Chappuis, S., Brookhart, S. M., & Chappuis, J. (2021). Ten assessment literacy goals for school leaders. SAGE.
This book provides practical content for school leaders. It covers ten key topics, including understanding the characteristics of a comprehensive and balanced assessment system, standards of quality, formative assessment practices, grading practices, communication and ethical use of assessment. The companion website includes a list of activities and definitions for the respective chapter. Overall, it is envisioned that the ten goals, when acted on, can contribute to assessment literacy at the individual and/or system level.
Relevance: Assessment literacy has been identified by MOE as one of the six areas of practice in SkillsFuture for Educators. This book is a useful resource for educators who wish to deepen their understanding on assessment literacy.
Winstone, N. E., & Carless, D. (2021). Who is feedback for? The influence of accountability and quality assurance agendas on the enactment of feedback processes.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1926221
This paper highlights the importance of purpose in assessment feedback. The data demonstrated that educators often experienced professional dissonance where perceived quality assurance requirements conflicted with their own beliefs about the centrality of student learning in feedback processes. Such dissonance arose from the pressure to secure student satisfaction, and avoid complaints. Quality enhancement of feedback processes could profitably focus less on teacher inputs and more on evidence of student response to feedback.
Relevance: Most teachers conduct formative assessments in their classrooms. This paper describes how one can enact formative assessment to improve student learning rather than to satisfy department indicators or student satisfaction.
Jönsson, A., Balan, A., & Hartell, E. (2021). Analytic or holistic? A study about how to increase the agreement in teachers’ grading.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1884041
This paper describes a study conducted in Sweden to increase agreement in teachers’ grading by comparing analytic and holistic grading. Findings suggest that analytic grading is preferable to holistic grading in terms of agreement among teachers. However, teachers in the holistic conditions provided more references to criteria in their justifications, whereas teachers in the analytic conditions to a much larger extent made references to grade levels without specifying criteria. The author emphasised on the inclusion of moderation where teachers could review each other’s grading.
Relevance: Educators need to standardise grading so that assessment is reliable, especially so for assessments that require rubrics. This paper describes differences between holistic and analytical rubrics that could occur during the assessment process.
Yan, Z., Li, Z., Panadero, E., Yang, M., Yang, L., & Lao, H. (2021). A systematic review on factors influencing teachers’ intentions and implementations regarding formative assessment.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1884042
This article reviewed 52 studies to identify factors that influence teachers’ intentions and implementations regarding formative assessment. The factors were categorised into personal (e.g. self-efficacy, education and training) and contextual factors (e.g. external policies).
Relevance: Formative assessment is prevalent in local schools. When educators and policy makers implement formative assessment, they would need to be aware of any factors that may aid or hinder its implementation. This article synthesizes these factors for evaluation.
Rasooli, A., Razmjoee, M., Cumming, J., Dickson, E., & Webster, A. (2021). Conceptualising a Fairness Framework for Assessment Adjusted Practices for Students with Disability: An Empirical Study.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1932736
This paper describes a study that leverages on the multiple perspectives of secondary school students with disability, their teachers, and parents to build a multi-dimensional framework of fairness for assessment adjusted practices. The framework included interactions across elements of assessment practices, socio-emotional environment, overall conceptions of fairness, and contextual barriers and facilitators. The interactions across these elements influence the learning opportunities and academic outcomes for students with disability.
Relevance: With an increasing emphasis on inclusive education, teachers may be struggling with adapting assessment practices to students with special needs. This study provides some resources on which teachers can adjust their assessment practices to be fair for all students.
Gorgodze, S., & Chakhaia, L. (2021). The uses and misuses of centralised high stakes examinations-Assessment Policy and Practice in Georgia.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2021.1900775
Trust in centralised high-stakes exams in Georgia has grown since 2005. This article describes how these centralised high-stakes assessments have become an integral part of the education system, cites available evidence on their impact, accounts for recent changes, and argues that overreliance on centralised high-stakes exams is due to complex educational, political and social processes that make it difficult to transform the system.
Relevance: High stakes national examinations are ingrained within the Singapore education system. There are constant reviews to improve and/or de-emphasise the reliance of these exams locally. This paper analyses the impact and challenges of these examinations in Georgia. Educators and policy makers may want to examine the changes in Georgia to learn from their journey.