Assessment for learning: An Australian study in middle schooling (original) (raw)

Towards Theorising Assessment as Critical Inquiry

Educational Assessment in the 21st Century, 2009

In this chapter it is argued that there is a need to explore the theoretical underpinnings to assessment in the 21st century against the backdrop of increasing interest in large-scale, standardised teaching for accountability and reporting purposes on the one hand, and on the other hand, an interest in formative assessment for improving learning. A framework of assessment as critical inquiry is proposed based on an approach to assessment as 'meaning making' (Delandshere, Teachers' College Record, 104 , 2002). The framework is based on the proposition that when assessment is understood as critical inquiry, the practices and processes of assessing-social and cultural acts of doing assessment in actual contexts-can be considered in relation to four main lenses: (1) conceptions of knowledge, including the nature of the knowledge domains and the related capabilities to be assessed;

The Central Role of Assessment in Pedagogy

Handbook of Research on Science Education, Volume II, 2000

School governing boards at local and state levels in many countries long had the obligation of establishing the curriculum -by law, as in the United States, or by embedded practice, as in England, or by some combination of the two, as in Australia and Germany. These boards discussed and decided the subjects that should be taught and, not infrequently, determined the specific topics within each one that should be included.

Redefining assessment? The first ten years ofassessment in education

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 2004

The completion of the first ten years of this journal is an occasion for review and reflection. The main issues that have been addressed over the ten years are summarized in four main sections: Purposes, International Trends, Quality Concerns and Assessment for Learning. Each of these illustrates the underlying significance of the themes of principles, policy and practice, which the journal highlights in its subtitle. The many contributions to these themes that the journal has published illustrate the diversity and complex interactions of the issues. They also illustrate that, across the world, political and public pressures have had the effect of enhancing the dominance of assessment so that the decade has seen a hardening, rather than any resolution, of its many negative effects on society. A closing section looks ahead, arguing that there is a move to rethink more radically the practices and priorities of assessment if it is to respond to human needs rather than to frustrate them.

Enabling and aligning assessment for learning: some research and policy lessons from Queensland

International Studies in Sociology of Education, 2006

Drawing on the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), this paper documents the assessment practices of about 250 Queensland primary and secondary classrooms and the extent to which they align with those pedagogical practices described as 'productive pedagogies' in the research. In considering the extent of this alignment, the paper outlines in some detail the concept of 'productive assessment', which also developed out of the research. The QSRLS demonstrated the necessity of aligning pedagogies and assessment practices with curriculum purposes to enhance student learning and contribute to socially just outcomes. A lack of visible alignment in the assessment practices of teachers in the study is demonstrated and discussed. When considered in conjunction with the low intellectual demands of the pedagogies observed, there are serious social justice implications to be drawn from the research. The paper also shows the significance of systemic assessment policies in relation to teacher assessment practices. The paper conceptualizes 'productive assessment' in relation to broader sociological considerations of assessment practices. Some possible explanations for the findings are proffered and some brief recommendations about a way forward in relation to teacher professional development around assessment literacy are suggested.

Exploring tensions in developing assessment for learning

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 2009

This paper is based on a study of classroom practice of primary school teachers who were engaged in a programme of professional development to implement formative assessment in their classrooms. The programme sought to develop the skills and expertise of teachers to enable formative assessment to be used to support and improve the learning of students. This study examined changes in practice in these teachers' classrooms, their students' learning experiences, pedagogical decision-making, and the challenges experienced by teachers and students in developing assessment for learning. Activity theory was used as an analytical tool and enabled the identification of important contradictions in the changing system that produced tensions and difficulties but also provided driving forces for change. The development of formative assessment practices was of necessity accompanied by a culture change in the complex classroom systems. For teachers change was characterised as a process of expansive learning that was motivated by a contradiction between the teachers' beliefs about learning and the existing culture in the classroom. The change in classroom practice was enabled by the formative assessment philosophy and a range of mediating artefacts.

How teachers engage with Assessment for Learning: lessons from the classroom

Research papers in education, 2006

Using video recordings of lessons and interviews with teachers, this article explores the way in which teachers enact Assessment for Learning (AfL) practices in their classrooms. Starting with the hypothesis that AfL is built on an underlying pedagogic principle that foregrounds the promotion of pupil autonomy, we analyse the ways in which teachers instantiate this principle in practice. A distinction is drawn between lessons that embody the 'spirit' of AfL and those that conform only to the 'letter'. The nature and sequence of tasks and especially 'high organization based on ideas' appears crucial to the former. This adds a dimension to more familiar formulations of AFL practices. We also ask whether the teachers' beliefs about learning contribute to the different ways in which they interpret the procedures of AfL. Interviews with teachers indicated that those whose lessons captured the spirit of AfL were more likely to take responsibility for success and failure in the promotion of pupil autonomy. Thus they had a sense of their own agency and sought to use it to overcome barriers to learning.

Teacher Assessment as Policy Instrument: Contradictions and Capacities

Language Assessment Quarterly, 2007

Assessment has been at centre stage of educational reform in England and Wales in the past 15 years. This article argues that official educational assessment policy is essentially indifferent to the technical, pedagogic, and epistemological issues related to different forms of assessment. Policymakers are primarily concerned with "delivering" educational success in terms of reportable rising levels of attainment. The first part of this article provides a contextualized account of the use of assessment as an educational policy instrument and some of the consequences for pedagogy and curriculum provision. Our focal point here is on the assessment of English within the National Curriculum. The second section of the article amplifies our central argument-that policy is uninterested in the technical and educational issues involved in assessment-by offering a detailed critique of the limited and impoverished nature of the infrastructure and support available for teachers to carry out teacher assessment, with particular reference to the assessment of English for pupils whose first/home language is a language other than English. Research data are used to support our observations and arguments. We suggest that there is an urgent need to clarify the distinctions between summative and formative assessment, between the assessment of English as a first language and English as an Additional

Developing the enabling context for school-based assessment in Queensland, Australia

2012

In the global debate about how to improve education quality, traditional assessment systems are often criticized because they typically do not contribute to improved teaching and learning, or because they do not measure the most relevant skills that students need to be successful in life, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, and teamwork. The State of Queensland in Australia has put in place a student assessment program that greatly overcomes these criticisms. This program represents very progressive ideas about education, and about assessment of, as, and for learning. Countries aiming to reform their assessment systems may greatly benefit from the experience of this state, which already has transited the road to a very innovative assessment system. This case study has three main purposes: (1) to describe the main features of the Queensland program of externally-moderated, school-based assessment at the upper-secondary school level; (2) to analyze t...

Prospects for the implementation of assessment for learning

This paper analyses aspects of a Hong Kong school curriculum reform, which recommends amongst other things, a greater focus on assessment for learning. It outlines the principles of the reform as it pertains to assessment and discusses how structural changes are being employed to lend support to changes in the assessment culture in Hong Kong. The paper draws on a previous problematic attempt to introduce formative assessment through the Target-Oriented Curriculum initiative. Two examples of assessment for learning practice of 'early adopters' are used to illustrate both the potential and some of the challenges of implementation in the Hong Kong primary school context. From these cases, are drawn out some of the facilitating and inhibiting factors impinging on the implementation of assessment for learning in schools, building on a model of professional growth.