Outcomes-based assessment in practice: some examples and emerging insights

Abstract

The implementation of outcomes-based assessment and reporting systems in educational programs has been accompanied by a range of political and technical problems, including tensions between the summative and formative purposes of assessment and doubts surrounding the validity and reliability of teacher-constructed assessment tasks. This article examines ways in which these problems have been manifested and addressed, using two recent examples from school and adult immigrant education in Australia. The first example concerns a recent controversy surrounding the use of national literacy benchmarks for primary school learners. Analysis of the issues suggests that some learner groups may be disadvantaged by the practice of reporting aggregate outcomes in terms of minimum standards, but that government policy is unlikely to change as long as the accountability function of assessment remains paramount in the public eye. The second example discusses the teacher-developed assessment tasks that are used to assess the achievement of language competencies in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). It is argued that problems of consistency and comparability that have been identified by research can be addressed through the development of fully-piloted task banks and the provision of appropriate forms of professional development. Greater attention needs to be given to the role of the teacher if outcomes-based assessments are to provide high quality information.

Understanding teachers as agents of assessment

“…The tensions that emerge for the teachers in both this and the Davison study confirm previous findings (see, for example, Brindley, 2001;McNamara, 2001b;Rea-Dickins, 2001) that teachers find themselves at the confluence of different assessment cultures and faced with significant dilemmas in their assessment practices: sometimes torn between their role as facilitator and monitor of language development and that of assessor and judge of language performance as achievement. This is clearly demonstrated in the research by Arkoudis and O'Loughlin, who report on their interaction with teachers working with a state mandated assessment Curriculum standards framework (CSF; Board of Studies, 2000) who are developing meaningful and accurate assessments of their students.…”

“…In the research reviewed above, the teacher as 'agent' is more prominent in the 'washback' and the classroom-embedded assessment studies, than those that focus on assessments developed and used by teachers for student placement or the measurement of achievement. Indeed, the purposes of assessment have been of central concern in a number of recent publications (e.g., Language Testing, volume 18, issue 4) in which McNamara (2001b) and Brindley (2001) both refer to the conflicting demands on teachers within the context of classroom based assessment. Whilst it does not make sense to draw a sharp distinction between purpose and agent, a recognition of such a distinction may be useful to inform the analysis of classroom assessment practices and, thus, this special issue of Language Testing is oriented towards research with the teacher as agent in assessment processes.…”

English Language Assessment in the Colleges of Applied Sciences in Oman: Thematic Document Analysis

“…Consequently, some students can pass the FP without mastering all its stated learning outcomes. Thus, criterion-referenced assessment has been widely enforced by policy makers (Brindley, 2001;Lorena, 2007;Llosa, 2007). Sizmur and Sainsbury (1997, p. 129) refer the appeal of criterion-referenced assessment to the need to ensure the "minimal standards in basic skill areas, and the need to produce reliable measurement of these".…”

“…7, No. 3;2014 reporting achievement through using outcomes based assessment, as indicated earlier (Brindley, 2001;Llosa, 2007). Llosa (2011) explained that the rationale for standard based reforms was "to improve the quality of education for all students by developing rigorous standards and aligning instruction, assessment, professional development, and resources to those standards" (p. 367).…”

The Relationship Between Communication Climate and Elementary Teachers' Beliefs About Alternative Assessment

“…For example, the subjectivity of alternative assessment may make it difficult to achieve consistency in grading (Brennan & Johnson, 1995;Hacker & Hathaway, 1991). Moreover, sophisticated criteria for judging student performance may make assessment to be labour-intensive and time-consuming (Brindley, 2001;Popham, 1993). To deal with such challenges while also convincing teachers of the effectiveness of alternative assessment, the current study examines the effects of an open communication climate, support from school constituencies and teachers' adherence to traditional textbook-based learning.…”