General Series Editor: Kerry J.

Kennedy, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

The volumes in the series set out to provide contextualized reflections on issues that
most teachers come across. Each volume will delve into discussions that will enhance
and impro ve teaching skills. The series co vers a wide range of topics including
curriculum and assessment, understanding and managing di versity, guidance and
counselling, and human development.

Also in the series:

Classroom Management: Creating a Positive Learning Environment
Hue Ming-tak and Li Wai-shing
 Hong Kong University Press
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© Hong Kong University Press 2008

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound by Lammar Printing Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong, China
 Contents v

Contents

Foreword by Kerry Kennedy vii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

1. Basic Concepts of Assessment 5

2. Assessment in Hong Kong 23

3. Assessment Approaches 45

4. Traditional Assessment: Paper-and-Pencil Tests 61

5. Alternative Assessment 81

6. Catering for Diversity 105

7. Grading, Marking, and Feedback 123

8. Recording 141

9. Reporting 163

10. Case Studies 183

Index 203
 Foreword vii

Foreword

Teachers play a fundamental role in the social and economic de velopment of an y

society. Their preparation as professionals to meet the challenges of post-modern ving li
is a key priority for both governments and universities. Many changes have taken
place in teacher education since the establishment of formal institutions of teaching
training in Hong Kong over one hundred years ago.Today, the Hong Kong government
is committed to an “all graduate, all trained” profession and university level institutions
are now responsible for all teacher education across early childhood, primary and
secondary education. It is ag ainst this background that the Hong K ong Teacher
Education Series has been developed.
The incentive behind the series is simple: the need for resources that reflect local
values, professional contexts and cultures. The market for resources is dominated by
Western materials that are either embedded in non-local contexts or that assume there
is a general context that is relevant across cultural boundaries. Such resources, of
course, can be useful but they do not help Hong Kong’s future teachers appreciate and
understand the unique contexts that characterize Hong Kong’s schools. Thus the Hong
Kong Teacher Education Series will provide culturally relevant resources that embed
both theory and practice in local classroom contexts.
Hong Kong’s aspirations to be a bilingual triliterate society will be reflected in
the Hong K ong Teacher Education Series. Dual-language v ersions of the resource
material will be produced for use in either Chinese or English teacher education contexts.
This is recognition of the centrality of language in the lives of Hong Kong people. It
places value on both English and Chinese in the teaching/learning process and will
ensure that the resources are accessible to all teacher education students in Hong Kong.
The initial titles that have been selected for this series reflect the needs of future
teachers in Hong Kong’s classroom: classroom management, assessment for learning,
managing and understanding di versity. Subsequent titles will deal with curriculum,
human development, and school guidance and counselling. These professional areas
will introduce teacher education students directly to the concepts, ideas and practices
they will need as young professionals in Hong K ong’s classroom. Case studies of
actual school practice will bring the text to life as students engage with the realities of
actual teachers and classrooms.This will help to prepare them in a realistic and practical
way so that they are well prepared for their own students and classrooms.
viii Foreword

As important as the focus on practice is in this series, it does not mean that theory
has been neglected. Concepts, ideas and issues are located in broader theoretical and
cultural contexts but not in an a bstract way. For teachers, classrooms and students
provide the ultimate context against with theories can be tested and cultures can be
better understood. In these challenging and demanding times, teachers need to be
fully equipped with the latest thinking and ideas based on research and advances in
understanding. Yet these must al ways be tested in the laboratory of pr actice so that
teachers are not only knowledgeable but they also know how to translate this knowledge
into action that can benefit students.
In developing this series, I have been grateful for the dedication of my colleagues
at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. They have taken up the challenge of writing
and shown great commitment in providing meaningful and relevant resources for their
students. I am also grateful to Senior Management at the Hong Kong Institute of
Education since they supported this endeavour from the very beginning. I have also
been encouraged by Hong Kong University Press which has seen the value of the
series and the need to support Hong Kong’s future teachers. As is so often the case in
educational matters, collaboration and cooperation can produce great outcomes, and I
believe such has been the case in this instance.
Hong Kong’s future is in no small w ay linked to the quality of its teachers and
their capacity to support the learning of y oung people throughout this ne w century.
Hopefully, the Hong Kong Teacher Education Series will contribute to this important
objective.

Kerry J. Kennedy
General Series Editor
The Hong Kong Teacher Education Series
 Acknowledgments ix

Acknowledgements

The completion of this book owes much to a number of people in various ways. The
content of the book was compiled based on the teaching notes I have accumulated
over time, papers which I presented at different conferences, and the research findings
of the projects that I have conducted. I would like to thank all the teachers and student-
teachers who have attended my courses, seminars, and workshops. It is from these
teachers that I am continually learning how to link theories with classroom practices.
The insights gained were subsequently built into my teaching notes. I thank those who
have supported my projects in different capacities including my colleagues, international
scholars, and research assistants. My immense appreciation goes to the students
involved in the studies I conducted. It is from them I have gained deeper understanding
of students’ learning needs. My great appreciation also goes to the school personnel
who were very supportive to my research. I am grateful to the Hong Kong Institute of
Education and a number of funding bodies including the Quality Education Fund for
providing me with numerous research opportunities. I thank our Institute in particular
for supporting me financially to disseminate research results at conferences, where I
met many academics who asked a lot of thought-provoking questions during and after
the presentations. Last but not least, a heartfelt thank to my husband for his
encouragement and giving me space to complete this task.All these above-mentioned
have supported me, nurtured me, and led to the physical existence of this book.
 Introduction 1

Introduction

For many students and teachers, the idea of tests, examinations, and evaluations can
carry negative emotions. Tests, examinations, and evaluations may evoke bad memories
of being anxious, fearing failure, and worrying about what others may think of us
based on our performance.This is unfortunate, because learning depends on assessment,
as learning cannot occur in the absence of the feedback which assessment provides.
Equally importantly, learning cannot tak e place without getting students eng aged in
their lear ning. The bad e xperiences tha t some students ha ve had with tests and
examinations turn them away from learning in school. Research tells us that many of
our traditional testing and marking practices are associated with reduced student
motivation to learn. This applies to both high- and lo w-achieving students. The way
traditional assessment is practised can result in students adopting performance goals
to achie ve appro val or a void disappro val. Worse still, these traditional assessment
practices may encourage students to abandon learning goals, in which the sense of
achievement and accomplishment come with successful mastery of new skills and
knowledge. Such washback has negative effects on both teaching and learning. The
good news is that it does not ha ve to be that w ay. Positive washback effects can be
achieved when assessment is used as the vehicle for enhancing student motivation to
learn, and for making acquiring and mastering new knowledge and skills important
goals for students.
A cornerstone of assessment for learning is that the decisions that matter most in
the classroom are those made b y the students themselv es. To make good decisions,
students need continuous information about their learning, information that describes
what they are succeeding at, where they should pitch their efforts to make improvements
in their current level of performance, and what strategies they may need to consider in
moving their learning forward. When students have clear learning targets to aim for,
and receive useful information about their progress toward their targets, they become
important partners in their own learning and can take greater responsibility for that
learning. More importantly, when students see e vidence of their learning successes,
their motivation for future learning rises, and they become more resilient to early
difficulties along the way to eventual success. Ultimately, it is the students who must
decide how successful they can be. They must decide what risks the y are willing to
2 Assessment for Learning

take in effecting their learning, and what effort they are willing to expend in taking on
new learning challenges. The role of teachers is to mak e assessment something that
supports student learning and does not discourage students. By making assessment an
integral part of the teaching and learning experience, teachers can help all learners to
experience success.

Organization of the Book

This book is about assessment for learning. It informs teachers of the latest developments
and understanding of assessment and provides teachers with important tools for
integrating assessment for learning in the classroom. There are ten chapters in this
book.
Chapter 1 discusses the key issues related to assessment. It explains what
assessment is by detailing its meaning, distinguishing it from other assessment-related
terms, clarifying its functions and r oles, and offering tips for ensuring the quality of
assessment practices. To give teachers some background on the c hanging views of
assessment over time, some influential learning theories are discussed, including
behaviourism, constructi vism, and cogniti ve science. These three major learning
theories are linked with three different assessment approaches, presented in detail in
Chapter 3. Attention is then given to ten assessment guiding principles for teachers to
follow while bringing the concepts of assessment for learning to classroom use.
Chapter 2 focuses on the assessment practices in Hong Kong. It gives an overview
of the historical assessment system in Hong Kong. In recent years, there has been a
call from the Hong Kong SAR government for schools to focus not only on measuring
learning outcomes b ut also on using assessment to support learning. This chapter
presents the assessment reform initiated by the government, including Basic
Competency Assessment and School-basedAssessment and other related issues. Some
discussion has been on the challenges of assessment reform, the roles of teachers in
assessment, and the types of actions teachers need to take to link assessment with
learning.
Chapter 3 presents three assessment approaches (assessment of learning,
assessment for learning, and assessment as learning), a number of assessment types,
and ho w assessment can be inte grated into instruction. This chapter points out
that, although the three approaches are characteristically dif ferent, the y can all
contribute to student learning.A connection has then been made between the three
approaches and dif ferent types of assessment. To inte grate assessment into
instruction, ideas are offered regarding the way lessons are planned. Examples are
given to elaborate on this.
Chapter 4 discusses one traditional form of assessment — paper -and-pencil tests.
The chapter first provides an overview of the characteristics and functions of this kind
 Introduction 3

of assessment. Some step-by-step procedures are given for developing a test.Although

this form of assessment is restricted to testing students cogniti vely, tests can be
constructed in such a way that allows for assessment of a broad range of learning
outcomes. Some examples for constructing test items are given and some construction
guidelines are provided to assist teachers in developing test items.
Chapter 5 introduces alternative assessment and explains how it supports learning.
While explaining the meaning of alternative assessment, other terms which can cause
confusion are also clarified. Special attention is given to self and peer assessment, as
they can be used with man y different types of assessment strate gies. A number of
assessment strategies related to alternative assessment and commonly used in the
classroom are discussed, including portfolio, concept map, learning contract, project,
exhibition, interview, and observation. To help teachers make good decisions, a number
of principles for selecting assessment strategies are presented.
Chapter 6 addresses the many diverse needs students may present in the classroom
and provides information about the kind of diversity currently found in common
classrooms. To identify the types of diversity in a class, a number of ideas are offered.
Suggestions are made for using assessment strate gies and differentiating assessment
tasks to cater for classroom diversity as well as accommodating students with
disabilities.
Chapter 7 explains the meaning of marking and grading, presents a number of
grading methods, and discusses some marking issues, including fairness and
moderation. Teachers are made aware that grading and marking are in fact a kind of
feedback. This chapter presents se veral types of feedback that teachers can use for
helping their students learn, and illustrates these types with examples. Some guiding
principles for giving quality feedback are presented.
Chapter 8 focuses on the linkage between recording and learning. It explains the
meaning of recording from educational perspectives and presents the methods
commonly used for recording learning outcomes. A number of guiding principles are
listed for supporting teachers in selecting the methods to use, and ideas are offered to
support teachers in interpreting results.
Chapter 9 explains the roles reporting plays in learning, and points out that
communication is the essence of reporting. Teachers are made aware of the different
audiences of reporting and the need for dif ferent strategies for reporting. To support
teachers’ reporting practices, some principles for reporting are offered, and a number
of methods of reporting are illustrated with examples.
Chapter 10 uses three school cases to help teachers deepen their understanding of
assessment for learning. There are two main parts in this chapter. The first part presents
the assessment practices of the three project schools, followed by a deep thinking
section for teachers to link theory to practice.The second part describes the assessment
practice of three teachers working at the three different project schools. In this part, a
learning and assessment plan is presented, and six lessons associated with task one of
4 Assessment for Learning

the plan are used to highlight assessment or

f learning practices.After this, the assessment
practices of the three teachers are presented. As with part one, both sections of part
two are followed by a deep thinking section.
There are a number of re view questions at the end of each chapter , designed to
encourage a deeper understanding of assessment for learning.
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 5

1
Basic Concepts of Assessment

Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• understand what assessment refers to, and differentiate among various assessment-
related terms;
• describe the context within which many of the assessment traditions evolved,
and critically examine the impact of those traditional practices on learning;
• compare and contrast three views of learning (behaviourism, constructivism, and
cognitive science), and describe how each leads to a different vision of assessment;
• explain how the quality of assessments (validity and reliability) can be judged,
and describe steps teachers can take to enhance the quality of their assessments;
• describe and distinguish among the various roles and functions assessments take;
• recognize the key principles underlying assessment, and explain their significance
to bring about effective assessment practice;
• explain the interconnected nature of teaching, learning and assessment, and the
importance of assessment to support teaching and learning.

Assessment has to be seen as an interconnected part of teaching and learning. The

conception of assessment is one that focuses on describing student learning, identifying
where each student is in his or her personal learning progression, diagnosing any
difficulties students may be ha ving in their learning, and pro viding direction to the
teacher and the student in the steps to be taken to enhance learning. This focus on the
use of assessment to support learning, rather than to document achievement, has come
to be referred to as “assessment for learning”. To bring the concept of assessment for
learning to fruition in the classroom, assessment activities have to be designed and
conducted with the purpose of learning in mind. If teachers are to embrace this new
philosophy of assessment, they need to understand how assessment for learning works.
6 Assessment for Learning

Conceptualizing Assessment

Assessment is about gathering information. The information gathered is based on the

purpose of the assessment. An assessment can be as simple as an exercise in which a
teacher gathers information from students, interprets it, and makes judgements about
their performance. When assessment is for learning, it tak es on a lar ger meaning .
Assessment for learning involves social interaction between teacher and student (and
among students), who have a shared vision of learning. In this vein, assessment is a
deliberate and planned collection of the full range of information from the students
that helps them understand their knowledge, skills, and abilities, including strengths
and weaknesses, values, and attitudes. Most importantly, assessment is a natural part
of the teaching and learning process and is undertaken to support learning. In the
assessment for learning classroom, teachers use a full range of assessment activities
and strategies, to gain a comprehensive picture of how their students learn.The teachers
analyze and interpret the information and use it for monitoring and adjusting instruction,
as well as giving feedback to students. Students are active information providers. Not
only do they engage in the teaching and learning activities, but they also use assessment
information to set goals, make learning decisions related to their own improvement,
and develop an understanding of what quality work looks like. They assess their own
learning as well as the learning of their peers, communicate their status and progress
towards established learning goals, and seek feedback from their peers and teachers
about their learning. Assessment, as the term is used here, is defined as:

Conscious and systematic activities used by teachers and students for

gathering information, analysing and interpreting it, drawing inferences,
making wise decisions, and taking appropriate actions in the service of
improving teaching and learning.

There are diverse views on the interpretation of assessment terminology in the literature,
and this may cause confusion.Very often, terms such as“measurement”, “assessment”,
“evaluation”, and “test” have been used interchangeably. The confusion could result
from the fact that they are interrelated. A test often results in numbers (measurement),
although not always. Assessment can include a variety of strategies, including tests, as
sources of information about student learning. Evaluation is the value interpretation
and judgement of outcomes of the data collection process in a decision-making context.
It is based on information that may be the result of assessment, including tests. An
example can be used to elaborate the close relationship among these terms. A teacher
needs to know if her students can hear well in class. So, she has their hearing tested,
using a procedure that measures their hearing acuity. Based on the results of the test,
she assesses their need for some accommodation (a hearing aid in severe cases, or
rearranging the seating in class for less se vere cases). Finally , she evaluates the
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 7

effectiveness of her rearrangement, by assessing the degree to which students now are
able to hear and understand instruction, and judging whether the accommodations
have been ef fective. Table 1.1 further clarif ies the meaning of these common
assessment-related terms.

Table 1.1 Definitions of common assessment-related terms

Terminology Meaning

Assessment Purposeful gathering of information, usually from multiple sources, to

describe specific characteristics of people, objects, etc.
(in addition to the definition given previously)
Measurement Any procedure that allows us to attach numbers to characteristics of people,
objects, etc. according to a set rule.
Measurement is the quantitative description of particular characteristics of a
class of people, objects, systems, or events. These tend to conjure up visions of
traditional, standardized achievement tests, for example, the comparative study
of the performance in numeracy and literacy of 15-year-old students across
countries as in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Test Any systematic procedure for sampling behaviour, skills, knowledge, etc.
A widespread understanding of a test is that it is a formal and systematic, usually
paper-and-pencil procedure, in which a sample of an examinee’s performance is
scored and subsequently judged using a standardized process. However, it does
not have to be formal, standardized, or even paper and pencil. For example, a
vision test samples a person’s visual acuity, and a driving test samples driving
skills, neither of which is paper and pencil, standardized, or necessarily formal.
Evaluation Making a judgement of the value or worth or meaning of an activity, event,
or body of information.
Evaluation is the value interpretation and judgement of outcomes of the data-
collection process in a decision-making context; for example, deciding on
whether the style for instructions for a dash jump is correct or whether the
curriculum design is appropriate for a school.

Understanding the Changing Views of Assessment

Assessment, in the broadest sense of the term, has a long history in both the Eastern
and Western worlds. Over the centuries, assessment has been mainly used for selection
purposes. For example, since 1027–771 BC (the Western Zhou dynasty in China), a
regular performance examination system for selecting government officials has been
used by dif ferent dynasties with only a fe w minor interruptions. Man y areas of the
Eastern world share this purpose of assessment, including Taiwan, Japan, Singapore,
Malaysia, and K orea. In the Western w orld, assessment can tr ace its roots to the
eighteenth century, when the patronage or nomination system f or hiring emplo yees
was dominant. In the nineteenth century, an industrial capitalist economy flourished.
This type of economy created an increasing need for trained workers, which could not
8 Assessment for Learning

be satisfied by the traditional methods of the nomination system alone (Sutherland,

1991). It was believed that a standardized examination system would make a good
alternative, because it allowed talented people to come through fr om different social
and cultural backgrounds. Today, there are a multitude of purposes for tests and
assessments, including streaming to dif ferent classes, certification and a warding of
diplomas, consideration for promotion, allocation of funds to schools and school
districts, etc. Because of its selective purpose, this kind of assessment system has a
great impact on people’ s academic and upw ard career mo vements and is therefore
labelled a high-stakes assessment system.
The introduction of formal assessment into the education landscape was originally
to ensure fairness. Many, however, including Lambert and Lines (2000) and Stobart
and Gipps (1997), question the trustworthiness of examinations. In the examination
process, all kinds of errors can happen including marking and arithmetic mistakes as
well as misinterpretations in candidates’ performances. More importantly, examinations
tend to focus almost exclusively on a narrow range of the cognitive skills of students,
leaving many other important areas of achievement, attitudes, and other non-cognitive
attributes unaccounted for.
One of the most serious perceived problems of high-stakes examinations is the
possible negative “backw ash” effects on teaching and learning. Students are often
“taught to the test”. This practice is especially troubling w hen tests focus on only a
narrow range of important learning outcomes. In these cases, the emphasis given during
instruction to those subjects and topics not addressed on the examinations will be
diminished.
Another related problem is that if the examination focuses on retention of
knowledge rather than on demonstration of reasoning and thinking skills, then
instructional practices in the classroom may mirror this focus. Because the stakes for
success are high, teaching tends to focus solely on assisting students to pass the exams
and on helping schools to g et a good reputation. This kind of teac hing often entails
drills and rote memorization of factual knowledge rather than focusing on helping
learners master important skills and de velop deep understanding. The classroom
assessments in such circumstances are typically focused on measuring the retention of
the same factual information as is emphasized on the standardized exams, and the
drills and in-class tests are often repetitive and excessive.
The exacting standards associated with the stakes involved in these exams compel
students to strive for high scores by doing exercises repeatedly and memorizing the
model answers. Rote learning is dif ficult to r etain in the long term. Lear ning and
teaching to the tests is not only unhelpful to learning but also can place great pressure
on the students, as well as on the teachers. They depress students’ initiative and stifle
creativity.
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 9

The Influence of Behavioural Views of Learning on Assessment

Behaviourism is a broad set of theories and practices that emphasize concepts such as
reinforcement, stimulus-response association, and operant learning. The key tenets
are that what is learned is behaviour (however complex that behaviour might be) and
that behaviour is shaped by the consequences that follow the behaviour (positive
consequence leads to an increase in the behaviour; negative consequence leads to a
decrease in the behaviour). Learners are regarded as passive respondents to stimuli in
the environment (Watson, 1924; Skinner, 1957). One implication of behaviourism is
that complex behaviours can be broken down into simpler elements and these elements
can be learned through reinforcement. Behaviourism has no explicit role for such non-
behavioural constructs as thinking or reasoning. Ho wever, behaviourism has had a
significant influence on classroom and school practices for many years and continues
to exert an influence today. Behaviourism’s influence on assessment is seen in such
practices as measuring indi vidual “f acts” or skills in isolation from one another ,
expressing the level of knowledge or learning by the total number of individual items
answered correctly on an examination, and in ranking learners based on “how much”
learning is evidenced in their test results.

Assessment associated with behaviourist views of learning aims to check whether

the learners have met the requirements as set.A judgement will be made by comparing
the predetermined learning targets and the ultimate performance of the learner. This
view of assessment places a major focus on the product of learning. This kind of
assessment represents Assessment OF Learning (AoL).

The Influence of Constructivism on Assessment

Behaviourism has been criticized because it ignores other contributing factors of

learning such as those related to cognitive and psychological aspects (internal factors).
The shortcomings of these early behaviourist theories for learning propelled some
theorists to look for alternatives. In contrast to behaviourists, constructivists
acknowledge the learner’s active role and suggest that learners are able to determine
their o wn learning. The “construction” of meaning from e xperience is ho w
constructivism defines learning. Human beings are compared to scientists who
constantly carry out their own personal experiments, construct hypotheses and actively
seek to conf irm or dispro ve them in the process of seeking kno wledge. Gradually,
they build up their own concepts about the world which they come into contact with,
and create their own understanding of things (Berry, 1998).
10 Assessment for Learning

The underlying principle of constructivism is that knowledge is actively

constructed by the learners themselves from their own experiences. Recent
constructivist movements also pay a considerable amount of attention to social
interaction. Since this is a social world, direct or indirect encounters with others are
almost daily happenings. Consequently, children do not go out into the world on their
own in constructing knowledge but are constantly interacting and negotiating with
others to construct their personal meanings. It is through interacting with others that
children develop and readjust their own unique set of concepts. Nevertheless, Glaserfeld
(1995: 2) points out that “the subject cannot transcend the limits of individual
experience. This condition, ho wever, by no means eliminates the influence and the
shaping ef fects of social interaction. ” Constructivism, in this sense, can/should be
viewed as social constructivism (Burr, 1995; Kozulin, 1998; Lantolf, 2000; Williams
and Burden, 1997). Social constructivists believe that constructing knowledge must
involve social interaction, and people with whom the learners come into contact will
play a certain role in shaping their e xperiences. Consequently, the teacher’s role has
been drawn into play (Berry, 1998). Teachers take on an important role of facilitating
student learning through assessment.These form the focus of the assessment for learning
approach.

Assessment associated with constructivist views of learning aims to understand

how the learner learns, what the learner can do or cannot do, and makes some
deliberations and decisions on ho w to help the learner learn. This view, which is
more closely linked to contemporary theories of learning, places more emphasis on
the process of learning. Theorists usually call this kind of assessment Assessment
FOR Learning (AfL).

The Influence of Cognitive Science on Assessment

Recent efforts in the area of cogniti ve science ha ve led to attention being gi ven to
metacognition as an important component of assessment. Metacognition is a term
used in information-processing theory to indicate an executive function (Brown, 1994).
The theory compares human learning to the ways that computers process information.
This entails a four -stage encoding process of selecting, comprehending, storing and
retrieving information. Metacognitive strategies involve planning, monitoring and
evaluation in the learning processes.They are the measures that learners use to organize
and manage their learning. Metacognitive strategies also include an awareness of what
one is doing and the strategies one is employing (Berry, 2002). In other words, learners
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 11

will have to have metacognitive knowledge to recognize the demands of a particular

task and to identify which strategies are most appropriate during any given tasks. This
demands self-regulation on the part of the learners. Learners will have to self-monitor,
self-evaluate, and self-assess their learning during and after the learning process.They
think backward and forward and make plans for their learning. Learners become
engaged users of the information that assessment can produce.They can use assessment
to take responsibility for and improve their own learning. In this sense, self-assessment
is part of the learning process. It should be noted that metacognitive skills must be
developed, and many learners will not develop these skills without explicit guidance
from teachers. Cognitive science, as informed by Snow and Lohman (1993), provides
a powerful tool to understand mental processes underlying good or bad performance.
Besides its relevance to assessment as learning, it is relevant to the approach of
assessment for learning.

Assessment associated with metacognition aims to enable learners to become

autonomous learners. It requires that learners be aware of what is required from them
and monitor and assess their o wn learning during the learning process. With the
information obtained, they can regulate their learning to meet the goals they set earlier.
This view of assessment stresses the learner’ s active role in learning. This kind of
assessment is referred to as Assessment AS Learning (AaL).

The three approaches to assessment (AoL,AfL, and AaL) accentuate different focuses
of learning conceptions or paradigms. AoL, being closer to behaviourism, represents
the “assessment as measurement” paradigm. In this paradigm, judgements of
performances ar e tak en at the end of lear ning. Both AfL and AaL ha ve a str ong
connection with constructivism and cognitive science. They both treat learning as an
internal event, both emphasize the importance of feedback to learning, and both focus
on formative assessment as key to learning. Where they differ is their primary focus.
For AfL, the focus is largely on the role the teacher plays in promoting learning, and
could be said to reflect an “assessment in support of learning” paradigm. AaL places
special emphasis on the role of the learner and highlights the use of assessment to
increase learners’ ability to control their o wn learning. AaL could be said to be an
“assessment as learning to learn paradigm”.Although the three assessment paradigms
have their own distinctive characteristics, they should be viewed as complimentary to
one another in carrying out the educational purposes. The three assessment approaches
are revisited in fuller detail in Chapter 3.
12 Assessment for Learning

Ensuring the Quality of Assessment Practices

Teaching and learning are about decisions. The decisions teachers and students make
to judge the quality of work, to guide and promote learning, and to identify the next
steps to be tak en, must be informed decisions. The information g athered through
assessment must be of suf ficient quality to ensure that good decisions follo w. There
are two aspects of quality of assessment information that must be considered: validity
and reliability. Stiggins (2005) describes validity according to fidelity (of the assessment
to the intended learning outcome), and reliability as being a matter of sufficiency (is
there sufficient information from the assessment to support the decision to be made?).
Validity hinges on whether our assessment properly reflects the intended learning
target. Assessing learning is different from measuring students’ heights, because we
cannot directly observe learning. Instead, we make inferences about learning, based
upon what we observe (performance on a test or task, or communication in an interview).
This sample of beha viour may be af fected b y f actors other than learning. The
instructions for the task may have been misunderstood, or the student may have left
out some important point he or she knows. In such instances the teacher would come
to an erroneous conclusion about the true extent of the student’s learning. Many of the
strategies offered in this textbook for developing and using assessments have the goal
of ensuring the validity of the information produced by the assessment.
Related to validity is the concept of reliability. Reliability reflects theconsistency
or dependability of assessments. This is like a bathroom scale for weighing yourself.
The accuracy of the scale is judged by the consistency with which it reports your
weight (if you obtained substantially dif ferent readings on consecuti ve weightings,
you would doubt the accuracy of the scale). With summative assessments, especially,
we need to be assured that the scores produced are dependable as indicators of student
learning. Assuring the reliability of paper -and-pencil tests often in volves ha ving a
sufficient number of items of appropriate dif ficulty. Reliability f or any assessment
comes down to using enough assessment tasks to ensure a sound basis for drawing
any conclusions from that information.
Another aspect of reliability that applies when the teacher makes ajudgement of
the learner’s skill (through an essa y e xercise or the performance of a skill) is
comparability. Would another rater , using the same criteria, arri ve at the same
judgement regarding the degree of learning or skill evidenced?
Reliability and validity are related, and finding an acceptable balance between
the two is important (Har len and James, 1977). An assessment can produce reliable
information without necessarily producing valid information. This can happen if the
assessment reflects the wrong outcomes. For example, students are given a short written
test of their maths skills, using word problems. Some students have difficulty with the
language of the problems. Their scores are influenced by their language skills, in
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 13

addition to their maths skills. Their performance cannot be v alidly interpreted as

evidence of their maths skills. But, the scores they received on that set of tasks would
likely be reliable in the sense that the test would produce the same result if administered
again.
Assessment for learning focuses primarily on classroom teachers’ assessment
practices and their use of formative assessment tasks to gather information on student
learning. In the classroom, validity is a very important concern.

Multiple Roles and Functions of Assessment

Assessment is often used for more than one function. There are many different ways
of categorizing the functions of assessment. The functions are mainly twofold: (1) for
making judgements of the performance of individuals or the effectiveness of the system
and (2) for impro ving learning. These basic functions can be further e xtended to
selection and placement, accountability, diagnosis, and support of learning, as presented
in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Functions of assessment

Assessment Function Description

Selection and Placement Test or examination is used to determine who will be selected to
university, or is used to place students into school bands.
Accountability Assessments are used to determine if students have achieved
learning outcomes appropriate for their grade level, and are used to
judge the effectiveness of teachers, schools, etc. in helping learners
achieve the intended learning outcomes.
Diagnosis Assessment is used to identify underlying sources of learning
difficulties.
Support of learning Assessments (especially at the classroom level) are used to monitor
the progress of learning; to provide learners with feedback on their
learning, to help them improve; to assist teachers in identifying
changes to be made in their teaching; to enhance student motivation
and confidence by demonstrating progress.

Guiding Principles for Making Assessment Effective

The concept of assessment for learning gives a general direction of where assessment
should go. However, given the strongly entrenched views and practices of classroom
teachers and school leaders regarding the proper role of assessment, a great deal of
additional work will be needed to move from the general outline of an assessment for
14 Assessment for Learning

learning environment to the reality of all classrooms operating on this basis. Ten
assessment principles for assessment for learning have consequently been developed,
presented within the framework of AoL, AfL, and AaL (see Figure 1.1). The highlights
of AoL, AfL, and AaL are their specific emphases, respectively, on product of learning,
process of learning, and learner taking control.These are all related to learning in one
way or another. Teachers, students, and system can all contribute to making assessment
effective. The ten guiding principles will be of help when actions ar
e being considered.

FOR

Principle 1
Aligning
assessment to
teaching and
learning
r

Principle 2 Principle 3 Principle 4

Stu
e
ch

Exploring Selecting Drawing on

multidimensional assessments joint-efforts
den
Tea

assessment susceptible amongst

methods to learning colleagues
t

Principle 5 Principle 6 Principle 7

Assessing Allowing students' Using
students participation in assessment
continuously assessment to uncover
process learning
Principle 8 Principle 9 Principle 10
Making marking Providing Analysing
criteria feedback and reporting
accessible results

OF System AS

Figure 1.1 Ten assessment principles and the AoL, AfL, AaL framework
(The basic structure of AoL, AfL, AaL is adapted from the Blueprint for Government Schools,
State of Victoria, Department of Education and Training, Australia (2002)

1. Aligning assessment to teaching and learning

In a typical classroom, assessment is an e veryday acti vity. Assessment must be

consistent with the objecti ves of the course and what is taught and learned. The
assessment methods employed should reflect the variety of subject and course goals.
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 15

Basically, what to assess should reflect the teaching content, and the assessment tasks
that are set should reflect the skills that students will need in their studies.
With reference
to the set criteria and through various means, teachers can observe, collect, record and
analyze students’ performances, and then diagnose and estimate their learning condition
and capability. Teachers give students effective feedback and then adjust teaching, as
a means of focusing on continuous improvement in both teaching and learning.Teachers
use the information obtained from their assessments to help them understand the
learning progress of the students.With the insights gained, teachers can modify teaching
and learning activities to suit students’ needs.

2. Exploring the use of multidimensional assessment methods

Assessment can be varied in form, depth or breadth, to reflect dif

ferent facets of learning.
A variety in types of assessment allo ws a range of different learning outcomes to be
assessed. It also keeps students interested, especially when assessment tasks are
authentic. There are tw o special benef its arising from the use of multidimensional
assessment methods in the improvement of quality learning. First, it conveys to the
student the important message that learning is complex, and that important learning
outcomes can tak e man y dif ferent forms and can require man y dif ferent skills to
demonstrate. Multidimensional assessment methods also help to ensure that the learning
of students with less traditional or commonplace talents and ways of learning is properly
acknowledged and credited.

3. Selecting those assessment methods which are susceptible to learning

The less ef fective forms of assessment inhibit or narro w learning opportunities and
should therefore be reduced to a minimum. The “right” forms, accordingly, provide
learners with plenty of learning opportunities. Using varied assessment strategies such
as portfolios, observations, experiments, projects, simulations, interviews,
performances, presentations, concept maps, word association and linking etc. allows a
deeper understanding of students’ learning in different perspectives.

4. Considering drawing on joint efforts among colleagues

In education contexts, students’ learning is the result of concerted efforts from different
parties. This should also be applicable to assessment. Colla borative actions support
discussion on assessment matters and understanding of students’learning from different
16 Assessment for Learning

perspectives. This kind of professional collaboration is very important to the setting of

rating criteria, for example, when several raters will be involved in judging students’
work against the same standards. Teachers can work together to set dif ferent sets of
rating standard, including v arious kinds of skill and content. This helps in setting
assessment plans of different levels.

5. Assessing students continuously throughout the learning processes

Progressively assess students’ learning so that assistance can be given to students when
they first need it, and before more serious learning dif ficulties arise. Students can be
given a series of smaller , appropriately v alued assessment tasks spread through the
term. What is important to bear in mind about continuous assessment is that the purpose
is to identify potential problems, monitor satisfactory progress toward significant learner
goals, and to pro vide feedback and encouragement along the w ay. For that reason,
assessments based on initial attempts on the part of students to demonstrate new skills
should not be heavily weighted toward the final judgement of student proficiency in a
new skill area, at the end of the term.These assessments can be based on observation,
judgement, encouragement, guidance, and corrections.
On a cautionary note, many teachers will initially view continuous assessment as
an unrealistic goal, as the y envision a ne ver-ending stream of student w ork to be
reviewed and returned. There is a need to balance the amount and types of assessment
being conducted, to a void student and staf f assessment e xhaustion. The secret to
successful continuous assessment is to integrate the assessment activities with the
instructional activities, so that, as instruction takes place, naturally occurring
opportunities for gathering information on student understanding and progress are
built into the process. For that reason, it is useful to have an assessment plan integrated
into the teaching and learning plan.

6. Allowing students to take part in the assessment process

Assessment does not have to be conducted solely by the teachers (and in fact it is not,
and should not be). Students themselves can contribute towards their own learning
through assessing themselves and their peers. Students should be regarded as insiders
instead of outsiders when it comes to assessment and learning matters.They should be
involved in making judgements about their own work, monitoring their own progress,
learning to set goals for themselves, and presenting themselves and their work to others.
Well-constructed self-assessment and peer assessment exercises have the potential to
provide valuable learning experiences and encourage lifelong learning.Assessment is
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 17

composed of three processes: setting criteria for assessment, selecting evidence to

match those criteria, and judging the match between the evidence and the criteria.
There are many teaching-learning contexts in which it is appropriate for students to be
involved in one or all of these assessment processes.

7. Using assessment to uncover students’ learning

Assessment should be “informative” as well as formative, revealing what sorts of

learning have been ac hieved and what learning is still to be attained. The methods
used should be able to assess a wide range of learning outcomes. Depending on a
single assessment method such as examination has to be discouraged.
The main objective of assessment is improving students’ learning behaviour, not
for getting the result by the end of the term. End-of-term decisions can, and should, be
based on multiple sources of evidence of student learning, such as projects they have
completed, papers they have written, assignments they have turned in, tests or quizzes
administered at the end of a learning cycle, and anything that represents the students’
state of knowledge following appropriate opportunities to achieve mastery of the
intended learning outcomes. What is not advisable is to base end-of-ter m decisions
about learning on a single source of evidence, or even type of evidence, and that
information gathered primarily for formative purposesnot serve as the basis for judging
end-of-term status. Therefore, it is better to use multidimensional methods to assess
students’ performance. For example, a teacher should adopt summative assessment
strategies to summarize students’ quality of learning by the end of the school term for
deciding whether they pass or not, or should be promoted to the next level. The objective
in this case is to prove learning. In addition to the summative assessment techniques,
the teacher should use formative assessment methods to diagnose learning difficulties
and monitor student progress, while promoting greater learning. The objective is to
improve learning. These two kinds of assessment can be used simultaneously . The
formative assessment is able to provide timely and regular feedback, while summative
assessment usually presents the final results.

8. Making marking criteria accessible for students

Students need to understand clearly what is expected of them in assessed tasks. Each
assessment task is to be accompanied by clear assessment criteria that are effectively
communicated to students and markers. Teachers have to develop an assessment plan
before teaching a learning programme and should let students know clearly at the start
of the term what the goals of the learning programme are, and how students will be
18 Assessment for Learning

expected to demonstrate the mastery of those goals. Criteria for assessment should be
detailed, transparent and justifiable. Teachers can get students involved in discussing
the criteria or even in setting the criteria.

9. Providing feedback to facilitate students’ learning

Feedback is fundamental to the learning process. It is important to provide students

with timely and comprehensive feedback on the extent to which they are achieving the
goals and objecti ves of their learning. F ormative assessment is v ery ef fective in
monitoring and supporting the students’ learning progress during instruction. The
objective is to provide teachers and students with feedback on the learning results for
promoting students’ learning, improving content arrangement in the curriculum and
exploring better modes of teaching. Its fundamental spirit is to tally assessments with
the detailed tar get behaviour so as to form an interacti ve cycle. From time to time,
students should be made aware of their achievements and those aspects they need to
improve on for their future development. Students should also be given opportunities
to act upon the useful suggestions made by the teachers, their peers, or ones they make
themselves.

10. Analyzing and reporting students’ results

Systematic analysis of students’ performance on assessment tasks can help identify

areas of the curriculum that need improvement. This enlightens teaching and eventually
benefits students’ learning. When reporting students’ results, teachers can consider
using the form of a qualitative profile rather than a single score or other quantification.
The qualitative profile includes rele vant data about ef fort, attitude, personality and
achievement etc. The advantage is that the focus of the information being reported is
the student, his or her le vel of achie vement, the ef fort being sho wn, and the
characteristics of the student as a learner, characteristics that may be aiding or impeding
the student in his or her learning. By focusing the information thus, it is possible to
reduce comparisons between students by parents, and give teachers a better opportunity
to communicate with parents those essential matters regarding their student and his or
her learning.
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 19

A Vision to Share

The fundamental principle of assessment for learning is making a strong connection

between assessment and learning. In the assessment for learning model, assessment
should be used to promote, induce, and reinforce learning. Within the parameters of
assessment for learning, students’ involvement in the assessment activities is taken
seriously, as they are the main players of learning.Teaching, learning, and assessment
have to come together and work together if we are to raise students’ standards of
achievements.

Summary

• Assessment is a natural part of the teaching and learning process. Both teachers
and learners should be involved in the assessment, teaching, and teaching
processes.
• Assessment can serve a much broader purpose than measuring success defined
simply as acquisition of factual knowledge. Instead of using it merely as a tool to
measure student success, assessment should be treated as a catalyst to learning.
• Although Assessment of Lear ning (AoL), Assessment for Learning (AfL) and
Assessment as Learning (AaL) have their own distinctive features, they are
complementary with rather than contending to one another . An appropria te
combined use of the three will help improve teaching and learning.
• There are many ways of classifying the functions of assessment. One simple way
is to subsume the functions into two main categories: making a judgement of
performance and improving learning.
• Ten guiding assessment principles can be used to help mak e teaching and learning
more effective.

Review Questions

1. How should assessment be interpreted to reflect the improving of learning

characteristics?
2. What are the problems of high-stakes testing?
3. How do different learning theories impact on conceptions of assessment?
4. How can teachers ensure the quality of assessment practices?
5. What are the functions of assessment?
6. What are the guiding principles for making assessment effective?
20 Assessment for Learning

Suggested Tutorial Activities

1. Discussion:
Why does the culture of AfL need to be established? How can the AfL culture be
established?
2. Scenarios analysis:
Form groups of three to four. Choose one of the scenarios provided and suggest
how you may use the guiding assessment principles to help improve the situation.

Scenario 1 On Parents’ Day, a parent reflected that her son performed rather poorly
in his homework. However, he could not work out how his work could
be improved, although he very much wanted to do so.
Scenario 2 On the same Parents’ Day, one other parent said that her daughter’s total
aggregate for the exam was 90%, which was 5% lower than on the last
exam. She wanted to know why and how the teachers could help her
daughter score higher next time.
Scenario 3 During the lessons, your students are either very passive in learning or
active in doing things unrelated to learning.
Scenario 4 You are a teacher (or a senior teacher/the school head) new to a school.
The school has a good reputation for their students’ academic
performance. However, it has long tradition of teaching to tests. More
often than not, there is at least one test per subject each week. Students
are not interested in activities unrelated to tests.

References

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Burr, V. (1995). An Introduction to Social Constructionism. London: Routledge.
Glaserfeld, E. V. (1995). Radical Constructvism: A Way of Knowing and Learning. London: The
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Harlen, W., and James, M. (1997).Assessment and learning: Differences and relationships between
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Practice, 4(3), 365–79.
Kozulin, A. (1998). Psychological Tools: A Sociocultural Approach to Education. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
 Basic Concepts of Assessment 21

Lambert, D., and Lines, D. (2000).Understanding Assessment: Purposes, Perceptions, Practice.

London: RoutledgeFalmer.
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Stiggins, R. J. (2005).Student-involved Assessment FOR Learning (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
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Stobart, G., and Gipps, C. (1997).Assessment: A Teachers’ Guide to the Issues. London: Hodder
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Further Reading

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., and Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for Learning:
Putting it into Practice. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press.
Brady, L., and Kennedy, K. (2005). Celebrating Student Achievement. Assessment and Reporting
(2nd ed.). Sydney: Pearson Education Australia.
Dann, R. (2002). Promoting Assessment as Learning: Improving the Learning Process. London:
RoutledgeFalmer.
Earl, L. M. (2003). Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student
Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
Elwood, J., and Klendowski, V. (2002). Creating of shared practice:The challenges of assessment
use in learning and teaching.Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 27(3), 243–
56.
Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth. (2006). Rethinking Classroom Assessment with
Purpose in Mind: Assessment for Learning, Assessment as Learning, Assessment of
Learning [electr onic v ersion]. Winnipeg, MB: Author. Retrieved 27 December 2007,
from http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/rethinking_assess_mb.pdf.
Mentkowski, M. (2006). Accessible and adaptable elements of Alverno student assessment-as-
learning: Strate gies and challenges for peer re view. In C. Bryan and K. Cle gg (eds.),
Innovative Assessment in Higher Education (pp. 48–63). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Sutherland, G. (1991). Assessment: Some historical perspectives. In H. Goldstein and T. Lewis
(eds.), Assessment: Problems, Developments and Statistical Issues (pp. 9–20).West Sussex,
England: John Wiley and Sons.
Winter, J. (2003). The changing prepositions of assessment practice: Assessment of, for and as
learning. British Education Research Journal, 29(5), 767–72.
22 Assessment for Learning

Useful Websites

Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Indiana University Kokomo. 9 Principles of
Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning. Retrie ved 26 December 2007, from
http://www.iuk.edu/%7Ekoctla/assessment/9principles.shtml.
Centre for the Study of Higher Education.Assessing Learning in Australian Universities: Ideas,
Strategies and Resources for Quality in Student Assessment. Retrieved 26 December 2007,
from http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/.
Educational Department, London Guildhall University. Deliberation on Learning and Teaching
in Higher Education. Retrieved 26 December 2007, from http://www .lgu.ac.uk/
deliberations/assessment/index.html.
National Institute for Science Education. Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide. Retrieved
26 December 2007, from http://www.flaguide.org/.
Palomar Colle ge. Palomar College Statements of Principles on Assessment Retrie ved 26
December 2007, from http://www.palomar.edu/alp/principles.html.
Questionmark. (2006). Testing and Assessment Glossary of Terms. Retrieved 26 December 2007,
from http://www.questionmark.com/us/glossary.htm.
Southern Illinois Uni versity Edw ardsville. Classroom Assessment Techniques. Retrieved 26
December 2007, from http://www.siue.edu/%7Ededer/assess/catmain.html.