Assessment and learning: fields apart?

Abstract

Educational assessments define what aspects of learning will formally be given credit and therefore have a huge impact upon teaching and learning. Although the impact of high-stakes national and international assessments on teaching and learning is considered in the literature, remarkably, there is little research on the connection between theories of learning and educational assessments. Given the voluminous assessment that takes place annually in systematic ways in most many nations, it is surprising that more has not been gained from these assessments in the development of theories of learning and vice versa. In this article we consider both theories of learning and assessment and draw the main message of the article, that if assessments are to serve the goals of education, then theories of learning and assessment should be developing more closely with each other. We consider fundamental aspects of assessment theory, such as constructs, unidimensionality, invariance and quantifiability, and in doing so, we distinguish between educational and psychological assessment. Second, we show how less traditionally considered cases of a) international assessments and b) Assessment for Learning affect student learning. Through these cases we illustrate the otherwise somewhat theoretical discussion in the article. We argue that if assessment is to serve the learning goals of education, then this discussion on the relationship between assessment and learning should be developed further and be at the forefront of high-stakes, large-scale educational assessments.

Dialogic feedback and potentialities for student learning

“…There has also been discussions about whether to distinguish the term assessment for learning from the term formative assessment (Bennett, 2011;Crossouard, 2011;Wiliam, 2011). Baird, Andrich, Hopfenbeck & Stobart (2017) argue that although there are some distinctive features within the two terms, they are often used interchangeably in the literature. However, both formative assessment and assessment for learning have a common function, which is to improve learning, typically through the use of feedback.…”

How Can Assessment Support Learning? A Response to Wilson and Shepard, Penuel, and Pellegrino

“…Given the fact that assessment is essential for effective instruction is so obvious, it is all the more surprising that developments in the fields of learning, on the one hand, and assessment, on the other hand, have, for most of the period they have been foci of scholarly study, proceeded relatively independently of each other (Wiliam, ). They have, in the words of Baird, Andrich, Hopfenbeck, and Stobart (), been “fields apart.”…”

“…Most recently, Baird et al. () explored the extent to which increased attention to theories of learning might improve assessment, and conversely, and perhaps more importantly, whether increased attention to theories of assessment can improve learning.…”

Como los estudiantes de la formación inicial del profesorado perciben y tratan la evaluación formativa y compartida

“…Varios autores tienen identificada la importancia de la evaluación para las diversas dimensiones del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje (Baird, Andrich, Hopfenbeck & Stobart, 2017;Penney, Brooker, Hay & Gillespie, 2009).…”