The Light and Shadow of Assessment Practices: Focusing on SGH in Japan

Abstract

This research will discuss the assessment practices in global education in the context of upper secondary education in Japan. It will also aim to clarify some of the features, challenges and measures of methods for assessing learning outcomes, progress and transformation. In 2014, MEXT started a Super Global High School program, a national project toward fostering global human resources. A whole-school approach is utilized to design curriculum, such that teachers put an emphasis on global consciousness, and encourage the connection between local and global aspects by the students themselves. This leads to inquiry-based learning that inevitably results in the acquisition of competencies, and expands learning resources beyond classrooms. A comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis based on practical reports for each fiscal year and students' works that each SGH provided, and interview and questionnaire surveys to teachers and students was utilized. Some features, challenges and partial measures for formatively assessing student-centered inquiry learning that differs from didactic education types, will be revealed in reference to the diagnostic tool of curriculum evaluation that was originally developed based on the critical comments of MEXT's interim evaluation. The actual situation and issues to overcome regarding the formative and summative function of assessment and their linkage to global education in Japan, very relevant to the SDGs, will be considered in the discussion part to show the light and shadow.

Significance and Challenges of Formative Ipsative Assessment in Inquiry Learning: A Case Study of Writing Activities in a “Contemporary Society” Course in a Japanese High School

“…Formative ipsative assessment is characterized by referring to various criteria and encouraging individually optimal information for improvement. For this reason, elementary schools, universities, and free schools, where learning tends (Hughes, 2014;Nishizuka & Arimoto, 2019).…”

“…Criterion-referenced Ipsative (Self-referential) to be constrained by entrance exams and other high-stakes tests, are considered desirable practice environments (Nishizuka & Arimoto, 2019). Thus, how can ipsative assessment be practiced in the context of secondary education?…”

“…Particularly, overly rigid criteria for knowledge-creating learning can substantially narrow the view of learning needs and feedback, where there are problems of teachers' fear of losing control over student learning and students' inability to advance beyond the learning envisioned by the teacher because teachers are preoccupied with achieving standards that prove the quality of learning (Engeström, 2015). Preventing such suppression of learning by assessment requires efforts to make assessment criteria more aligned with student learning (Nishizuka & Arimoto, 2019;Torrance, 2012).…”