement) of knowledge, Measuring scales, Identity and ordering relations, Relative (ordinal) scale, Reference (scale) values, Permissible operations on assessment data
