Abstract
Introduction and goal: Academic evaluation plays a central role in the teaching-learning process. In traditional systems, focusing on testing and grading has caused stress and unhealthy competition. For this reason, a qualitative-descriptive evaluation approach has been used in Iranian primary education, which emphasizes providing constructive feedback. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of descriptive evaluation on academic performance and self-confidence of primary school students from a research perspective.
Research methodology: This research is a type of theoretical and review-based fundamental research, and its implementation method is library, analytical, and descriptive studies. The research findings were analyzed based on a qualitative approach.
Findings:The findings of this study show that implementing descriptive assessment is associated with improving students' learning and academic performance. This method is also effective in increasing students' intrinsic motivation and active participation. In addition, students who receive descriptive feedback experience less anxiety and gain higher self-confidence. Research shows that constructive feedback strengthens a student's sense of worth and ability and gradually increases his academic and social self-confidence. Also, improving teacher-student interaction, conceptual learning, self-assessment skills, and critical thinking are other positive outcomes of descriptive assessment.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that descriptive assessment, as an alternative and humanistic method, moves the educational environment from a competitive atmosphere to cooperation and self-assessment and can help improve the academic performance and self-confidence of elementary school children. However, its successful implementation requires training teachers in feedback techniques and providing the necessary facilities. As a result, it is suggested that the educational system, by prioritizing teacher empowerment and improving infrastructure, should use descriptive assessment more widely in elementary schools.
Keywords: Descriptive evaluation, academic performance, self-confidence, elementary students.